Archives: News
East Montpelier sugar house adds post-and-beam ‘dream’
The economy may be sour but business remains sweet at the Bragg Farm Sugar House in East Montpelier, whose gift shop and mail order business is thriving despite the current downturn.
There’s a big, clear sign that Bragg’s is doing well, rising next door to the gift shop in the shape of a spectacular post-and-beam carriage house-style barn.
CatArt Launches Line of Original Art Note Cards
(TENNESSEE) — Cat lovers are in for a treat. CatArt Cards is introducing an exquisite line of note cards featuring fine art portraits of cats. The finely rendered depictions, by artist Johnnie Scoutten, are almost photographic in their realism.
Packaged as a set of eight cards with premium envelopes, CatArt cards is initiating the line with two featured portraits – My Tabby and Just a Baby.
Custom Furniture to Kitsch—It’s all in the Stores
Catherine Macfee’s Rubicon Collection in Tahoe City and Cathy Nason’s Spirit Interior Design in Truckee not only showcase retail furniture and accessories but also give would-be clients the gist of each designer’s aesthetic.
Macfee’s lakeside shop feels warm and exciting, Nason’s renovated 100-year-old corner warm and serene.
There’s a sense of adventure and playfulness in Rubicon, where the star is Macfee’s own collection of upholstered chairs and couches, which are being rebranded in a new line called C.M. Cartouche.
All in the family
Plymouth, MA – Needless to say, there probably weren’t too many women who owned their own business in Plymouth 90 years ago.
Fourth generation John Alden Gift Shop owner Laurie Gibbs wonders what it was like for her great grandmother Mae, when she and her husband, Willard, opened the store in 1918, two years before women won the right to vote.
“Everyone is surprised it was my great grandmother who started it,” Gibbs said.
Following in the footsteps of her great grandmother, Gibbs and her husband, Jon, took ownership of the gift shop in 1994 after her father, John Parsons,
York to a T: Hoodies, shell motifs top-sellers at the beach
When it comes to beach attire, the itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny polka-dot bikini may hold a place of honor all its own, but this year, T-shirt and souvenir shop owners in York Beach Square say hooded sweatshirts are their best-selling item.
“I only have one crewneck (style) in the shop,” said Carol Burnham, manager of Joan’s Beach and Gift, when discussing the popularity of “hoodies” which have been strong sellers for the past few years.
Business of being green in 10th year
K at Schon and Penney Stephenson, who co-own Portland Store Fixtures, use both sides of their post-consumer recycled paper before they re-recycle it or use it for scrap.
Their invoices and envelopes tend to have another company’s name crossed out and theirs stamped on.
New home for Pine Cone Gift Shoppe
Uniontown, Ohio – The Pine Cone Gift Shoppe is celebrating a new location and six years in business. Gary Chapman, moved his gift shoppe to Uniontown four months ago. Prior to that the Pine Cone was located in Hartville.
Chapman said customer service is the specialty of his store.
Planet Dog Foundation awards $10,000 grant to Reeve Foundation
Portland, Maine — The Planet Dog Foundation, which promotes and celebrates programs in which dogs serve and support their best friends, announced today that it awarded a $10,000 grant to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. The donation matches a $10,000 Quality of Life grant for a total award of $20,000 to the Bonnie Bergin Assistance Dog Institute in Santa Rosa, CA.
Created by the late Dana Reeve, Quality of Life grants are awarded twice a year to organizations that improve the day-to-day quality of life for people living with paralysis.
Cynthia Webb Supports STANDUP for KIDS Fund Raiser
What happens when you combine surfing, serving the community and solar-powered music? If you’re San Diego pewter gift designer Cynthia Webb, you create a one-of-a-kind pendant for the 4th Annual Switchfoot Bro-Am surf contest and concert at Encinitas’s Moonlight Beach.
Owl Book & Gift Shop hosts local author
Owl Book & Gift Shop welcomed Sheree Fitch to town, providing the well-known author an opportunity to promote not just her children’s books, but a new adult fiction novel entitled Kiss the Joy as it Flies.
Owl co-owner Paula Morris organized the entire day and made arrangements for Queen Street to be closed down for the event.
After introductions by fellow co-owner John Carmont, Mayor Art Slipp welcomed Fitch while holding a copy of her children’s book Toes in my Nose.
