Although I had heard the term "Welcome Wagon," used in a generic way, I did not realize that 1) it was an actual business, and 2) it started right here in Memphis. As recounted on Ask Vance, Mr. Thomas Briggs, a native Memphian, turned a flash of inspiration into a business success that is still in operation.
Briggs overheard a colleague bemoaning the fate of a friend who had been transferred to a strange new city, and it was a “Eureka” moment for him. Briggs decided then and there to start a company that would make newcomers feel welcome in their new hometown. In 1928, Welcome Wagon was born in Memphis, and the franchise soon spread to every major city in North America.
“In the inception of Welcome Wagon,” the newsletter said, “Briggs envisioned the natural role of women as hostesses.” And though the notion seems quaint today, as a result the company became one of the biggest employers of women in America.
A fellow businessmen told him, “You have the most remarkable business. Every year you give away $10 million in gifts, and you get paid for doing it.”Welcome Wagon is still in operation, although now based in Florida.
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