Sewing is in our "blood".
In 1884 William H. Briley was born in a small Alabama
town.
In 1909 at the age of 25, he became a door-to- door
salesman for
THE SINGER COMPANY*. After learning the ways of the
sewing machines industry, he decided to open his own
business in 1943. He picked the name ASHBY DISCOUNT
SEWING MACHINE CO, being at that time, the name ASHBY,
would be the first name in the phone book listing.
This was way before the Yellow Page's* were out and
before all those A1 and AAA business were thought
of.
When business started growing he added his 1st employee,
his wife, to help him out. William "Pap"
Briley used to take used sewing machine, by the way
of street car, through Atlanta to people homes. During
this time, only used sewing machines were available
as all metals were used in manufacturing airplanes
and ammunition, along with other products for the
war. William sold these machines on credit to the
customer, and he held their personal note. Financing
was hard to come by, because most men was in WWII
and wife's were not responsible for personal finances
In 1944, another employee was added, Roscoe Briley,
son of W.H. Briley, began helping his parents in the
store. Shortly after WWII, Maurice F. Briley, began
to work for his parents as jobs were scarce after
the war. Roscoe Briley, and Brother of Maurice Briley,
saw an opportunity to open his own store in Birmingham,
Alabama. Roscoe ended up owning 3 store's in Alabama
and 1 store in Memphis, Tennessee. After realizing
there was more money to be made in the stock market
and real estate, he sold all 4 locations individually
and retired from the sewing industry 25 years later.
In 1978, Marc F. Briley, son of Maurice Briley, started
working with his dad on the weekend and during the
summer. In 1986, after 2 years at Kennesaw College
in Marietta, Marc was offered a job with Pfaff American
Sales Corp in Paramus New Jersey, as a mechanic.
After a long brutal discussion about the new job
offer, Marc decided to buy his Father business, instead
of working for Pfaff.
To make changes, 1st thing Marc did was change the
name to Ashby Sewing Machine Co, INC. In 1990 Marc
decided that if a consumer needed credit, they had
to seek their own financing, and ended the personal
credit at Ashby Sewing. In 1993 Marc opened his second
location in Marietta Georgia. In December 1995, Marc
closed the Atlanta location and decided 1 store was
enough.
Here we are today, Marc along with his wife, Nancy,
run the business, and hopes one of his three children
takes over to keep Ashby Sewing Machine Company going
for another 65 years.
I WISH YOU WERE HERE
