Archive for October, 2006
Cimarron Ltd. - Country & Western Christmas Decor Wholesaler
Monday, October 30th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesSometimes you don’t want trendy. Sometimes you want things that are familiar and comfortable - things that remind you or your customers of laidback holidays spent out in the country. When that’s what you’re looking for, you should check out Cimarron Ltd..
Cimarron offers a variety of handcrafted wreaths, ornaments, and decor items, and Christmas seems to be their specialty. This is just one product I found on their page:
Cimarron Tin Christmas Signs
Unfortunately, you have to fill out their wholesale request form to get access to the full online catalog. If you’re looking for country Christmas gifts and decor, though, it’s well worth your time. They do seem to have a retail catalog online, so you might be able to scope them out there first. Don’t miss the Cowboy Santas!
Anne Taintor - Wholesaler of Vintage Kitsch
Sunday, October 29th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesI always wondered where all those cutesy little card and gift stores in the city get that weird stationery with the vintage attitude. Now I know. It’s Anne Taintor, and they’ve got a lot more than just paper products. They’ve got coin purses, handbags, messenger bags, cards, gift wrap, and even flour sack towels. This messenger bag gives you an idea of what Anne Taintor is about:
Anne Taintor Messenger Bag
Anne Taintor is another one of those nice companies that posts most, if not all, of their product line on their website for anyone to see, along with a lot of press clips and a nice friendly FAQ. While they don’t have a dedicated wholesale page (just an entry in their FAQ), you can contact them at:
Anne Taintor
P.O. Box 9
Youngsville, NM 87064
Ph: (505) 638-5919
F: (505) 638-5819
Web: www.annetaintor.com
V’tae Spa & Aromatherapy Wholesaler
Friday, October 27th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesIf you sell (or hope to sell) spa and aromatherapy types of products, you should check out V’tae. They’ve got all kinds of fun stuff like this, which sounds absolutely delicious and which I may just have to buy:
Christmas Cookie Spray (with vanilla, almond, and nutmeg!)
Just $5 retail. I’m serious, working on this blog is really putting some pressure on my shopping budget! They’ve also got a Spotted Dog all natural flea and tick spray that could be really neat..and silk kimonos…and all kinds of essential oil kits…and deodorant…and bath stuff. Seriously, they have a lot of different stuff.
Wilton Armetale Serveware - Wholesale Serving Dishes
Thursday, October 26th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesWilton Armetale is a company that you may be familiar with, assuming that you shop in nicer kitchenware retailers. Their “gimmick” is that their serving dishes are supposed to keep cold food cold longer, and hot food hot longer. While I can’t speak for the accuracy of that statement, they do have some pretty cute stuff:
Wilton Armetale Houndstooth Dish
They also have another handy feature on their site - a retailer locator. If you don’t understand why this is handy, let me explain. You can enter your zip code into the locator, along with a certain number of miles, and they will tell you the name and address of every nearby place that you’d be competing with to sell their products. It’s not completely accurate, of course, since there may not be any nearby stores that carry the same designs that you do, but it can give you a general idea of what the local market’s like.
Senario, LLC - Scoozie Distributor
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesSenario is one of those companies where the products are so cool that I’m willing to forgive little issues like the complete lack of a good retailer information page. They make the popular Scoozie toys and this very neat interactive Orangutan:
Senario Interactive Orangutan
Anyway, Senario’s Scoozies have good potential to be one of the hot products this Christmas season. In case you’re out of the loop on the whole Scoozie thing, a Scoozie is a unique furry stuffed dog that barks, growls, and his its own individual markings (Senario says that no two are alike). You can buy outfits and accessories for them, and they evolve over time. It’s great fun for the allergic kid (or anyone who wants to drive their REAL dog insane).
If you’re a retailer interested in carrying their stuff, contact them at: sales (at) senario (dot) com. You can check out their full product line at the Senario website.
Entrepreneur Magazine
Tuesday, October 24th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesFrom time to time, I’d also like to talk about books that I’ve found helpful, and books that I would have found helpful if I had known about them when I was getting started. Entrepreneur Magazine falls into that category. It wasn’t until I had already enjoyed a fair amount of success that I ended up with a subscription, and even that was by accident. To this day, I’m still not sure where my subscription came from.
