Commonwealth success comes in many packages

At Commonwealth Packaging Co. in Harrisburg, packaging is not just the family business: it's an intergenerational affair.

Jay Maisel started the company 38 years ago in his basement. At that time, the housewares salesman decided it was time to venture out on his own.

In the company's humble early years, Maisel made ends meet by selling brown paper bags to "mom and pop" businesses. Later, the current chairman of the board managed to hire employees and moved up to more expensive matching packaging.

"The business didn't really start to take off until the mid 1970s," he explains. And take off it did. He moved the company to its current home at 5490 Linglestown Road in …