Archive for October, 2007
Backorders & the Holidays
Monday, October 29th, 2007If you haven’t already started beefing up your inventory for the holidays, you’d be wise to get started as soon as possible. If you sell seasonal items like Christmas figurines, costumes, or decorations, your buying season is practically over. Most seasonal suppliers make most of their sales in July-September, often discontinuing items or making no additional stock available once the items sell out late in that period.
Even for regular items, you may find that you’re starting to get replies that items are backordered through the holidays - definitely not what you want to hear when you’re trying to make a profit on an item you’ve found to work in your store. So, if you’re not all set for the holiday madness, call your suppliers today. You may already be too late.
Another Chinese Wholesale Source
Friday, October 26th, 2007If you’re looking for a Chinese source for electronics and USB gadgets, check out China Grabber. Unlike a lot of sites, they actually show you the items without a lot of jumping through hoops. Check out a couple of their items:
They’re actually based out of Portland, Oregon, so you have a U.S.-based company to deal with. If you’d like to get in touch with China Grabber, you can do so at:
China Grabber
818 SW 3rd Ave
Portland, OR 97204
A Mean Gift for the Local Wino
Friday, October 26th, 2007If you really want to torment your local wino, get him the Don’t Break the Bottle game from Family Games. Of course, that’s kind of mean, so you could just stock these evil wine bottle puzzles and let your customers torture their friends and family with them. I don’t know about you, but I have at least one aunt who would be pretty desperate to solve the puzzle. Take a look:
To purchase wholesale, contact Family Games, Inc. at:
Family Games
(800) 291-1176
You’ve Probably Heard of the Mouserug…
Sunday, October 21st, 2007…but have you heard of rug bags? Anapa Imports has released a line of bags that look like oriental rugs. Given the overwhelming success of those crazy rugs for computer mouses (yes, mouses is acceptable when you’re talking about computers), you may find that these bags are a hit with your customers. Like the mousepads, they’ve been patterned after real oriental rugs. Take a look:
If you’d like to contact Anapa Imports, do so at:
Anapa Imports
P.O. Box 635
Walnut, CA 91788-063
Phone: 909-594-2761
Fax: 909-595-3512
Email: designs83 (at) earthlink.net
Funding Your Restaurant
Sunday, October 21st, 2007Restaurant Financing has a lot in common with other types of small business financing. Both can be difficult to obtain, particularly for a young entrepreneur or someone just getting started. Unfortunately, such types of businesses also have high failure rates, which can also make it difficult to get the funding necessary to get started.
If you’re looking for funding for a restaurant or small business like a store, check out Advanced Restaurant Financing’s page on small business loans. Even if they don’t turn out to be the place for you, you’ll get some valuable information while you’re there.
Besheer Art Tiles
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007People have been using tiles for decoration for hundreds of years, so it shouldn’t be surprising that they continue to do it with products like Besheer Art Tiles. The company has been making art tiles for museums, stores, and consumers for years now, and they definitely have some neat designs. No matter what you’re interests are, there’s probably something there that might appeal to you.
I was a little disappointed to see that their bird section didn’t include any of my personal favorites, but the designs they did have were very simple and attractive like this one:
They also had lighthouses, vegetables, victorian designs, and more. While I think that many of their tiles could do well almost anywhere, I suspect that their products would perform best in more craft-y areas. For instance, I think they’d do extremely well in my midwestern hometown.
If you’d like to get more information, contact Besheer Art Tiles at:
BESHEER ART TILE
P.O. Box 10456
Bedford, NH 03110-0456
Toll Free: 888-307-8308
Tel: 603-472-5288 Fax: 603-472-2021
email: mail (at) besheerarttile (dot) com
Bella Cucina
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007I don’t know many people who aren’t fond of Italian food and the Italian lifestyle. Bella Cucina can help you capitalize that by offering products like olives, antipasti, and cookbooks. While they have a ton of cool products, this cookbook stood out. It offers 25 SIMPLE Italian recipes, which is always a good thing. Most cookbooks require a lot more ingredients that the average person keeps around.
