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New Artists, Product Trends Mark Beckman’s Handcrafted Gift Show
Chicago – This January, Beckman’s Handcrafted Gift Show, the renowned brand of shows for handcrafted and artisan products, will excite buyers with its showcase of new artists and product trends that meet growing consumer demand for distinctive and one-of-a-kind gifts and home decor.
Black Friday: Who Will Shop and How Could It Impact the Bottom Line?
St. Louis – A recent Maritz(R) Poll found that one-third of respondents (37 percent) plan to shop on the day after Thanksgiving.
How to fight big-box stores, grow your business and win
A downtown business can start with a good idea, but successful owners also need strategic marketing plans, the hardiness to compete with big-box retailers, and a product — and atmosphere — customers find unique, Central Jersey business owners say.
A successful merchant, they add, also must have the business savvy to read the fine print on municipal ordinances, understand a town’s rules, and know the various regulations — even those for displaying signs — that can impact a store’s presentation and visibility to potential customers.
But still, all of this can be a risky business.
Fo
Downtown retail is developing
University of Kentucky students had lunch in September from Firehouse Subs, one of the rental tenants in the Center Court development on South Upper Street.
Consumers Slow to Start Holiday Shopping, According to NRF Survey
Washington, November 12, 2007 – Retailers who are concerned that holiday sales aren’t living up to expectations needn’t worry: shoppers are off to a slow start. According to the National Retail Federation’s 2007 Holiday Consumer Intentions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, most consumers (71.4%) have less than ten percent of their holiday shopping completed. Young adults 18-24 are the least prepared with three-fourths of them (76.2%) finished with less than ten percent of their shopping.
Stores that stand the test of time
Shoppers have their favorite stores. They might sell unique earrings or barbecue grills, porcelain figurines or the latest shoes. The quality, variety and selection of goods, of course, are the heart of the draw.
But it’s the extras that truly make the impression.
It’s a shop where you’ve gone for years and still have things bought on your first few visits.
It’s a place where you find old-fashioned customer service, where you know the staff isn’t just reciting lines designed to cultivate clientele.
Sure, people love what’s trendy and new.
Business still brisk for handful still open on Wildwoods B’walk
North Wildwood – Two visitors ask a passerby to take their picture on the Boardwalk, with the beach and crashing surf in the background.
Nothing remarkable, except in this snapshot of a day at the shore the visitors are wearing sweatpants instead of swimsuits.
This is fall on the Wildwoods Boardwalk, when temperatures run in the 50s instead of the 90s.
There are no beach balls in play or sand castles under construction, but there are dedicated joggers in shorts, bicyclists, dog walkers and other Boardwalk fans, bundled in winter coats, out for a stroll.
“It’s nice to walk out there
Fair market values – Shopping movement offers guilt-free gifts
Think of it as your personal contribution to peace on Earth this holiday season. A combination of South Sound shops and church-sponsored events offers you the chance to purchase fairly traded gift items crafted by artisans from Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
What is fair trade?
It’s a growing movement designed to ensure producers of goods around the world are paid fair wages for their work.
Out of the Way Is A-OK for These Retailers
Lake Wales | In the retail world, an age-old real estate slogan is the oft-quoted mantra: Location, location, location. Retailers pay premium dollar for high-traffic areas, choosing to cluster with other retail stores in malls and strip shopping centers. So how are retailers in out-of-the-way places making ends meet?
Sioux Falls is becoming your plaza mecca
Sioux Falls has some new retail corners that are giving neighborhoods in the southern area of the city shopping appeal.
These new plazas are a far cry from the plain one-story, sheet metal or cinder block strip malls of days gone by.
Developments have romantic names, like Waterfall Plaza, Heather Ridge and several with “village” in their titles, especially in the south and southwestern parts of town.
New restaurants, bars and coffee shops are just waiting to become favorite hangouts.
Holiday hiring time not joyful; Retailers expected to add fewer workers
Odds are greater this year that the person who rings up your holiday purchases will be a year-round worker rather than someone hired for the season.
