Oriental Trading Company
American company
Oriental Trading Company is a direct merchant of value-priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys, novelties, and school supplies. It was founded in 1932 as a wholesaling company. It is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. Alternative known names for Oriental Trading Company include "Oriental Trading" & "OTC".
History
The company was founded as a gift shop in 1932 in Omaha, Nebraska, by Harry Watanabe. The company expanded to 17 shops in the Midwest. During World War II, with restrictions against imports from Japan, the company shrank back to its Omaha base. Watanabe then bought a ceramic shop which made Kewpie dolls and other ceramic items.
In 1954 the company resumed its imports from Japan and was a major carnival supplier and in 1956 it launched its first catalog.
In 1977 Watanabe's son Terrance Watanabe became president and its focus shifted from carnivals to supplying party goods for churches, schools, retailers, and individuals.
The public source identifies “Oriental Trading Company” as american company. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Oriental, Trading and Company.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7102378. VIAF identifies the subject as 137595475. The Library of Congress control number is no2008075977. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932, 1954, 1956 and 1977.
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This entry incorporates text from “Oriental Trading Company” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.