Regina vacuum cleaners

Regina was a floor care company that started in 1892 making music boxes. Regina started out selling canister vacuums. By the 30s, they started selling upright cleaners, or "Electric Brooms". During WWII Regina made bomb fuses for the Allied Forces.

By the 70's they were selling carpet cleaners and shampooers. During the late 70's/early 80's, Regina was declining and losing money. Don Sheelen was hired away from Johnson & Johnson with a specific goal of turning the company around. His marketing and product development skills were far more advanced than what was the norm for this industry. CEO Sheelan was instrumental in a quick turnaround and advanced the company to the premier growth company in this industry. By the 80s, 90s, they were selling uprights and hand-held vacuums. During the 1980's Regina started to expand their business making small appliances for the Canadian market. CEO Don Sheelen led a group that purchased Regina in 1984. They introduced a portable whirlpool under the Homespa brand. CEO Don Sheelen created this market leading product.

The first generation of uprights were well made, in the mid 80's the then CEO of Regina Don Sheelan redesigned the uprights making major improvements with the help of his high performance management team. Don Sheelan invented the Regina Steemer--the first easy to use upright steam cleaner---a breakthrough product that created a whole new segment of floorcare. Don Sheelen is the creator of the "tools on board" upright vacuum cleaner, in the mid eighties---the model for over 90% of vacuum cleaners sold today, despite it being over 20 years since Don Sheelen invented it. Don Sheelen's talent for innovative IDeaS and drive to succeed brought a whole New Era to the industry of floor cleaning products. Don Sheelen's term as CEO had brought big changes to the whole industry.

The Regina logo changed during the years. There was a logo that lasted 1892 to the 1960s. Then it changed again in the 70s. The next change was in the 80s.

During the 1990's the Regina name went through a series of changes. It was purchased for in May 1995 by Phillips Electronics after a fierce bidding war with Bissel Inc. Then in March 1997 the Oreck Corp. took over the management from Phillips. According to Bruce Oreck, general counsel for Oreck Corp., the company planned to treat Regina much as it did its own Oreck brand --as an upper-tier line to be distributed by high-end retailers and through direct-response television. This strategy failed and in the year 2000 the Regina brand name was adopted by the Royal Corporation. They continued to make vacuum and carpet cleaners, now with a new logo. The Regina Brand is now a "house brand" of Home Depot.

During the early 90s,before the company's demise the dirty Peanuts character, Pig-Pen, was put on commercials for Regina. His dirt was sucked up by the Regina logo.