When two Longmont women started their own small business in 2013, they couldn’t imagine that it would achieve enough growth to place among Boulder Valley’s fastest growing companies.
Colorado Crafted is a Longmont-based, woman-owned and operated e-commerce business that creates gift boxes of locally made products from small businesses and producers around Colorado. The company's “build-a-box” function allows customers to customize and personalize their gift boxes, and send them to others.
For the second year in a row, Colorado Crafted came in first place in the Mercury 100, a list of Boulder Valley’s 100 fastest growing companies composed by BizWest. Every year, the Mercury 100 measures local businesses’ growth over the previous two years by taking into account annual revenues.
While co-owners Sarah Welle and Dulcie Wilcox started Colorado Crafted as a part-time gig in 2013, they’ve been surprised at the “steady, organic growth” the business has experienced since then, Welle said.
Recently, the pandemic created an especially high demand for Colorado Crafted’s services, due to more people shopping online and heightened support for small businesses on behalf of the Colorado community, Welle said.
Since its beginnings, Welle and Wilcox have expanded Colorado Crafted’s team by hiring four, part-time employees, and bringing on an additional four during each holiday season, Welle said.
Although Welle and Wilcox knew their business had grown when they submitted their annual revenues to be considered in the Mercury 100, “we were surprised our growth was enough to place us in first,” Welle said.
"Being a Mercury 100 honoree is a huge honor," Welle said in a Colorado Crafted news release.
“We believe our ongoing growth is truly a testament to how amazing our customers are, and what great products our vendors are creating throughout the state … Each purchase made through our shop supports so many other local businesses, and we are so thankful to be a part of this awesome community,” she added.
Soon, Welle and Wilcox hope to bring Colorado Crafted’s same level of success to two new businesses they’re launching, California Crafted and Washington Local, which will follow the same business model as Colorado Crafted, Welle said.
