Avon Products has been one of the foremost beauty supply stores in America since 1886. During that time, Mrs. P.F.E. Albee became the first Avon representative, and she began selling perfumes in New Hampshire. Since these early days Avon, Avon Products would expand from New Hampshire to include southern locations, and opened Avon beauty supply stores in georgia. These included the opening of beauty supply stores in decatur ga, as well as Avon atlanta., Avon continued its growth, and in 1920, its sales topped one million dollars for the first time.
The tradition of the Avon sales representative has been well known for decades. Viola Morse, who worked as an Avon Products representative during the 1950s and 1960s, encompasses such a tradition. Although she did not own an automobile, Ms. Morse would routinely walk upwards of 4 miles to visit her Avon customers, regardless of the harsh New England winters.
Since its inception, Avon products has become an icon among American sellers of beauty products; and the company has grown into a company of approximately 6.5 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives, whose reach spans internationally. In the late twentieth century, Avon continued to evolve in both scope and technology. For instance, in 1991 Avon became the first cosmetics company to make alpha hydroxy (AHA) technology available to the mass market.
