'Made in America Week,' the theme the White House chose for this week, stretches far beyond July 17-21 in select places in Western New York. Seven places, to be exact.
The seven Made in America Stores sell only American-made products, and have seen an uptick in revenue since the beginning of 2017. Founder Mark Andol said that nothing about his store's mission is political, and is simply happy to see people buying American.
"I would say... a 20% increase in sales. It's substantial, enough to turn your head," Andol said. "This is very, very interesting what's going on."
Kenneth Glaser, a customer who stopped in for a gun-cleaning piece made in Western New York, said he shops at the Made in America Store because it saves him time from looking through other stores to spend money on 'Made in America' products.
"I made it here, I'm going to spend it here," Glaser said.
If you want to see just how committed Andol is to making his store 100% American-made, you need not look further than the front patio.
Everything the patio features, down to the light bulbs, were all manufactured in the USA. Even the steel pillars that sport the Made in America Store logo were brought in locally and welded on-sight. The workers who welded the pillars were brought in all the way from across the street at General Welding and Fabricating, Inc., another Mark Andol business.
Vania & David is one of the companies that sells their merchandise at the Made in America Store in Elma. Vania Escauriza and David Martinez create hand-made jewelry, and try to make all of their pieces solely with materials from America.
Escauriza is originally from Paraguay, and said she remembers how the quality of American-made items stood out to her family when she was a child.
"The American quality was something that my parents were always after," Escauriza said. "Whatever it was, a pair of jeans or a tee shirt... it was like, how good is this quality? This is all American-made? And those memories never went away."
Martinez said the term "Made in America" has an aspect to it that's indescribable. He began to get emotional explaining what the phrase means to him, taking long pauses to reflect on his craft and the mission the Made in America Store pursues.
"Made in America to me means pride, it means quality, it means U.S. jobs," Martinez said.