Every month, I get an issue that’s filled with real life stories of other entrepreneurs, news on the latest trends in business, and helpful technology and gadget advice. If you’re interested in eBay entrepreneurship, you’ll be pleased to know that they cover eBay topics on a regular basis. A few months ago, they took a look at 10 or so very successful eBayers. The most recent issue talks about eBay tips for becoming successful. You really can’t go wrong with their publication.
If you’re interested, check it out below:Entrepreneur Magazine: Only $1.33 a month
I look forward to my copy every month. What’s even more surprising (to me, anyway), is that I even read the ads most of the time, because they are usually for products and services that interest me.
Wallies - Unique Wall Coverings Wholesale
Monday, October 23rd, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesWallies is not for people without a sense of humor. In fact, they appear to be mostly aimed at children’s rooms, with a few adult designs thrown in for good measure. The basic idea behind wallies is that they sell pre-pasted wall cutouts that you can use to really brighten up your room(s). I’m a big fan of the Paris Window:
Wallies Paris Window
They also have smaller stick-on designs like this adorable bird pattern:
Wallies Self-Adhesive Blue Birds
They have all the standard stuff, too, like borders and licensed designs from a variety of artists. Unfortunately, their wholesale information leaves much to be desired. For now, it’s nothing more than a brief note at the bottom of their website:
Are you a retailer interested in selling Wallies?
If so contact us today at (800) 255-2762 ext. 351
You can also contact them at:
Wallies.com
P.O. Box 3755
Manhattan, KS 66505-3755
Waterware: Wholesale Shower Curtains, Placemats, & More
Saturday, October 21st, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesI have purchased items from Waterware before without realizing it. They’re the ones who make the famous shower curtain below:
Goldfish Shower Curtain
In addition to making fun and kitschy shower curtains, they also produce a variety of placemats and inflatables - like air pillows and beach balls.
Unique Produx - Wholesale Pet Gifts and More
Thursday, October 19th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesToday we learn an important lesson about looking for wholesale sources: Sometimes, great sources have terrible websites. Unique Produx is one of those companies. Despite the fact that their page looks like a cast-off from the mid-90s (just add animated .gifs!), they offer showrooms in multiple cities and they attend major trade shows. What’s more, their “Internet Retailers” page indicates that their products are sold in at least one major website (the uber-trendy Wrapables.com).
So, what exactly does Unique Produx sell? Actually, they sell several things - pet bowls and treat jars, “Knight Lights” (which reminds me of how they used to name the episodes in Knight Rider), mugs, salt and pepper shakers, and the always promising “Miscellaneous” category. Their stuff is fairly contemporary and cute, as evidenced by the pet dish below:
Unique Produx Cat Bowl
If you’re interested in contacting Unique Produx to become a reseller, here’s the information you’ll need:
Unique Produx, Inc.
9909 Topanga Canyon Blvd, #141
Chatsworth, CA 91311
Phone: 818-598-3532
Fax: 818-598-8458
Unison Gifts
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesIf you sell home decor items, you may be interested in what Unison Gifts has to offer. They sell a variety of hand-blown glass items, which may or may not be your thing. I’m kind of digging the penguin collection:
Unison Gifts Penguins
Anyway, on to the important stuff. Unison Gifts has an online wholesale catalog request form, which means that you don’t have to call up some rep and spend 20 minutes on hold just to get a catalog. The downside, though, is that you will have to wait for it to come in the mail. Unless you set up a login on their site, there’s no viewing the catalog there. Personally, I despise signing up and giving out all my information BEFORE I see the product, but those of you who’ve been here before already know that.
If you’re interested in finding out more about selling products from Unison Gifts, their contact information is below:
Unison Gifts, Inc.
13915 Live Oak Avenue
Irwindale, CA 91706
Tel: (626) 814-8334
Fax: (626) 814-3184
Omni Massage - Relaxation Wholesaler
Monday, October 16th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesIf there’s one thing that most of us need to learn to do better, it’s relax (okay, and listen, and eat better, and be nicer to our fellow man…come on here, I’m generalizing). Omni Massage can help you and your customers do just that with their amazing line of massage products. If you’ve ever seen those rolly-ball massage things, you’ve probably seen an Omni product. They’re all over the place.
Omni Massage Roller Ball
I mention these because I’ve noticed that they’re a best-seller on a very prominent relaxation site, and I traced them back to Omni. Their wholesale prices are generous at about half off the retail price, and they come with great POP support materials (English - racks and displays for your store, if you’re a “real”, non-internet store).
You can contact Omni at:
Omni Massage Systems
PO Box 4554
Odessa, Texas 79760
ph. - 432-334-4900
fax - 432-334-4920
Or visit the Omni Massage Wholesale site.
