Behind the Curtain: Celebrating Small Business Successes

As we barrel toward 50 years in business, we’ve begun reflecting on the many ways in which we’ve grown since opening our doors in a walled-off alley on Walnut Street. Charlie has since made a name for himself in the community of Morgantown and beyond, employing over 40 individuals in design, sales, and repair services across his career. 

Our leather goods have evolved as we’ve taken in new perspectives and design philosophies, but we’ve always maintained our core beliefs that our products should be as high-quality as they are stunning visually and that the best value comes when products are made by the hands of professionals in-house. 

Sure, we could have followed the path of many other leather brands. We could chase the latest trends, cut corners on our materials, and outsource production to meet mass demand. But that’s not who we are. 

While we may be old-school in our philosophy and reject opportunities to mass-produce our bags, we can say that we’ve had our successes as a small business. Our styles haven’t just become a staple of the Morgantown community but have turned heads globally with orders from Hong Kong to Australia. 

We’ve seen our bags grace the arms of celebrities and been featured in popular publications such as Southern Living. But our greatest pleasure is to have served the unique needs of each customer from individuals to businesses large and small. 

While you may know Tanner’s Alley Leather as a place to get your shoes shined, we wanted to shed light on the many other far-reaching facets of what we’ve done throughout our history. Similarly to our physical storefront, if you’ve been lucky enough to explore our studio space attached in the back, you know there’s much more to the business than what meets the eye. We hope you’ve enjoyed this peak behind the curtain.