For over 150 years, the city of Sherrill, New York has been known as “The Silver City,” its identity forged in the craft of flatware manufacturing. The industry began here in the 1860s when New England silversmiths joined the Oneida community, and over generations, Oneida Limited grew to become the world’s largest flatware manufacturer.
But by 2005, facing intense competition from Asia, Oneida Limited decided to end its American manufacturing operations. “At the end, they realized they could buy a box of flatware fully produced in Asia cheaper than they could source the raw material here in the United States,” explained Greg Owens.
That’s when Owens and Matt Roberts stepped in to save the factory and its legacy. They purchased the Civil War-era facility, determined to keep American flatware manufacturing alive. It wasn’t just about preserving jobs; it was about maintaining a craft that had defined their community for generations.
“I would say that of our current staff, probably a third of them worked for Oneida Limited and they came over with us when we made the transition,” said Roberts. “This is multi-generational. You can’t run into anybody in town that doesn’t have a direct family member or themselves had worked for this company.”
Their journey wasn’t easy. The 2008 financial crisis hit just as they were transitioning from contract manufacturing to building their own brand. “When the economy goes down, everybody goes down with it,” Owens said. By 2010, facing bankruptcy, they made a pivotal decision: they launched their brand, Liberty Tabletop, in the Amazon store.
“Amazon was integral in helping us get our brand established and creating revenue that sustained us going forward,” said Owens. The economics proved crucial to their survival. While traditional retail channels often demanded up to 90% markup on their products, Amazon’s fees were just 15%. “That’s minuscule compared to traditional retail,” Roberts explained. This allowed Liberty Tabletop to keep a larger portion of each sale while maintaining their commitment to American manufacturing.
Today, Liberty Tabletop reaches customers through multiple channels. “We go directly through the Amazon store. And we also go directly through our own website, which is libertytabletop.com,” explained Owens. “And we also partner with other made-in-USA stores so that we can get the best possible US flatware to our customers.” The Amazon store now represents about 35% of their branded sales.
This multi-channel approach, with Amazon as a key component, has been transformative. From $30,000 in sales their first three months, the company now regularly achieves that in a single day. “As we grew on Amazon, our brand grew,” Owens explained. “It’s really kind of turned into this exponential growth that started with this little seed.”
Amazon’s suite of tools has been instrumental in this growth. Their brand store showcases their American-made commitment and over 40 different flatware designs. Through A+ Content, they highlight key features like their American-sourced steel and proprietary manufacturing techniques. “As a small business, we need to make every effort count,” explained Will Owens, sales and marketing manager. “Amazon’s AI tools have helped us create better content and optimize our advertising, while Amazon Business has opened doors to government and institutional customers - from West Point to naval vessels in the Arabian Sea.”
This success has allowed Liberty Tabletop to maintain their exacting standards. Each piece is crafted from American-sourced steel and inspected individually. They source materials locally whenever possible, from boxes made 20 miles away in Sherburne, New York, to polishing compounds from nearby Utica. “What makes us unique is our etching process for designs,” explained Roberts. “If you bought our Woodstock pattern in the year 2175, and your great-great-grandmother bought it in 2025, and you put the pieces next to each other, you couldn’t tell the difference. No one else in the world can do that.”
For the 67 employees at Liberty Tabletop, many from families with generations of experience in flatware manufacturing, this success goes beyond business growth. It represents the preservation of crucial manufacturing skills and a community’s heritage.
“When you buy a product like Liberty Tabletop, you’re buying it from people just like you - your neighbors, your friends, people that want to make your life better,” said Roberts. “Your money is going to the people that actually made the product, they touched it with their hands, they looked at it, they fixed it, they buffed it, they did it with pride.”
Through their partnership with Amazon and their multi-channel strategy, Liberty Tabletop is ensuring that this piece of American manufacturing heritage will continue for generations to come.
“We want flatware to be manufactured in Sherrill, New York a hundred years from now,” said Roberts.