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Abstract
A typical workday for Fred Bell, president/CEO of home decor cataloger Touch of Class, means long hours at the office. His family doesn't mind, however: They spend long workdays at the Huntingburg, IN-based company too. Touch of Class, in fact, started in the home - Bell and wife Carla Parke-Bell's home, in 1978, a few months after they married. Bell knew the catalog business from his days at apparel mailer Carroll Reed. After a few years, Touch of Class outgrew the basement of the couple's North Conway, NH, home. In 1982 it and they moved to Huntingburg, in southern Indiana, which in keeping with the family orientation is near Carla's hometown of Oakland City, IN. In the past 26 years, Touch of Class has grown into a $50 million business with 180 employees. To get a feel for the life of a catalog CEO, Catalog Age spent a day in February shadowing Bell.