Funding - A Brief Look at Debt vs. Equity
Friday, October 13th, 2006Depending on your level of business knowledge, this title may confuse you. Let me explain.
Basically, there are two common ways to get outside funding for a business. The most common, and the method that most people envision when they think of starting a business, is debt financing. Debt financing is when you take out a loan for a set amount and then you pay back a set amount, usually with interest. Whether your business fails or succeeds, a pre-specified amount must be paid back. If you go under, you still have to make payments. If you’re wildly successful, that doesn’t change anything. The payments are made and you keep all the excess for yourself.
With equity funding, it works differently. You still get a set amount of funding, but in this case, that “loan” gives the lender a claim on your future profits. This can be really great for some businesses, since your liability goes away if the business does (unless you’ve done something really awful and they take you to court over it). If you do well, your lender - more like your partner - gets a proportionate amount of the profits.
I’ll write more about why you might have an easier time getting one or the other, or why one or the other might be preferable for certain kinds of businesses. Stay tuned in.
Zevro - Kitchen Supply Wholesalers
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesIf you’ve ever been at one of those cheapskate hotels with the free continental breakfast where they give you month old cereal and stale donuts, you’ve probably seen some of Zevro’s products. Zevro is the company that makes those tall cereal holders with the knobs. Tell me, does this thing look at all familiar? Or is this just a midwestern phenomena?
Zevro Indispensable Dispenser
Anyway, Zevro has a lot of cool kitchen-y products, and you can view their whole product line on their website. As you might remember, full product line access on a website makes me happy. Unforunately, if you want to sell their products, you’re going to have to contact them to get any information. The area of their site for retailers is pretty thin (although they do tell casual browsers where they can buy their products online. Perhaps they continue to add new vendors to that list).
So, if you’re interested in Zevro, contact them here:
ZevroŽ
3720 West Touhy Avenue
Skokie, Illinois 60076
United States of America
* Tel.: 1 800 313 8588
* Mail: info@zevro.com
Three by Three - Seattle Gift and Decor Wholesaler
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006 Business Broad Wholesale Product SourcesYou’ve probably seen stuff from Three by Three without realizing it. Their fun and modern products have graced the shelves of The Container Store, Cooking.com, and Paper Source.
My personal favorite of their offerings is this neat paper tray set for your desk. I’ve been meaning to buy something like this for a while, but the local office stores don’t really have much to choose from. I want a happy office, darn it!
Stacked Paper Trays from Three by Three
So anyway, on to the good stuff. Three by Three primariliy deals in gift and decor items like clocks, desk accessories, frames, magnets, hooks, and other cute things for your home or office. They do have a wholesale area on their site, which is a huge bonus in my eyes, but it could still be better. Currently, it only serves to let you fill out their reseller questionnaire. More information on their policies and pricing would be awfully nice. I like to see the whole picture (online) before I sign up for anything, though I realize that’s not always possible. At least they let you see the product line.
If you check out their press page, you’ll see that they’ve been in all kinds of fancypants magazines like Domino, Lucky, Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens…It looks like the insiders know what most consumers still haven’t figured out. Three by Three makes good stuff.
If you’re interested in carrying their products, check out:
Three by Three Seattle
1518 NW 52nd Street
Seattle, WA 98107
ph. - 206.784.5839
fax - 206.784.8460
Ten Speed Press - Independent Publisher and Book Wholesaler
Monday, October 9th, 2006Ten Speed Press sells a lot of cool stuff. Just looking around their page, I can see several things that I’d like to buy as a consumer. With recognizable titles like “How Wal-Mart is Destroying America” and “What Color is Your Parachute?”, they have great books for any independent bookseller or gift shop. And I must say, I’m intrigued by any company that publishes a book called “Why Paint Cats”…
Beyond product lines, one thing I really like about Ten Speed Press is that they have an entire area of their site dedicated to resellers where you can read their policies, find out about the trade shows they attend, and get ordering information. Very handy, and I wish that more sites did it. I’ve passed up several companies because of how difficult they make it to preview their product lines and get more information.
So, check out Ten Speed Press on the web or contact them by mail or phone:
Mailing Address
Ten Speed Press
P.O. Box 7123
Berkeley, CA 94707
Phone
(510) 559-1600
Toll-free: (800) 841-2665
Fax
(510) 559-1629
Business Hours
Monday through Friday
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., PST