Trophy Outlet Featured on “World’s Greatest TV Show”
It was quite an experience for this family-run company.
Trophy Outlet, a Missouri-based trophy and awards shop, was featured on “World’s Greatest TV Show.” Currently in its 13th season, “World’s Greatest TV Show” highlights people, places, and companies in a positive light for viewers to understand and connect with the people behind the products.
The show approached Trophy Outlet during the fall for episode 269, which aired on DirecTV Channel 305 and Dish Network Channel 250 on February 4th and 11th. The way Kodie Schilson, Trophy Outlet CEO, understood it is that several different companies were interviewed and then the show decided which to feature. He gladly agreed to the opportunity. “I wanted to get out there to explain who we are as a company, our history, and how we’ve been in business for 35 years, which is very customer-focused,” he states.
According to Schilson, who started building trophies as a kid, part of the reason “World’s Great TV Show” reached out to Trophy Outlet comes down to its history. The shop has stayed in the family for 35 years and serves many of the same customers it has for all those years.
The original owner, Schilson’s great uncle, ran the business out of his basement for several years before moving into a location in Iowa. “Ten years ago, my parents purchased the company, and then about five years ago I started running the company and we’ve been growing ever since,” Schilson explains. The original location remains along with a second location in St. Louis, which is where the episode was filmed.
On the day of filming, “World’s Greatest TV Show” showed up in St. Louis with a small camera crew. The shoot took about six hours. “Everybody was tired after that,” Schilson recalls.
The camera crew shots include the shop’s showroom, employees assembling trophies, and an interview with Schilson, who emphasizes the importance of customers. His favorite part about running the shop is not only the customers but the employees. “Not only are we growing as a company, but I think every employee that we have is growing individually as well,” he explains in an interview with A&E about the episode.
Since the episode aired, Trophy Outlet is noticeably busier than it was this time last year, according to Schilson, but it’s hard for him to correlate which orders are due to the show, and which are coming in because of standard marketing efforts. “There isn’t really a good way to differentiate the two, but that was the only drawback,” he explains. Overall, it was quite an experience for everyone at Trophy Outlet.
The episode is available to watch on YouTube and https://worldsgreatesttelevision.com. (Trophy Outlet’s segment begins at the 8:05 minute mark.)
