MASSENA — When Anthony J. O’Geen opened Tony’s Canvas & Leather nearly 12 years ago, it was out of the basement of his home.

The business then moved into his garage, where it stayed for 10 years before relocating to a new location at 355 S. Main St. He said his business grew faster than he could ever have imagined.

While he had been doing leather work for friends and family for several years before opening in his basement in the spring of 2001, he said his business really took off when he expanded into making high-quality canvas duffel bags.

“The bags sell themselves,” he said. “These are so much better than anything that’s out there.”

Mr. O’Geen moved into his garage in the fall of 2001 and purchased his new location this past summer.

“It was getting pretty cramped. We just needed more room,” he said.

In addition to having more space for his manufacturing and repair business, Mr. O’Geen said, the expansion will allow him to have inventory on hand for walk-in sales, something he hasn’t been able to do in the past.

“I wanted to be able to start selling apparel, bags and decals,” he said.

Although Mr. O’Geen said he’s been busy with bag orders and hasn’t been able create extra inventory for the storefront, that is something he’s hoping to have available in the near future.

Mr. O’Geen said he’s recently shipped bags to Latvia and Australia. Signed photos, sticks and jerseys represent an impressive roster of clients that include many collegiate athletic departments.

The shop, which has two employees, is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Tony’s Canvas & Leather can be reached at 764-9160.

Thousands of readers like you have made Northern New York Newspapers the number one ranked website* for local news and sports coverage in the north country.

You can continue on to this article in a few seconds, or you can visit one of our websites:

• Watertown Daily Times
• The Ogdensburg Journal
• Daily Courier-Observer