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For the past century, Woodstream Corporation has cornered the market on animal and nonpoisonous pest trapping devices.
Founded in the 1890's, the Animal Trap Company, as it was originally called, started as a company that manufactured a mouse trap designed to catch rodents without also snagging the trailing gowns of Victorian-era ladies.
The product was a little wooden mouse trap with a big red "V" for Victor, a trademark that has come to symbolize mouse traps like Kleenex symbolizes paper tissues.
Now, the Woodstream Corporation claims to be the country's largest dealer of nonpoisonous pest control devices. To borrow a popular adage, they've come a long way, baby.
Carol Page, manager of marketing services for the Lititz-based company, credits the company's success to a combination of service and a consistent product. "Those two factors have given us strong brand-name recognition," she says. "We're asked for by name."
As the times change, so do customers' demands. Today's customers obviously are not concerned about snaring their hem lines in a mouse trap. But what do today's customers want in pest control products? Knowing the answer to that question, Woodstream officials believe, is part of the key to their success.
Last year, therefore, the company hired the Polk-Lepson Research Group in York to do a national independent survey of consumers to find out what features guide the purchase of the average American's pest control products. Of those answering the questionnaire, 75 percent said they are most concerned about the effects of poisonous pest controls effects on children, pets and...