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Ceramic Dreams delights
Desirae Haynes’ husband grumbled in the car on his way to Ceramic Dreams, but when he left he couldn’t have been more proud of the piece he painted.
At Ceramic Dreams located at 1134 E.
Burned rubble replaces shops
The F.P. Kolbe gift shop on River Road in Point Pleasant was not badly damaged in Sunday’s blaze. But behind the store’s rustic clutter, it looks like a bomb went off.
An official cause has not been determined, but state police fire marshal Anthony Rhodunda said Tuesday the fire that destroyed several businesses appears to have been an electrical malfunction at the back of the Trading Post’s main showroom.
While Kolbe’s survived, all that remains of the Trading Post are heaps of burned rubble. Piles of terra cotta pots lie beneath more piles of charred, bloated books.
Third Street Bridge Mall new, expanded
Hobart — When the store formerly known as Treasured Blessings had to move from its Main Street location, the owner didn’t want to travel too far.
An empty building right around the corner filled the bill perfectly.
Renamed Third Street Bridge Mall, the craft, collectible and gift store opened shortly before Christmas.
“We had a slow start, since the street in front was closed the first week we were opened,” said store manager Becky Morton.
Find the perfect gift at Present Perfect
Before creating Present Perfect, Edie Argo found it frustrating that she had to go to a variety of shops to get exactly what she needed, wasting a lot of time and energy.
So when Edie opened her Hampton boutique, she wanted to make it a onestop shop, offering customers a place to find most anything, including unique and unexpected finds, without the sticker shock.
Now she travels far and wide in search of designer jewelry, fine fashions, skin-care products, home decor, pottery, paintings, garden accents, home-cleaning products and a selection of fun surprises.
One of her specialties i
‘Terrific Deals’ offered in Lynn
The Lynn community received a new retail shop last month when local resident Dave Stephens opened TD’s Terrific Deals on N. Main St. The shop, formerly Big Boys Toys, carries an assortment of gift items including porcelain dolls, candles, bath and body products and toys. Stephens said he was motivated by senior citizens.
“I’ve listened to the older folks who want to just get a gift or a candy bar,” Stephens said.
Retailers aim for share of rebate checks
Prepare yourself.
Tax rebates intended to jolt recession-wary consumers into spending won’t start arriving in mailboxes until next month, but tax-rebate advertising has begun. And retailers are only warming up.
“We will get inundated when those checks start coming,” said Rob Enderle, an analyst at market research firm Enderle Group. “There’s going to be a lot of competition for those dollars.”
The rebate checks are the centerpiece of a $168-billion stimulus package enacted by Congress. Not everyone will qualify.
Canterbury Shoppe offers variety of items
If there’s a need for a gift at any time, for any occasion – there’s a good chance the Canterbury Shoppe in Naperville will have what you’re looking for.
Gail Andrews, who has operated the downtown shop for a dozen years, said her passion to operate a gift shop was spawned from a love for Christmas.
“I have a friend named Cynthia Baer who, like me, shares a passion for Christmas,” she said. “We both worked years ago in the food industry and with Kraft Foods, but we each had this tremendous love for Christmas – the gifts, the ornaments, the blown glass.
Wildflower jewelry linked to Jefferson
If you’d like to celebrate the 265th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birth today, you might consider his gifts to botany.
That’s what jewelry designer Rebecca Worth did in creating her Twinleaf collection.
Living in the Richmond area and wanting to design something special for The Jefferson Hotel, Worth wondered: “What’s a way of embracing that history?”
In researching Thomas Jefferson, “I came across the twinleaf,” she said.
The twinleaf is a wildflower whose Latin name is Jeffersonia diphylla.
Highway 74 candy store expected to stick it out through construction
For more than 40 years, Highway 74 commuters and hikers with a taste for everything from salty-sweet rock candy to homemade peanut butter cookies have paid homage to the Ortega Country Cottage Candy Store and Gift Shoppe.
The shop, known by many people simply as “The Candy Store,” is a veritable landmark along the 29-mile stretch of the road, also known as the Ortega Highway, that links Orange County and the Inland area.
A nearby Caltrans project at the Orange/Riverside county line suggested to some the candy store’s days were numbered.
