Resident starts her own business as 'The Glove Lady'

By Sarah M. Corigliano

Assistant Managing Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW When East Longmeadow resident Marlene Franciosa first meets potential customers she asks them "How is your glove life?"

"Some people step back, they don't know how to respond at first," said the entrepreneur who recently invested in a franchise called The Glove Lady.

But most people think it's great, she said, because it asks a question that is important to many employers: how is your employee safety?

Driving a big pink van -- a hot pink GMC Safari, to be exact -- Franciosa is a business on wheels selling and providing service for safety equipment customers throughout Hampden County. She said she carries equipment for construction and manufacturing jobs and tactical equipment for police departments. Many of her items, naturally, are job-specific safety gloves.

"Whether it's at a job site or the business location, I deliver [safety products] right to them," Franciosa explained. "My van is full, it's stocked with inventory and if they need something on the spot, they can call and I'll deliver it."

But Franciosa hasn't always been a businesswoman on wheels. She was a "domestic engineer" for 19 years, and now that her two children are in high school and "are at an age that they don't need me the way they used to," Franciosa said it was time for her to start a new career.

Besides, she said, she loves her job, and it will help keep her from getting empty nest syndrome when they go off to college in a few short years.

Franciosa found The Glove Lady franchise after researching businesses for about a year.

"I looked into all different sorts of businesses," she said. "This one really appealed. I wanted to do something in sales, but not something, for example, that is tied to a retail store that is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. When I came across this, even though it is a newer franchise, I just thought the whole concept is so interesting and fun."

For more information about The Glove Lady, call 531-5932. Her web site is also accessible at www.TheGloveLady.com/BeSafe.