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\u201cFor several years, I engraved various items as a hobby for a couple of stores in Shelbyville. The year 2015 brought a time of transition to the business,\u201d Russ said. \u201cWith great faith, we began planning to turn this hobby into a full-time business. \u2018Time\u2019 was essential to this change, and we launched Time and Again as a family endeavor. \u201c <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Time and Again\u2019s niche became clear following the request to engrave a pocket knife. The request led to high demand for this product. Looking to expand even further, they turned to claw hammers and hatchets. Those took off! They began selling hammers with messages like, \u201cPop, we love building memories with you.\u201d Russ became known as \u201cThe Hammer Guy\u201d by local suppliers. And when they added hatchets, \u201cThe Hammer Guy\u201d also became known as \u201cThe Hatchet Man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A request for leather sheaths for the hatchets became an opportunity for Russ\u2019s youngest son, Seth, to learn to create and hand stitch the sheaths. The products sold, and the company added a leather sewing machine to keep up with the demand, but the time spent working together as a family crafted memories for a lifetime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russ said, \u201cIt\u2019s been said that men are so difficult to shop for. \u2018That\u2019s it!\u2019 I thought. We\u2019re\u00a0going to focus on men\u2019s gifts. That\u2019s our goal: to provide quality personalized gifts for men. Our products now range from pocket knives, hammers, hatchets, barbecue spatulas, tumblers, and now the ever-so-popular genuine leather patch hats, just to mention a few.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire Countess family has worked together for several years, and even now, as the children are grown and live in other places, they continue to do so. The whole family pitches in during the busiest times of the year, like Father\u2019s Day, Christmas, and wedding season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Natalie handles bookkeeping and product deliveries. Marissa and her husband, Cooper, manage the social media accounts and oversee the Little Rock, Arkansas location. Grant helps with spreadsheets and inventory and analyzes best-selling gifts, and Seth helps with new product creation and manages a booth in Cleveland, Tennessee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several friends have worked with the Countess family along the way. During 2020, like many, the company faced challenges. The supply chain issues forced them to look for alternative products. They decided to offer genuine leather patches on Richardson 112 hats instead of imitation leather patches, as seen in big retail. The leather patch hats have quickly grown to be a very popular item. The team grew to include Ron Longwell, who has been a highly valuable part of this process from start to finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, you can purchase personalized gifts from their website or locally in Shelbyville, as well as in six other locations across Tennessee, Arkansas, and Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI combine my specialty with customers\u2019 personalized messages to produce creative items. We listen to our customers\u2019 gift-giving sentiments and bring their thoughts into reality. A lot of what we do is literally up to the imagination,\u201d Russ said. \u201cIt\u2019s used for one time and purpose as it\u2019s gifted, and then someday a child may open up a wooden box and find a pocket knife with his grandfather\u2019s name from when he was a little boy. The list goes on and on. So that\u2019s the concept of our small business. Who knows what imagination it might spark\u2026 time and again!\u201d GN\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AS DUST sparkled like diamonds in the beam of sunshine, the farmhouse attic\u2019s treasures invited the brothers to sneak away from their play on their grandparents\u2019 farm, trading outdoor exploring for indoors, even though the temperature inside was greater than summer\u2019s heat at high noon. Dusty trunks, an old soldier\u2019s uniform, a crank telephone, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/shelbyville\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/10\/3-1024x683.png\")