Local entrepreneur to meet the Dragons!

April 22, 2015 · 0 Comments

Five short years ago, Jamie-Lee Higginson started Prim Pickins, a Canadian manufacturing company of primitive country furniture and home decor. Recently she presented her business idea to CBC TV producers in Collingwood, who are giving her a chance to “meet the Dragons”!
Jamie-Lee will be in a CBC television studio in Toronto May 11th to present her business on a formal taping of the Dragon’s Den television program. The program invites entrepreneurs and inventors to pitch their ideas to a panel of business experts who may or may not lend the financial assistance to move their product forward to success in the marketplace.
Currently Prim Pickins can be found in hundreds of stores across Canada such as Hallmark, Home Hardware, Major Pharmacy’s throughout the Maritimes, hundreds of individual specialty shops and will be in the upcoming Sears catalogue with the help of her distributor Enesco. As well Prim Pickins items can be found on Amazon, showing Jame-Lee has come a long way since she went wholesale three years ago.
Prim Pickins items are all designed and built by Jamie-Lee with minimal help. She has her own woodworking shop and a warehouse where she cuts her own wood, makes her own stencils, hand sands and paints each of her items individually. Nothing is mass produced nor does she use pre-made stencils purchased from retail stores unlike a lot of other business that produce similar items.
Since being chosen to pitch to the Dragons, Jamie-Lee has been working closely with one of the producers of the show to make sure she is well prepared. She had to sign a lengthy contract and if any conditions are breached she is ineligible to participate.
Currently Jamie-Lee is going on to ask the Dragons for a substantial amount of money in exchange for a portion of her business. She has those numbers in mind, however did not want to disclose that information to us, but did say that she does have room for negotiation if needed. She also informs the Free Press that she is very interested in the connections the Dragon’s can offer in distribution and marketing, which she says is priceless.
As well as manufacturing furniture and decor, Prim Pickins also offers a mobile decorating services for companies such as Whole Foods located in Oakville and will decorate indoors or outdoors for both commercial and residential clients seasonally. Prim Pickins also designs merchandising displays and has done so at trade shows such as the Toronto Gift Fair.
The number of times Prim Pickins has been nominated for business awards are too numerous to list, however in 2014 not only was Prim Pickins nominated, they won the New Business of Excellence Award from the Greater Duffeirn Area Chamber of Commerce.
With the filming date approaching quickly we would like to wish Prim Pickins the best of luck on the Dragons Den. For more information on Prim Pickins contact them at info@primpickins.ca or you can find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

By Michelle Austen