SHARON, Pa. – Karen Winner Sed was working as a nurse in the mid-1980s when her father put out a call to his four children, inviting them to work with him and learn how to start a business.
Her father didn’t know how many new businesses he’d start after that “so if anybody wanted to learn how to build a business from the ground up, we should join him now,” she said. “I thought, yeah, I think I’d like to learn that.”
The company her father was starting was Winner International, a security products company that markets The Club vehicle anti-theft device.
She never returned to nursing. Winner Sed is the CEO of the Winner Companies, based in Sharon, Pa.
Winner International expanded into personal security with pepper sprays and other type of devices for automobiles and homes.
“But in the last five years, as you know, crime has been climbing up again,” Winner Sed says. “And certain car manufacturers have had some bad press about how easy it is to steal their cars.”
The Club is regaining in popularity.
Her father, James E. Winner Jr., went on to build many other businesses too.
“As far as downtown Sharon, we have a whole new energy there,” Winner Sed says. There are new businesses and an art scene “that continues to grow a renewed interest in the history,” she says. “Cooperation has been incredibly high from our city.”
Sharon provides a lot of support for events downtown, Winner Sed says.
“I find the city to be very supportive,” she says. “They help us with every event. They work towards aesthetics in downtown.”
To keep attracting people and businesses, the region must focus on health care and housing, Winner Sed says.
“There’s more opportunity for tourism here,” she adds. “When you look up and down State Street, there are many things we could do [to generate] more tourism around experiences.”
The younger generation craves experiences rather than things, Winner Sed says.
Winner International moved to Sharon a few years after it started and company representatives started to talk with other business people about developing the Shenango River as an asset.
Events center around the river such as the Small Ships Review and WaterFire. There’s outdoor dining along it and people fish in and kayak on the river.
In 2021, the Shenango River earned the state’s River of the Year Award.
“The river is one of our greatest assets in downtown,” Winner Sed says. “How many downtowns would love to have a river running through it. And now that we have the green space, I hope to see some of that activity be focused or tied into river activity.”
Pictured at top: James E. Winner Jr., Karen’s father, died in 2010.