Quality Gold has acquired noted chain distributor Leslie’s.
Most of Leslie’s outside sales staff will join Fairfield, Ohio–based Quality Gold, according to Quality’s CEO, Michael Langhammer.
“Leslie’s is a great company,” he says. “It’s been around for over 40 years. They have done a great job and they have created a great brand. We want to continue that.”
Langhammer says the company will keep the Leslie’s name, but bring the line into the company. It plans to expand the line “dramatically,” he says.
The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this year, or the beginning of next. Langhammer declines to put a price tag on the sale.
Leslie’s CEO Andy Ban says he sold the business because “it’s time.”
“This is my 43rd year in the business,” he says. “My wife and I are retiring.”
Langhammer says the acquisition does several things for Quality Gold: “This brings us a sales force. It allows us to segregate our premier gold products into a brand. It allows us to take a few chances in some upscale products.”
Leslie’s main headquarters will shut “eventually, but not immediately,” Ban says. Quality Gold does plan to maintain what it calls “a small sales office” on the East Coast.
Quality Gold will continue to honor Leslie’s lifetime guarantee and stock balancing programs.
Leslie’s was founded in 1964 by Andrew’s father, Leslie, a Holocaust survivor. Leslie Ban died in 2004 at age 93.
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