History

Looking at the elegant and spacious building of Eurofirany in Żywiec nobody would imagine that the owners Mrs. Bogusława and Mr. Bogusław Choczyńscy started they career in business from nothing. Less to say that they started with borrowed money and a small garage where they storaged their first goods. Today they are the potentate on the polish market in curtain import trade. Since 1991 they have cooperated with over 100 warehouses and stores worldwide and one thousand stores in country. In Poland you can find around 40 very elegant Eurofirany stores because what really matters for Mrs. and Mr. Choczyńscy is a high quality of products that they offer to their clients.

Joy of new year's eve and black clouds above heads

Starting own business was ruled by accident. The owners Bogusława and Bogusław Choczyńsy were about to move into their new house. They had been looking for a right curtains for a several weeks with no results and vision of new year’s eve without curtains was highly irritating. During their visit in Budapest they found that they can buy beautiful but unfortunately very expensive curtains. For family of a teacher and miner it was too much on a budget already burdened with the mortgage credit.
Nevertheless they decided to go to Hungary to buy curtains they really wanted to have. They could afford to decorate only a living room but thanks to that they could have great new year eve .Friends were amazed with decoration and wished the very best to the landlords .But happiness of that moment didn’t last long. Due to a decision of minister Balcerowicz in January 1990 interest on mortgage went up from 3% to 50% It was a bad year for everyone who had credits in banks in Poland.
It was a verdict for us - says mrs Bogusława - we had no way to get out of it. Then our friends came with help and brought us money saying that we can give it back when our financial situation will get better. Till this day we are very emotional about it. We paid whole mortgage and set our self free from bank but we were still aware of a fact that working at school and mine we’re not going to be able to pay our friends back. It set our creativity free. We remembered that in Hungary curtains were expensive but café curtains were cheap. That’s how we started our adventure.

difficult start in a small garage.

First goods they carried "on their back" and kept in a small garage that soon became too small .They built a warehouse that grew larger 7 times. "We had very narrow road to our previous headquarters and warehouse due to this fact tracks with goods had to be unloaded by the river. Our workers had to work in really bad conditions like snow, rain, darkness - me and my wife couldn’t look at it no more" - reminisce Mr. Bogusław When there was no free space left in a warehouse Mr. and Mrs. Choczyńscy decided to built new headquarters. Today it’s a spacious and modern building with usable area of 10 000 m2 and a chain of nearly 40 well prospering stores and showrooms in whole Poland.

Employees as a key factor

In 1994 company employed first person. In 1995 there was three workers in 1997 - 15 people. At the moment there is 200 employees and this number is still growing.
"So many people working for us is a great responsibility. Huge founds, good taste in picking the right fabrics and many other ideas is one but without professional team we wouldn’t achieve such a big success." - reckon Mrs. Bogusława. "We try to organize many events to integrate but even then people talk about their job, about company. We are pleased to know that they are involved as much as we are" - add Mr. Bogusław.
Our business partners are always amazed with our employees: sales representatives administration e.t.c.
This are people that work with passion and they very much committed to their job.
Success in selection a right candidate belong to Mrs. Bogusława .As an ex educator she is a good psychologist as well and often gives a chance to young people.
"Leaving work after 13 years was so difficult. I loved my job and kids. I graduated in 1987 at Akademia Wychowania Fizycznego in Katowice. I trained heptathlon and had very good results In Championships of Poland. This experience helped me to discover hidden talents in my students who achieved many successes in championships all over the country. Later I realized that I have the same luck to talents while recruiting people because in my opinion right interviewing is an 80% of success" - says Mrs. Choczyńska.

Creativity without boundries

Mrs. Choczyńska with passion visits different fairs, looks at the patterns, chooses new textiles and then brings them to Poland. "I always liked pretty things around me. I was wondering how is it possible to have so many designs and still make new ones. Its pretty amazing. From all of that I have to pick something that clients will like. From my experience I know that the same fabric can be more popular in Warsaw than in Żywiec, Szczecin or Silesia. Capital is always first to try new forms and designs like modern minimalism, expensive fabrics and blinds. With time Warsaw trends move to the other cities. This year trendy look was all about black and white colors and contrasts." - says Mrs. Bogusława.

Familly bussiness

The owners of Eurofirany spend a lot of time at work. "I’ve always had a vision how to things should look like, new ideas. In company I’m more into artistic things: choosing fabrics , patterns. I’m also responsible for recruiting people. My husband takes care of financial side of our business". When they are tired they like to go abroad. They already visited South America and Asia. "Wherever we go we always visit shops with fabrics, we even look into people’s windows just to see how they are decorated - laughs Mrs. Bogusława. Not very often you can see our curtains in tower blocks. Usually they are used to decorate private villas and apartments." And its no wonder. Imported curtains are quality brands. Visit in any of showrooms gives a lot of pleasure. Team of trained staff guarantee quality customer service from personal advise, color matching designs to visit at customer house, sewing, pining up decorations and assembling cornices. "Opening our first showroom in Bielsko-Biała in 2000 was a big challenge . We had in offer just warehouse sale and store with showroom was something totally different. You have to be sure that curtain maker is sewing properly and interior designer have a good taste. It takes a lot of skills. You can say we walk into an intimate world of privacy of our customers. We visit them at home and it often happens that each person expect something slightly different. You have to be a bit of psychologist to make all this expectations meet in one project. But our biggest success is to see whole family smiling faces after hanging new curtains in their windows." - they say.

International fairs and business clients meetings:

"Starting from 1993 every year we take part in International Fares in Frankfurt. Thanks to this fares we can update our offer in new and trendy patterns so we can satisfy even most demanding clients" - says Mr. Choczyński
Company also takes part in Fairs in Germany, Italy, China, Turkey, United States and Japan.
Also every year in May we participate in HOME DÉCOR fares in Poznań where we have been appreciated for display of designs. In 2004 we won "Śląski Kupiec Roku" award and "Złota Villa" award two years in a row in 2006 and 2007 for the best fabric called "Gabrielle". Right now we are nominated to win "IDEA AWARDS" for best press advertising project in 2007. From year 2000 in February and September company organize meetings with clients. We have visits from over 1000 clients from country and abroad. This is a great opportunity for professional trainings to exchange experiences or present new designs. We diversify meetings with elegant dinners, banquets and concerts with celebrities of polish music scene like: Golec uOrkiestra, Alicja Majewska, Grupa pod Budą, Gang Marcela, Bajm, Elektryczne Gitary, Kombi,Maryla Rodowicz, Krzysztof Krawczyk, Budka Suflera.

Recipe for success?...There is only one

"We love what we do and create new collections with passion-it gives us a lot of joy - continue Mrs. Choczyńska. Although Żywiec is far from everywhere we wouldn’t change headquarters location for anything. We are locals and we love our region with lake and woods around where you feel and think differently.
In nearby Milówka lives famous Bracia Golcowie. I keep going back to what they said once: that they coming back here from Warsaw to think things thru, clear their minds because there is something special in mountains, in highlanders character and mentality what help you to keep the distance to the world" - add Mrs. Choczyńska