Wearin’ of the green is growing
What shall we wear today? Our seaweed T-shirt and bamboo jeans?
Life-long loves turn lucrative for shop owner
Parowan – Nestled at the back of the Affordable Treasures antique shop in Parowan is Renee’s Place, a quaint, custom gemstone jewelry store and new and used book shop.
Owner Renee Knoblauch said the combination store was born of her great love for books and gemstones, both of which have been a life-long love affair.
“I’ve always been excited by books,” she said. “And the gemstones have always been a part of my life.”
Knoblauch’s father was a miner, as were her ancestors from Denmark.
New business strip to open
Kimball Twp. — The Sawmill Commons strip mall at 4731 Lapeer Road is starting to come together.
The first shop at the mall, The Be Je Salon and Espresso Bar, opened in mid-January, but things otherwise have been pretty quiet.
Owner Todd Mahaffy said things have picked up in the last month.
“We’ve had a lot of interested people (this past month), and we’ve had good comments on the traffic and the esthetics.
Retailers post sluggish sales in March
New York—With little money left after buying food and fuel, American shoppers handed most retailers their most dismal March in 13 years.
As retailers reported sales results on Thursday, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. were among the few winners, as shoppers stuck to basics. Wal-Mart raised its earnings outlook, noting that better inventory control helped to limit markdowns on merchandise. It also said that April sales should top prior expectations.
But March proved to be bleak for most others, including J.C. Penney Co., Gap Inc., and Limited Brands Inc.
For the Five Thieves, and their customers, times of change
When the moving signs went up in the windows at All The Best Fine Foods in Rosedale this month, it is safe to say the shop’s customers freaked out.
“It caused immediate widespread panic and stir,” laughs chief operating officer Susan Bowman last week.
The panic is a testament to the unparalleled loyalty of customers to the Five Thieves — a term of endearment for a block of shops on Yonge Street south of Summerhill subway station.
Since last June and at least two year prior to the start of construction, a massive restoration has seen locals fretting that they will lose their Euro
Waiting to be discovered
The retailers at the Main Street Marketplace in Doylestown have a running joke: How many people will come in and say they didn’t know the stores were there?
“Every day, we laugh about how many people come in who found us by accident,” said Sylvia Nelson.
Store block on 9 Ave. latest victims of rising rents
The eastern side of Ninth Avenue between 17th and 18th streets, where Chelsea meets the Meatpacking District, has ‹ until now ‹ withstood the crosscurrents of change in the area.
It is a place where low-income residents still have homes and small stores prosper.
Southern food hits the spot, not the wallet
In the midst of monotonous franchises and high-priced Manhattan menus, it’s sometimes difficult to find a restaurant that has a passion for its food, customers and ambiance at a reasonable price.
But search hard enough, and you’ll find great spots like Bourbon Street Southern Gourmet Pantry. This five-pronged retail shop encompasses a cafe, restaurant, bakery, gourmet pantry and gift shop all in one fuchsia New Orleans-inspired space.
Alex Gardner, the owner and local West Villager, imports only the South’s best products, so customers can never go wrong.
‘A Place to Come and Relax’
He wasn’t sure about the colorful garden decor or the floral-scented air, but when my 4-year-old son laid eyes on the Fluffernutter, he was sold on Granlund’s Restaurant and Gift Shop in Yucaipa.
What, you might ask, is the Fluffernutter?
Some unique Fifth Avenue stores appear on the way out
They’re in limbo, and it’s not the dancing kind.
When four retail shops on Fifth Avenue South received their lease renewals this year, there was an unpleasant surprise: a 90-day termination clause added to the one-year term.
The owner put the building on the market for $3.95 million and that termination clause meant that if the shops — The Blue Mussel, The Lady from Haiti, Cottontails and Jammin on 5th — sign a new lease, they could be asked to pack up and leave with three months’ notice.
The Blue Mussel has decided to stay in the building with a month-to-month lease, and
Retailers’ Struggles Mean Lean Times at the Mall
Weak consumer spending is pushing struggling retailers close to or over the edge, and that is starting to hurt shopping-mall owners.
The latest retail casualty is Linens ‘n Things Inc., a 500-store home-accessory chain, which is considering filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week.