If labor trends hold, retailers will add fewer temporary workers this year than last, marking the second consecutive decline in holiday hiring.
Holiday fever: Start your shopping engines
Christmas came early to Lakeside Avenue this year, and it’s sticking around.
The first ever “Holly Jolly Christmas” weekend united shops along the 1
Store gazing
Never have I been so excited to not find a parking space.
Last Friday night, as I drove around and around and around downtown Bangor, I noticed something unusual. Not only had the sidewalks not been rolled up —it was 6:15, after all — but there were actually people milling about. Lots of them.
For years, people have been talking about a Main Street renaissance. This weekend, it actually felt like a reality.
Return Fraud to Hit $3.7 Billion this Holiday Season, According to NRF Survey
Washington, November 7, 2007 – As retailers across the country gear up for increased holiday sales, they are also bracing for higher returns, some of which will be fraudulent. According to the National Retail Federation’s second annual Return Fraud Survey, loss prevention executives anticipate that nearly nine percent (8.93%) of holiday returns will be fraudulent, up slightly from 8.67 percent last year. As a result, return fraud will cost retailers an estimated $3.7 billion this holiday season, up from $3.5 billion last year. Retailers will lose $10.8 billion to return fraud in 2007.
Get Lost in a (bigger) Country
Snow Hill — It might be called Lost in the Country, but this gift shop is actually located right in the middle of downtown Snow Hill.
Lost in the Country, the gift shop owned by Susanne and Kevin Timmons, recently moved from its location on Washington Street to the former Western Auto building on Green Street.
“We went from 500 square feet to 1,840 square feet,” Susanne Timmons said. “It’s amazing how much I had in that small space.
Doing Laundry, Shoveling Snow or Shopping at the Mall: Yahoo! Poll Finds Holiday Mall Shopping Is the Real Chore
Sunnyvale, Calif.–According to a new Yahoo!
New York Market Producers Launch Cooperative Marketing Campaign
White Plains, NY – Four New York Market entities – tradeshow producer George Little Management, LLC (GLM) and permanent showroom buildings 41 Madison, 230 Fifth Avenue and 7 West 34th Street – have extended their partnership to include a cooperative marketing campaign: “New York Market: Built for Business.”
Effective immediately, a new “New York Market: Built for Business” tagline and logo will be utilized in all individual and collective marketing, reflecting increased cooperation and synergy between the various market locations.
Pacific Market Center tenant, Park Avenue Agents, hosts sample sale holiday fundraising event
Seattle – Park Avenue Agents of Pacific Market Center will host its 15th “Gift for Life” sample sale benefiting The American Foundation for Aids Research (amfAR). Donated merchandise including everything from gifts, toys and books to home accessories will be available for purchase by the public in Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood beginning November 7 and will continue until December 30, 2007.
The Seattle sample sale features donated products from many Pacific Market Center wholesale showrooms including Bettencourt, OneCoast, and Bunches.
Buffalo Games Wins Creative Child Magazine Preferred Choice Award
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo Games, makers of the Monster Maker card game, have been granted a Creative Child Magazine 2007 Preferred Choice Award in the “card games for kids” category. Monster Maker is an outrageous race to create colorful Monsters by trading and exchanging “parts cards” with opponents or drawing from the “garbage pile”. A creative Monster Maker storybook is also included in each pack. The game can be played by 2-5 players and is recommended for children 6 years and up.
“Watching kids play this game puts a smile on my face,” said Paul Dedrick, president of Buffalo Games.
Sierra Nevada Fine Art Photographer Announces New ‘Nature’s Fine Art’ Tiles
Carson Valley, NV – Wolfgang ‘Wolf’ Kohz, popular Sierra Nevada landscape photographer and Tahoe-area resident since 1966, announces the launch of his new Nature’s Fine Art tiles. These 9-3/8″ square ceramic tiles are handsomely framed in mahogany, and feature a variety of floral, leaf, stone and shell portraits, as well as landscapes, from original photographs taken in the beautiful Sierra Nevada.These tiles, recently introduced in several Reno-Tahoe art galleries, make affordable wall or bookshelf art for home decor or gift giving.