NEWBURYPORT — A customizable purse company that got its start in downtown Newburyport six years ago has merged with a similar, multimillion dollar company based in Louisville, Ky.
B's Purses says it merged with Anna William and will keep the look and feel people have come to expect from the local brand. Anna William founders Keek Bielby, Erin Hornyak, Rani Chace and Kristen Lee will join B's as designers and vice presidents.
"We are so excited to grow our team," B's Purses co-founder Lisa Henderson said. "We are the only nationwide custom-purse, home-party business. We had been based mainly in the West — in Texas and New Jersey across to California, and Anna William had strong sales in the Northeast and 150 representatives."
Henderson said the move to strike a deal with Anna William strengthens the company and gives them a larger presence in the Northeast. She said the Anna William founders can decide on their own if they would like to keep their Newburyport flagship store open or close it. If the Merrimac Street store does remain open, it will not turn into B's Purses, Henderson said.
"We just decided we could be even stronger if we bring the two companies together, and we fit like a puzzle piece," said Henderson, whose company has 3,000 distributors nationwide.
The two companies are similar in the way they started. B's Purses was founded in 2004, when Henderson and Sandra Masters discussed the idea of starting a home-party business and distributing their purse designs through a network of designers. Anna William was founded in 2003 by four family members: a mother, two daughters and a daughter-in-law.
Similar to the message of B's Purses, their mission was to provide beautifully handmade, high-quality handbags that reflected unique style and creativity as well as the opportunity for women to create their own bags.
"In talking to these girls, they have similar lives with kids trying to do it all," Henderson said. "We have the same mission and vision, and women in business is great. We are always trying to help each other. We want each other to succeed."
B's Purses — which boasts animal prints, bold colors and geometric patterns — will create a "town and country" line, which will feature the Anna William collection.
"We will have our B signature line of trendy, sassy and chic animal prints," Henderson said. "Then B's town and country designed by Anna William will be the preppy, Northeastern resort look."
Henderson said the concept of having customers design their own bags will remain the same.
"Their representatives will become our representatives, and the founders of Anna William will be top people at our company as well," Henderson said.
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