Internet Start-ups may be considered a bust by many these days… but not where puppets are concerned. When husband and wife team, Jeff and Joanna Baird, started their home-based company, Puppetuniverse.com, they never dreamed that they would corner the online puppet market in a mere 18 months. With first year sales of $250k, over 6000 new customers, and projected sales of $1 million for 2004, it looks like that’s exactly what they have done.

July 2, 2004 -- Internet Start-ups may be considered a bust by many these days… but not where puppets are concerned. When husband and wife team, Jeff and Joanna Baird, started their home-based company, www.Puppetuniverse.com, they never dreamed that they would corner the online puppet market in a mere 18 months. With first year sales of $250k, over 7000 new customers, and projected sales of $1 million for 2004, it looks like that’s exactly what they have done.

Based in Yelm, Washington, the Bairds originally hit on the idea for Puppetuniverse.com while looking for a business opportunity that allowed them to work from home and spend more time with their family. They gravitated toward puppets because of the wonderful experiences they had had using puppets as fun, educational toys for their son, Dylan.

Though it is the Bairds’ first foray into the world of e-commerce, they haven’t missed a step. They attribute their rapid growth and success to a mixture of Internet savvy online marketing, smart competitive pricing and a high level of customer service. According to Jeff Baird, “Our goal was to focus on a specific niche and then dominate it by providing the largest selection of puppets available ‘in the universe’."

This strategy seems to be working. Today www.Puppetuniverse.com has become the largest online purveyor of hand puppets, marionettes and puppet