The knives returned, with nickel-plated rivets on one side and gold-plated on the other. Quickly finding another shop that could fix the problem, the knives were driven out of state, fixed, and over-nighted out at great expense, making Christmas delivery by a hair.

 

Dube's sales, direct mail with occasional walk-in, continued to increase, and more and more of his time was spent assembling clubs, balls and rings. His tendency towards perfectionism, and the insistence on quality that keeps sale proprietors in business, drove him to want to do all the work himself. Design, assembly, and shipping became a little too much for one man to handle, and Dube, whose previous help had been limited to his girlfriend's two nieces, began to build a staff. Ann Zumitis served as his gregarious assistant for a few years. "She was the one who held parties in her room at the conventions... some of my customers were more comfortable with her than they were with me," said Dube, who admits to some

degree of discomfort around strangers.

 

Zumitis, who began by helping with shipping, eventually got into decorating clubs and doing more assembly. Dube also farmed some assembly out to Connecticut, where his retired father still makes rubber club ends and cigar boxes. Dube remembers being "perpetually under­staffed. Years ago, I remember working from Thanksgiving to Christmas, twelve hours a day, seven days a week."

 

By 1991, service had deteriorated and occupancy rates had fallen in his Park Place office. Tired of the security risks that came with subletting parts of his space to others, Dube moved to his current 4,5000-square-foot, third-floor Soho loft. Located in a neighborhood that, in classic New York fashion, became fashionable and expensive because of a reputation for having once been countercultural and cheap, the sun-lit offices afford Dube plenty of office, storage, and manufacturing space, along with a 200-square­foot showroom. The companyn6w manufactures most of ifs props in a 1,000­square-foot back room.

 

After almost two decades, Dube broke an important psychological barrier. He had put the handle on every Custom European club the company sold, and sales growth had made it almost impossible to keep up. Eventually, he was impressed enough with a new employee, Gretchen Hoffman, to allow her to begin helping him with the task. Dube then passed the clubs to Hoffmann. Today, Brian Dube, Inc. employs eight people: four full-time workers, four part-time.

 

Dube still makes all the company's silicone balls himself. While he is developing a new system that he believes will make it easier to mold the expensive materials, he plans to continue to work hands-on with that product. He said, "A certain amount of production is desirable. I find it therapeutic. It isn't good to spend all of your day sitting in front of a computer."

 

Prop-makers are now facing a new challenge in the form of off-shore suppliers. At the Toy Fair, a recent product exhibition held in New York, Dube saw many Asian manufacturers who produce small juggling balls that retail for $2 to $3 per set. Last year, he processed a very large order for imported balls to complete a mailing for a private group that wanted to do a juggling-related mailing at extremely low cost. While he admits that he will never be able to compete with these suppliers on price - he has seen imported shaker cups sold in restaurant supply houses for less than he pays for materials for his props - he does not consider imports to be a threat to his market.

 

"They will probably do for us just what JuggleBug did in this country and what More Balls Than Most did in England. If they make that level of equipment, they will just create more jugglers," he said. "Juggle Bug and More Balls Than Most helped everybody that was making more-advanced equipment."

 

He admitted that his own entry-level products, like the Airflite clubs and rings, may suffer, but said that new products, like a new Custom European club he is developing, will help him keep ahead with the oxymoronic serious jugglers.

 

One interesting change in the marketplace that Dube' has seen recently is the success of mass-market devil sticks. Several companies, including Ontario-based Spinmaster Toys, have succeeding in selling devil sticks to mass­market toy shops including Paramus, N.J.­based Toys 'R' Us and are backing their products with national TV commercials. One more-aggressive new entry has tried to trademark the words "Devil Stick," though a trademark lawyer connected with Dube was able to stop the process.

 

Looking ahead, Dube is considering developing some packaging for his products and conducting a retail push. He admits that selling juggling equipment to the average consumer is challenging, since many people are initially hesitant about toss juggling, "They have two hands, look at three objects, and think they won't be able to do it."

 

Right now, most successful retailers he works with have a core of juggling customers, jugglers on-staff to show people how it is done, or both. But considering the success of companies like More Balls Than Most in England, and packages like Juggling for the Complete Klutz in the U.S., Dube thinks that, with the right packaging, instructions, and support materials, juggling items can work at retail. A few hardy souls can be convinced to invest in balls or beanbags, while history has proven that manipulation props, like devil sticks and diabolos, can catch on. And by combining quality props with other materials his company produces, including books and videos, more people could be introduced - successfully - to juggling.

 

Dube speaks enthusiastically about juggling, and about the future of his business. But he admits that the business has changed his life in one way that some may find ironic: "I don't really juggle that much any more, to be honest," he said. "I don't spend that much time with it, except maybe passing with a customer to demonstrate. I work six days a week nowadays."