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Neighborhood store welcomes everyone
For 54 years, King Hardware has been a neighborhood hardware store located in the Uptown Shopping Center at 4834 Line Ave.
Expanding its store about three years ago, owner Kathy Carruth and family felt like the area needed a gift store that offers personalized items available for everyone.
With that in mind, the store opened in an old Eckerd’s just next door, changing the name to King Hardware and Fancy.
“The ‘Fancy’ was added to show off our home décor and gift items,” Carruth said.
Originally, the store sold only hardware items, but now “we are able to combine mer
A lot of spice: Savory opens shop in Boulder
“Honey, could you pick up some Moroccan pink rosebuds and some smoked chardonnay sea salt on your way home?”
Such a request became a lot more plausible when Savory Spice opened a shop in Boulder last week on Broadway just north of Pearl Street. For lovers of exotic tastes, as well as a fresher versions of the staples in every household, the shop is a welcome addition to the local scene.
Gourmet Housewares Show Returns to San Francisco
White Plains, NY — The Gourmet Housewares Show, the premier marketplace for upscale housewares and culinary products, today announced both location and date changes, beginning with the 2009 edition.
After a four-year stint in Las Vegas and Orlando, The Gourmet Housewares Show will return to San Francisco, the heart of the culinary industry, where it first launched in 1977. The annual Show will move into a summer time slot to better serve independent retailers fourth quarter buying needs, while also allowing vendors to preview 2010 collections.
Inaugural Balloniversity Draws New Customers to Summer Markets
Bogart, GA – For more than 20 years, florists, balloon retailers and members of the gift industry have flocked to Bogart, GA each summer for an intensive four-day training session. This year, burton + BURTON decided to make the award winning training available to more people by taking the event “On the Road.”
Condensed, one-day training events were held recently during the Summer Gift Markets at AmericasMart in Atlanta and the Chicago Merchandise Mart.
James Avery Opens New Store in Pearland, Texas
Kerrville, Texas–James Avery, a family-owned jewelry retailer, opened its newest store in Pearland Town Center on July 30th at 11200 Broadway Street, Pearland, Texas. The store features an extensive selection of designs offered in numerous metals, sizes, gemstones, and accessories. The new James Avery at Pearland Town Center is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
DMC names 2008 Total Home & Gift Retail Advisory Board
DALLAS –– Dallas Market Center, the world’s largest wholesale merchandise resource, today announced the recent appointment of its 2008 Total Home & Gift Retail Advisory Board.
Members of the prestigious Retail Advisory Board, selected by Dallas Market Center management and exhibitors, provide valuable feedback on the gift and home décor industry and how markets can better serve retailers. The Retail Advisory Board is comprised of 10 members who represent a variety of gift and home décor stores located throughout the United States. Members serve terms of up to two years.
Kay Berry launches Custom Engraved Stones
SAXONBURG, PA — Personalized products have been a big part of our successful relationships with retailers nationwide for over 15 years. We’ve now gone one step further by introducing Custom Engraved Stones.
In response to consumer and retailer requests, we have added the ability to produce etched Marble shapes along with Granite free form shapes. We are also engraving onto Pennsylvania Bluestone and Tennessee Whitestone and many of our most popular shapes of Kay Berry cast stone pieces.
Specializing in the Sweet Stuff
Whether they sell cookies, cupcakes or yogurt, businesses that hawk sweets have become all the rage in the Los Angeles area in recent years.
Now the trend of sugary-oriented establishments is hitting the Conejo Valley, the home of three new such businesses as well as of an industry mainstay.
For the past three years at least, Danny Margolis, vice president of Command Performance Catering, has seen a spike in interest in businesses that feature sweets bars, cupcakes and the like. His company routinely refers clients to businesses that specialize in providing sweets.
Pharmacy roots run deep in Monroe County
Forsyth, Georgia–Jep Castleberry says he never had to wonder what career he would follow when he was growing up in Forsyth.
His father, Jeptha Edgar Castleberry Jr., ran the pharmacy that his father, Jeptha Edgar Castleberry Sr., had owned before him.
“When they had career days at school, I went but didn’t need to.
Sassy sister talks of Shimmer & Chic success
Talking shop with Cyndie Grimes of Shimmer & Chic in Fort Myers: Grimes owns the store along with her two sisters, Teri Hansen and Kathi Graham.
