YOUNGHOUSE MARKS 50 YEARS, MAKING ITS MARK WITH NOVELTY PRODUCTS

If you've ever played a game or won a prize at a school fair, received a ribbon, planned a party needing decorations or played a practical joke, then you know about the Younghouse Distributing Co. in Cape Girardeau.

The company sells everything from pencil erasers in all shapes and sizes to party supplies and decorations. There are also figurines, collectibles, candles, Halloween costumes, and disco balls, blinking lights, glow-in-the-dark alphabet letters and piatas on the shelves at the warehouse.

Each item is ready to be sorted and shipped, usually within a week, to a retail store somewhere in the Midwest. So while you might not have visited the Younghouse warehouse near Interstate 55 and the Dutchtown exit, you've seen its products.

Younghouse, which has been in business for 50 years, distributes its products to floral shops, hospital gift shops, small boutiques, truck stops and convenience stores.

Over the years the company's business has changed. When E.C. Younghouse started the company in 1949, he bought an existing candy company. For many years, Younghouse continued selling bar candy and penny candies to area grocery stores. At the time, there were 60 grocery stores in the city.

But with the decline of drugstores and neighborhood grocers, he moved into another field. Novelty items and toys became the goods of choice. Over the years he has sold fireworks business and fishing lines. Both products have been discontinued.

"You have got to be flexible and be able to change," Younghouse said. "You have to feel your way through and sometimes you make mistakes. That's all part of the game."

With the advent of an Internet site, E.C. Younghouse hopes the business will expand even more. But it's such a new venture that he's not certain yet.

"We expect it to be a good thing," he said.

Because Younghouse distributes to such a wide area, it's important to make its presence known at several trade shows. The biggest shows are held early in the year and again in late summer. Younghouse, and his three sons who are also part of the business, will attend gift shows in St. Louis, Kansas City, Louisville, Ky., Indianapolis, Biloxi, Miss., and Eureka Springs, Ark.

There are three salesmen that cover the Missouri Bootheel and Southern Illinois selling Younghouse goods. Another nine representatives cover the territory.

Younghouse said he's never really sure what will be the next "big" item to sell, but there have been some solid goods year after year.

Religious items and figurines of Christ, angels and other collectibles are also good sellers.

Angels have been so popular lately that "it's the first thing they ask for," Younghouse said of new customers.

Another popular item recently has been chickens. The retail store sells pairs of chickens in both small sizes made of plastic resin and life-size complete with a feathered look. Younghouse admits that the gaining popularity of chickens took him by surprise.

But there are some favorites, too, that stand the test of time. Dolls, party supplies and figurines "of anything imaginable" have always been popular, Younghouse said.