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Personalized Embroidery Drives Growth of Northfield Gift Shop
Northfiield, NJ – By the Sea Embroidery & Gifts has twice outgrown its location during its eight years in business, said owner Rosemary Schafer, of Ventnor.
Its new shop in London Square Mall on Tilton Road, which opened Dec. 10, sells clothing and gift items for babies, children and adults, and embroidering the recipient’s name is included in the price, Schafer said.
“Word of mouth does a lot,” Schafer said. “We had a very busy Christmas season for just being open.”
Much of her work is done for area businesses and other groups, Schafer said.
News Nearby: New Boutique Opens
Upper St.
Local Boutique Enjoys Holiday Success
Bedford, NY – It was a successful holiday season for local business Bubble & Tweet, who say they surpassed their numbers from last year.
Although the small, cozy boutique didn’t have customers lining up at midnight with bellies full of Thanksgiving dinner last month and there were no angry shoppers fighting over that last flat screen TV, the store caters to a different type of shopper. That, said manager Joy Zegras, is exactly why the business is so successful.
“The owner is a great buyer,” she said.
A SLP Business Born Out of Love For Cooking
St. Louis Park, MN – Susan Hanegan Burdorf has always loved to cook. The mother of two was constantly in the kitchen trying new recipes and teaching her children the joys of baking. With her children grown, the 61-year-old decided to turn her love of cooking into a business.
“I finally got to a point where life started to slow down a bit and I really wanted to do something for myself,” Hanegan Burdorf said. With her kids in college and her husband on the road for work, she decided to take a few cooking classes.
20th Annual Winter NYC Restaurant Week Offers Dining Discounts During NYIGF
White Plains, NY – The 20th Annual Winter NYC Restaurant Week™ will coincide with the New York International Gift Fair® (NYIGF®), January 28-February 2, 2012, offering dining discounts at more than 300 of the City’s most acclaimed restaurants to New York Market buyers and suppliers.
Dining establishments, throughout Manhattan and the boroughs, representing both casual and formal dining in a variety of cuisines, participate in this promotion, offering a $24.07 three-course prix-fixe lunch, and/or a $35 three-course prix-fixe dinner (excluding beverage, tax and gratuity).
Urban Trends Collection Opens Corporate Showroom in Dallas
Dallas, TX – December 28, 2011 – Dallas Market Center, the world’s most complete wholesale marketplace, and Urban Trends Collection, a leading home décor and decorative accessories manufacturer, today announced the opening of the Urban Trends Collection showroom in Dallas. The 3,400-square-foot showroom, located in World Trade Center 5-558, will feature the latest trends in home furnishings, garden accessories, accent pieces, and more. The showroom will make its market-time debut during the upcoming Dallas Total Home & Gift Market, January 18-24, 2012.
Wooster & Prince Introduces New Line of Vibrant and Sophisticated Cuff Bracelets
Following the successful launch of silver-plated Pendant Necklaces in 2011, Wooster & Prince continues to expand its line of beautiful gift items with the introduction of eye-catching Cuff Bracelets. Gold-plated with a luxe look and weight, these cuffs are the perfect arm candy to go with everything from your skinny jeans to your favorite cocktail dress.
“We created artwork for the cuffs that is extremely vibrant and playful yet has classic lines and colors that lend them a rich sophistication,” says designer and founder, Amy Ormond.
Gold & Maiden Boutique: ‘Hip’ Addition to the 600 Block
St. Petersburg, FL – “Fun.” “Hip” “Awesome prices.”
That’s how owner Torrie Tiernan Jasuwan describes her new retail shop on the 600 block.
The former model is no novice when it comes to fashion. With experience in New York, Jasuwan brings a fresh perspective to downtown St. Pete.
After the success of her first boutique, Bentley’s, Jasuwan just opened a second store nearby called Gold & Maiden.
Hayden Mom Turns Hobby into Business
Gardedale, AL – A Hayden woman has taken her hobby and turned it into a business.
About eight years ago, Angie Pressnell asked her mother to teach her to sew.
“When I had my second child, I used to see all the cute handmade things, but they were so expensive,” Pressnell said. “I knew there was no way I could afford to buy them.”
When Pressnell was a child, her mother made all of her clothes. After learning to sew for her own child, Pressnell then turned around and began to sell some of the items she made.
Farragut Hallmark Has New Owner
Farragut, TN – Farragut’s Hallmark location is under new ownership.
Linda and Al Underwood bought the Village Green landmark store from Charlotte and Don Dickerson, who were looking to retire.
Linda, who oversees day-to-day operations at the store, said she’s made a few changes since buying the business in August.