Expanding AmericasMart is a hit with buyers
Five times a year, fashion buyers from around the country descend on Building 3 of AmericasMart in downtown Atlanta to buy the latest sportswear, trendy handbags, jewelry and prom dresses for their boutiques, department stores or other retail stores.
On Aug.
The Secret is out, shops are in
To try and spread the word about the different stores in Zimmerman, District 5 County Commissioner Rachel Leonard organized a shopping excursion.
On Thursday, July 24, a group of six women, who normally meet for weekly coffee, decided to take a walking/driving tour of six different shops in the Main Street of Zimmerman area.
Taris Savell: Emerald Turtle gift store opens Gulf Breeze location
Lynn Hoffman-Lashier has opened a second Emerald Turtle gift store in the Publix/Seashell Shopping Center, 864 Gulf Breeze Parkway.
“The new location is similar to the downtown shop at 21 S. Palafox Place, though we have a lot of new and different items in this one. It is very unique to Gulf Breeze and Pensacola,” she said.
The inventory is diverse, although the new location is a bit smaller than the downtown location’s 3,000 square feet. Merchandise includes cards and stationery, books, sea-inspired gifts, pottery, candles, spa products, contemporary signs and artwork.
Small stationery company wins big at international show
Houston – Houston art and gift producer, gratefulimages, won the Total Exhibitor Award at this year’s International Christian Retail Show July 14-17 in Orlando, FL. After being in business for six years and exhibiting at the show for only their 2nd time, the family-owned company was extremely proud and honored to receive the award.
At the show, hundreds of leading publishers, recording companies, gift manufacturers, and other suppliers covered the 130,000-square-foot expanse of the Orange County Convention Center.
Pekin shop wins “ultimate makeover”
Pekin, Illinois – A Pekin business will soon get an “ultimate makeover,” compliments of Gift Shop Magazine.
On June 10, Mary Haynes of Pekin, owner of the Kountry Nook gift shop, 212 N. Capitol St., received the news that she was the winner of Gift Shop Magazine’s “Ultimate Makeover Contest” this year. However there is a catch – Haynes didn’t know the contest existed, much less enter it.
Scarlet Coers, manager of the gift shop, said on Wednesday that in May, while at a gift show in Las Vegas, she picked up a copy of Gift Shop Magazine.
Business steady, sweet for Fox Valley confection shops
The candy business is considered a “mature industry.”
That maturity — coming from centuries of marketing experience — allows candy retailers to avoid major dips in sluggish economies.
For local candy and chocolate stores, that means customers still come in to buy their favorite treats even while they’re disappointed because they can’t upgrade to an HDTV or trade in their car.
“It is, to me, an affordable luxury,” said Liz Garvey, co-owner of Wilmar Chocolates on Appleton’s north side.
Shop local and save gas
Pace resident Yolando Peacher has a decision to make each time she goes shopping or eats out: Does she spend $4 per gallon for the 17-mile round-trip to get to Pensacola, or does she stay closer to home?
More often than not, closer to home wins out.
“Obviously, if you can get the same quality and the same atmosphere closer to home, that’s a win-win situation,” Peacher said.
Woman shares a few of her favorite things at Bittersweet
Brockport — More than 30 years ago, Darlene Trento moved to Brockport from Newburgh, Orange County, an hour north of New York City, for what she thought would be a temporary stay in the quaint village while attending State University College at Brockport. She fell in love with the area and never left.
Today, Trento is the owner of Bittersweet, an eclectic gift shop and boutique in the heart of the village on Main Street, which she has owned for the past 27 years.
“I saw an opportunity to open a shop in Brockport,” says Trento, 47.
El Dorado Springs downtown revitalization begins as dream
Four years ago Jack Tough did not think much about why so many downtown El Dorado Springs buildings were boarded up or used for storage.
A Troy tradition: businesswomen
Troy — Dana Rudolph remembers applying for a bank loan to open her first business in 1977. The form asked for the owner’s name and then for the wife’s name.
“But I don’t have a wife,” she said to the banker.
And she didn’t get the loan.
But Rudolph launched her business career anyway. Today, she operates Dana Rudolph and Co., a bead shop at 209-211 River St.