Entrepreneur runs colorful business out of Sinking Spring warehouse

by Steve Reinbrecht

Victor Branecki didn’t plan on running a business from Sinking Spring. He agrees he ended up there.

But from a warehouse off Queen Street, he expects to flood the world with playfully colorful, customizable handbags.

He was reluctant to have me take pictures inside, suggesting I post professional shots of the bags, with models, from his website.

Branecki, a serial entrepreneur, started a wholesale computer-recycling about 10 years ago in the building, tucked next to the railroad tracks. That business employs about eight people, including drivers, technicians and office help.

He started the online handbag-and-accessory business -- Sobo Fashion -- two years ago, with his longtime girlfriend, Marta Gusztyn. 

He ships a few hundred bags a month, mailing them out by US post, which he says is reliable and has good prices.

It’s still a start-up, he said. He spent about the first year in preparation. After he and Gusztyn designed the bags, he hired manufacturers in Poland and China. A marketing company in Philadelphia takes care of his website.

He expects the business to grow after this spring’s fashion shows.

“The internet is huge,” he said. “Everything takes time and patience.”

Branecki grew up in Poland and spent two years in Athens before getting a visa to work in the United States in 1989.

He took a job in New Holland, where he felt out of place – a city boy in a tiny rural town that often smelled like manure. He then got a production job at Baldwin Brass and moved to Sinking Spring.

Beside the computer business, he said he’s had commercial cleaning and real-estate enterprises.

He started Sobo Fashion without getting a loan. He wouldn't say his investment in the project. The business is Internet based, but also sells bags and accessories in boutiques in New York City.

Branecki plans to focus more on markets in the West and South, where the warmer weather better accommodates Sobo’s style. He’s getting ready for a show in Las Vegas in March and one in Fort Lauderdale.

The bags are made from EVA, which is durable, flexible and colorful. They cost about $200. Customers choose from 12 colors, and can pick from 25 trim styles and 19 kinds of handles, all of which can be interchanged. Sobo also sells sunglasses. Customers can choose from four frames and four lens colors.