About Us

OVER A CENTURY OF HISTORY IN SEATTLE, WA

T.W. Carrol & Co. has been in business for over 117 years. We are now in our fourth generation of management. Andrew Carrol has been full time in the business since 2000 and now manages the day to day operations. Joe Carrol, who took over from his father in 1974, is still is active in the business.
T.W. Carrol & Co. has repaired luggage since the 1950s when Pan Am and Northwest Airlines asked Ted (T.W.) if he could repair a passenger’s damaged luggage. The repair business grew from there. Today T.W. Carrol & Co. is one of the largest and most respected luggage repair facilities in the country. We repair luggage for individuals, for most airlines serving Seatac International Airport, and do warranty and non-warranty work for most major luggage manufacturers. Our intuitional knowledge and vast supply of parts, new and old, give us a great advantage. We receive repair work from all over the country every day.
Our knowledge of luggage and travelware does not stop at repairs. At T.W. Carrol and Company, we sell most of the major brands of luggage. Our experienced sales people are able to provide help to find you the best travel goods for the type of traveling you do.

Over the years, we have worked with many different manufacturers. One of the first manufacturers founder George Carrol did business with was Schwayer Brothers. Today they are still one of our major suppliers, but now we all know them as Samsonite.
Family beside the Luggages — Bags in Tukwila, WA
Suitcase Lock — Bags in Tukwila, WA
All this knowledge did not come quickly. George Carrol founded the company in 1900 at 519 1 st Ave in the area of Seattle now known as Pioneer Square. He started small, selling leather goods and trunks. In 1915 he left his partner in Seattle and moved his family to Anchorage, which was booming with the building of the Alaska Railroad. In Anchorage he sold luggage, leather goods of all kinds and custom made shoes and boots. When World War l started and the work on the railroad stopped, George moved his family back to Seattle.
In about 1945, Ted Carrol took over the business and it was under his management that the business took a major wholesale turn which continued when Joe Carrol took over from Ted in 1974.

It was Ted who developed our wholesale accounts and reestablished our ties to Anchorage. Around 1949, Ted began making sales trips to Alaska carrying, not only luggage and leather goods, but also some gift lines and other small items like nail clippers and Zippo lighters. In the early 1950’s Ted moved our operations to 1921 2nd Ave.

Ted continued to pass on his valuable knowledge and come to the office into the 1980’s. Joe is now doing as his father did and continues to pass on knowledge to Andrew. We continue our thriving wholesale division and retail showroom.

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