History of the Business
Zook’s Dutch Novelties was started in 1980 by Janet Zook. We are a family owned and operated business. Zook’s started on the floor of Janet home when she designed the sun bonnets by cutting patterns out by hand. There is a five step process to making a bonnet and those same five steps are still in use today. Janet’s husband John cut material on a large sheet of plywood. Then Janet and her daughter Teresa would sew the bonnet in Janet’s home. Teresa’s husband John Shreiner went store to store trying to sell them. After a few regular accounts were established they were able to purchase a large cutting table, and lay approximately 1000 yards of material at a time. Still to this day we hand pick all the material. These bonnets resemble the bonnets from the Early American Settlers.
After the bonnets were well established Zook’s Dutch Novelties purchased a Hex Sign business in 1984 from a company called Hex Barn. Hex Barn was manufacturing hex signs for approximately 60 years. These signs were all hand screen printed on a smooth Panelboard in a variety of sizes (8”, 16” and 24”). We started with 16 different designs and now we offer 23 designs and 4 different sizes (8”, 12”, 16” and 24”). As technology grew so did the way we print. Now all the hex signs are printed on a printing press. The material used is still the same and they will last outside for years.
Zook’s Dutch Novelties, LLC is still a family owned and operated business. As of January 2009 Janet’s daughter Teresa Shreiner was joined by her son-in-law Nick Spencer as her business partner. Together we offer a variety of items that represent the PA Dutch Culture.