The three sisters banded together to create their company, Sassy Sisters, while each continues to pursue careers in nursing, marketing and education.
“We were going to open a store in North Carolina, but it worked out that we opened this store temporarily. We had a huge Christmas event and did so well that season and we ended up staying there,” said Grimes.
Pittsburgh’s Strip District Tickles Visitors’ Senses
Pittsburgh, PA — The smells of basil, Chinese food, fish and baked goods linger in the humid air along Penn Avenue, mixing with the sweat and grime of packed sidewalks and outdoor vendors.
Children cling to their parents’ hands and young couples stroll leisurely while elderly people zip in and out of stores they have known for generations.
It’s Saturday at Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District, an area stuffed with mom-and-pop businesses, gourmet food stores and eccentric gift shops.
Rising prices stifle impact of stimulus payments
Washington—Rising prices, falling home values, stagnant wages and tight credit.
Cracking Down on Sales of Stolen Goods
Washington— The push by retailers for stronger cooperation from flea markets and online marketplaces to police and report stolen merchandise is gaining steam on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers introduced a pair of bills in the House and Senate last week aimed at cracking down on organized retail crime, a growing problem that has cast retailers as the victims of a criminal industry costing as much as $30 billion a year, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Retailers have battled shoplifting and shrinkage for years, but the proliferation of criminal gangs that steal large v
Retail group president declares Georgia’s sales tax holiday a success
The president of the Georgia Retail Association said Monday that while final numbers are not in, he believes the state’s retailers saw more dollars come into their stores because of the sales tax holiday.
John Heavener, president of the association, said the sales tax exemption on selected clothing, computers and school supplies generated increased traffic for retailers.
“It seems to have been a good weekend,” Heavener said. “We seem to be up from last year just based on anecdotes and no solid numbers.
Highway 21 Impact
Omro – Each day an estimated 13,500 vehicles on State Highway 21 pass by Tammie Sutphen’s new downtown Omro shop, Sophie & Co., II.
That’s more than 50 percent more traffic passing by the shop in Omro compared to when Sophie & Co. operated in the village of Winneconne just five miles away.
The volume of traffic on Highway 21 has the potential to put any small business on the map. The trick is to get all those motorists to stop, Sutphen said.
She’s doing her best.
Retail sales hold steady
Melissa Green doesn’t shop as much as she did in the past.
The Shreveport native is not unlike many in the area who have tightened their belts in these lean economic times.
However, just because she has limited her shopping trips doesn’t mean she has quit spending money.
Parents, teachers hit stores for tax-free weekend deals
School supplies list in hand and shopping cart in tow, Miran Tyrrell joined other parents and schoolteachers Friday in taking advantage of South Carolina’s tax-free shopping weekend.
Through midnight Sunday, shoppers in Georgia and South Carolina can purchase school supplies, computers, clothing and footwear items without paying sales tax, although each state has certain restrictions on items that are considered exempt.
At Office Depot on Knox Avenue in North Augusta, Mrs. Tyrrell loaded her cart with binders and poster board for her daughter and son and the Scout troop she leads.
Tax-free shopping drawing to stores
Consumers already coping with high gasoline prices and food costs say saving money during this year’s tax-free holiday was important.
Many Oklahomans were out taking advantage of the tax break on Friday, buying clothes and shoes for back-to-school at area malls. Mike Mudd and his wife, Stephanie, were at Sooner Mall in Norman, shopping for their two children, Lauren and Stephen.
“We used to go to Texas,” Mike Mudd said.
Profits are growing for specialist shops
Traders in Northampton’s St Giles Street have reported an increase in profits even though six premises on the road are empty.
Twelve per cent of the 50 shops, eateries and pubs on the street are now closed, among the most recent being upmarket opticians Mode, Pickwicks cafe and the Right4Staff recruitment agency.
But Stephen Church, owner of Church’s and chair of the St Giles Street Forum, said profits at many of the businesses in the street were actually up.
He said: “I can’t argue with figures, there are more empty units than there were this time last year.
A Look Inside Our Town of Peterborough
If you go to Peterborough looking for Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town” there are plenty of vestiges of the post-Industrial New England village that inspired the Pulitzer Prize-winning play; the 19th-century buildings, a strong community identity and the old burial ground that served as the setting for Wilder’s emotional final act. But you’ll also find that Peterborough is a hip, sophisticated cultural center in the shadow of Mount Monadnock. It’s “our town” all tricked out.
Need proof?