“One big difference in the store now is that, yes, we have Hallmark products. We have all the same products that were carried by Lisa’s Hallmark, but the non-Hallmark gift items are what we’ve expanded,” Linda said.
Urban Expositions Acquires Portland Gift & Accessories Show, Cash & Carry Trade Shows From Western Exhibitors
Urban Expositions has acquired the Portland Gift & Accessories Show, San Francisco Cash & Carry Show, Seattle Cash & Carry Show and Portland Cash & Carry Show from Western Exhibitors. The latest acquisitions are part of the continued western region growth strategy for Atlanta-based Urban Expositions, which purchased the San Francisco International Gift Fair and Seattle Gift Show from dmg world media in 2009 and launched the Las Vegas Souvenir & Resort Gift Show in 2007.
Central Louisiana Shoppers Storm Stores in The Rain
Alexandria, LA – Lizette Smith thought she would spend Monday doing laundry and catching up on some paperwork at her job.
The co-owner of Southern Chic, a gift boutique located at 3200 Jackson St., wasn’t planning to open the store on Monday.
“I thought I was gonna be here all day by myself today, but people were out and about,” Smith said, while helping a bride-to-be and mother with bridal gift registry items.
Her business partner, Shelley Johnson, went out of town to catch the New Orleans Saints’ game Monday night, and with Monday being the day after Christmas, she figur
A Savvy Shopper Resolution: Shop Local
In December 2009 — yes, I had to look through the archives for that date — I publicly promised readers that I would spend more dollars in locally owned stores in the upcoming year.
I’m happy to report that I have kept that promise. I’d let you check my bank statement, but, well, I’m not willing to let my promise become quite that public.
A growing number of shoppers are joining me.
In 2010, a new retail holiday celebrating local businesses — Small Business Saturday — was hatched to create buzz around Main Street during the Black Friday frenzy.
Everything Newtown Opens
Newtown, CT – A shopping adventure awaits anyone who enters Everything Newtown, a gift shop located in the space once occupied by Newtown Drug Center.
The store on Church Hill Road offers a wide variety of choices for shoppers, including clothing, jewelry, kitchen tools, candy, maple syrup, honey, house plants and party supplies.
When first entering the store, patrons might think everything in the store pertains to Newtown, as its name implies. But customers soon discover the name also refers to the Newtown store with “everything” in it.
Buy Local Campaign Brings Boost to Small Businesses
Orono, ME – Starting with Small Business Saturday, this shopping season brought a boost to small businesses, with some owners reporting a sales increase of 150 percent.
“We’ve had a huge increase this year,” said Jason Lainsbury, owner of Maine Maven in Orono.
“We’re up about one and a half times what we were last Christmas season.”
He credits the movement to buy local and support small business owners.
Friends Launch Gift Shop in Brighton
Brighton, MI – Longtime friends Cathy Dedakis and Annette Jacoby enjoy shopping in downtown Brighton and were saddened when His Bible & Book House closed its doors last year.
After doing their homework, the two decided to sass up Brighton in their own way. They opened their shop, Sassafrass Gifts, this month and filled in part of the vacancy left by His Bible & Book House, which had one of the largest storefronts in the downtown area.
Unique Craft Store Opens in Mt. Holly Springs
Mt. Holly Springs, PA – The time for Christmas decorations has already come and gone, but finding new decor should be easy for anyone who makes a stop at 2B’s Country Crafts, Antiques & Collectibles in Mt. Holly Springs this post-holiday season.
Since October, the store, located at 15 S. Baltimore St., owned by craft show veteran Bunny Robinson, has brought craft show goods to a convenient retail location with regular hours.
The craft
Robinson got her start with craft shows 12 years ago, when she was just doing crafts by request on the side.
Helping Local Stores Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas
Colesville, MD – Towns and cities throughout the state are encouraging residents to shop local this holiday season, pointing out that small businesses make up about 98 percent of the state’s employers. Plus, if you’ve procrastinated, your local shop is just around the corner.
A small business is considered a business with less than 500 employees. According to the Maryland Small Business Association, there were 526,663 small businesses in the state in 2008.
As the holidays approached this year, U.S.
Ho, Ho, Holy Smokes Year Ends on a Positive Note for Merchants in Fredericton
Fredericton, NB – Downtown Fredericton retailers are celebrating the end of a solid Christmas sales season.
Retailers started their sales earlier in November, rather than waiting for a December rush and that’s paid off as they prepared to close for the holidays Saturday.
The good weather so far this winter is another factor that seemed to have gotten shoppers out hitting the streets.
On Saturday, businesses in the city centre were still wrapping up packages for last-minute customers.