Source: Blog – Alliance for American Manufacturing

Shoppers meet the cashiers at the Made In America Store in Elma, New York. | Courtesy Mark Andol

The pandemic prompted Mark Andol to reorganize his Western New York retail outlet. Now it’s time to bring on the bus tours.

On April 3, businessman Mark Andol will celebrate the 15th anniversary of his Made In America Store in Elma, New York, just outside of Buffalo.

Andol’s journey in this very specific corner of retail has turned him into a spokesman and encyclopedia of consumer products that are still made in America. And while there have been ups and downs since he opened his initial store in 2010, Andol is poised for an even more successful year in 2025.

This experiment began after Andol’s General Welding and Fabricating company lost half of its business in 2008 to a company in China. He was forced to close two of his four plants and lay off half of his workforce.

Andol wanted to fight back at the offshoring of American products and to create more American jobs.  And that’s where the idea for the Made In America Store began; a retail outlet that only sold products made in the United States.

Friends and family told him he was foolish and wasting his time. They said people no longer cared about where a product was manufactured.

“Everybody bet against me, and I didn’t care,” said the 58-year-old Andol.

As it turned out, Andol’s Made In America Store idea was just what Uncle Sam ordered.

When the flagship Elma store opened in 2010, its inventory was a mere 50 products made by a handful of manufacturers. That store was expanded in 2020 and now features approximately 15,000 products that are 100% American-made.

The Covid-19 pandemic took its toll on his brick-and-mortar operations while at the time increasing Andol’s online presence.

“During the pandemic, our website just went bonkers,” he said. “We went over $1 million in sales on the website because everybody was home.

“We eventually had to close our other locations except our flagship store and Niagara Falls because people were staying home and shopping online.”

Destination: Elma

While the Made In America Store grew pre-pandemic, Andol discovered that he could increase sales by bringing customers to the products. His team began booking bus tours to the 12,000-square-foot Elma Store.

“The bus tours were doing great but during pandemic the buses got cut off,” said Andol. “We just had one bus show up at the height of the pandemic, but last year we were back up to 220 buses.

“I will consider it a success if we have 500 buses show up this year. That is our goal.”

Another casualty of the pandemic years were the smaller stores Andol had opened in Western New York. At one point, there were seven in the chain. When they became unsustainable, Andol changed the business model to placing Made In America Store products in sections of established retail outlets.

“This store-in-a-store concept makes it really easy for stores to purchase from us,” said Andol. “We help them manage their inventory and we’ll break a case for them, meaning (for example) they can buy two bottles of hot sauce instead of a whole case.

“It’s cool because these are existing stores, and we have a licensing agreement, and we allow them to get into our agreement easily – almost just a handshake – and they can use my intellectual properties.

“They can have a four-foot section in their store or an 11-foot, and all I ask is that they buy 100 percent Made In America products through us and that the designated area in their store must only have 100 percent made in America products in it.

“It’s a better plan, where we can get more products across the country.”

“Shaking their hands, telling my story.”

Indeed, Made In America store-in-store sections are in more than 20 retail locations across the U.S. including Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, Arkansas, and the Carolinas.

But entertaining and educating the folks on the bus tours that show up at the flagship in Elma is near and dear to Andol’s heart.

“A bus hauls up to 56 people including the driver, and if you get 50 people delivered to your store for three hours, it’s a lot of fun,” said Andol. “It is one of my highlights – shaking their hands, telling my story, and just having a good time with them.

“They get a kick out of it. They love to see what Americans are making. A lot of our demographic is from 50- to 100-years old, and they remember when things were made here and built here all the time, so it’s really neat.”

The buses come from all over the United States, and Andol said a group from San Diego takes the prize for coming from the farthest away.

Andol feels his business will recover rapidly with the new administration in Washington, D.C. He also believes the possibility of much talked about tariffs can only boost the made in America movement.

“With Made In America, we don’t have tariffs on our products that are made within our borders,” he said. “We don’t need shipping containers. Tariffs, I think, are going to grow Made In America. I think it helps to level the playing field.

“It helps if tariffs cause the price of imports to go up. We buy local, buy American. Support the country you live in! Don’t worry about tariffs. Buy Made in America. Imports are not affecting Made In America.”

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