Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9308270081
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN SCHMELTZER CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CHICAGO LENGTH: Medium
Somebody, however, must have forgotten to mention to the world that two New Hampshire men invented a "better mousetrap" a year ago.
Yet Tom Eifler and Irwin Blau, co-owners of Pied Piper International of Salem, N.H., remain hopeful that success is just around the corner.
For the second year in a row, they showed their environmentally correct mousetrap at the recent National Hardware Show.
The smoke-tinted plastic trap, called the Mice Cube, is a live trap that allows the consumer to catch and release the mouse or just toss the entire trap, mouse included. Its suggested retail price is $1.99.
Unlike last year, however, Pied Piper's trap has competition.
There's a metal trap designed along the same line as Pied Piper's. Only problem with it, according to Eifler, is its cost - nearly $7 - and the door falls shut with or without a Mickey inside.
Then there's the old-fashioned snap trap that has been updated to include a little plastic house surrounding the trap so the squeamish don't have to view the recently departed Mickey's remains. It retails for $2.99.
But the two entrepreneurs believe the Mice Cube's time has come.
"We don't know about the other nontraditional mousetraps here at the show, but ours works every time," said Eifler.
Last year, they had trouble attracting people to their booth, then tucked in an out-of-the way corner in the basement of McCormick Place West.
This year, on the first day they attracted 30 people who left business cards seeking to become sales representatives.
Buyers for Home Depot, the nation's fastest-growing home-improvement store, Walgreens Drug Stores and Target Stores had all made appointments to see the trap in action. And a buyer for Kmart Corp., the nation's second-largest retailer, stopped unexpectedly at their booth that this year is located on the first floor of McCormick Place North.
According to Eifler, Woolworth Corp., which operates 9,000 stores, has asked the two to complete an eight-page questionnaire so the company can assign a vendor number.
"We've got credibility this year," said Eifler, noting that the tiny company has sold about 200,000 traps during the past year, mainly to small stores in the Northeast and in California. A year ago, the firm only had sold 9,000 traps.
But it's been two years since the two men collected a paycheck. Eifler left a successful career as a marketing consultant, while Blau walked away from a high-profile job with the consumer-product division of the Gillette Co. Payday, they said, had better arrive soon.
Eifler says he's confident Pied Piper will be successful.
"Look," says Eifler, to emphasize their faith in the product, "Irwin is the only Ph.D. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology selling mousetraps."
by CNB