If you’d like to get in touch with Bella Cucina, contact them at:
Bella Cucina
Alisa Barry, Smith Hanes
497 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30308
Toll Free Phone: (800) 580-5674
Fax: (404) 872-8335
Email: bella.artFul (at) mindspring (dot) com
Product Inspiration
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007It’s October again, and that means it’s time to amp up the buying for the holidays. For e-commerce retailers, it can be hard to add a lot of new products this late in the game, but smaller brick and mortar stores can run wild. Either way, it’s tough if you’re not sure what items you’d like to add. Here are a couple of places I turn to for product inspiration:
-Nearby retail stores. This one is kind of a no-brainer. Searching other stores is especially easy because it takes no time at all to flip the box and figure out where a product is coming from. The downside is that it’s hard to tell how well something is selling, and storekeepers are unlikely to give you a straight answer, especially if they know what you’re doing.
-Browing catalogs and websites. Catalogs and websites make it a little harder to source items, but they generally provide some information on what sells the best. In a paper catalog, look on the covers (inside and out) and the center. Those locations are generally the places where they promote their most successful products. Online, most catalogs have a “best sellers” or “most popular” page where you can view their best items. Also, the clearance items are often items that they committed to and couldn’t move (though that’s not always the case). Just remember, though, that their success doesn’t necessarily guarantee yours, especially if you target different types of customers.
-Blogs. Blogs are great places to find inspiration, especially if you sell products with a younger appeal. A few of my favorites are below:
Fresh Trend
Uncrate
Outblush
Rare Bird Finds
Oh My That’s Awesome
Happy Shopping!
Inappropriate Holiday Cards
Friday, October 5th, 2007While it’s probably not appropriate for most retail settings, the holiday cards from Keep Your Receipt are pretty amusing. They’d probably do quite well in a Spencers-type store or somewhere with a “grown-up humor” section. Take a look at this one. The inside says “Shut Your F#$%ing Mouth”.
If you’d like to get in touch to get wholesale information, contact them at:
Keep Your Receipt
Humberto Ricardo
PO Box 3541
New York, NY 10008-3541
Phone: (212) 285-0358
Fax: (212) 285-0359
Email: info (at) keepyoureceipt (dot) com
All About the Impulse
Thursday, October 4th, 2007No store is complete without a good selection of impulse buys. They’re almost like free money, assuming they don’t cheapen the overall feel of your store. Of course, if you’re picking your impulse items based on the kind of store you run, that’s not a problem. Obviously, stripper lady inkpens aren’t going to go over all that well in a children’s toy store (with the parents, anyway).
Hayes Specialties offers a number of fun impulse items at closeout prices. I’m not sure how their availability is from season to season, but the prices are definitely right. The hat below is around $2, depending on the quantity ordered.
Get in touch with Hayes at:
Hayes Specialties
Dennis Schluckbier
1761 East Genesee
Saginaw, MI 48601
Toll Free Phone: (800) 248-3603
Fax: (517) 755-2341
Email: hayes (at) ehayes (dot) com
Delicious Holiday Drinks - Stirrings
Thursday, October 4th, 2007The holidays are an excellent time to celebrate, and what better way to do that than with a festive seasonal beverage? If you’d like to offer mixers to your customers this holiday season, check out the fantastic line at Stirrings. I can’t vouch for the taste, but they’re definitely photogenic. I give you exhibit A:
They retail around $11, so it’s an easy splurge at that time of year. Get in touch with Stirrings at:
Stirrings
(508) 324-9800
The Holy Grail of Retail - Unique, Profitable, Repeatable
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007If you own a small store, you know that there are few things better than finding a product that is unique to your store, has a great markup, and needs to be purchased frequently. If you’re looking for a line like that, you should definitely look into The Good Home Company. They offer an entire fragrance line that includes products like dryer sheets, laundry detergent, and hand soap - all things that people buy frequently.
Their packaging makes the items look good enough to eat (or drink, as is the case below). Remember, though, these are cleaning supplies, not soft drinks:
Anyway, I can pretty much guarantee that you’re not going to find these at your local Wal-Mart, so you’d probably be your only local hookup for their products. If you’re interested in contacting The Good Home Company, do so at:
The Good Home Company
Todd Dimmick
134 W 26th Street, 10th Fl
New York, NY 10001
Toll Free Phone: (888) GHC-2862
Fax: (212) 352-1510
Email: arni (at) goodhomeco (dot) com
Flameless Candles
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007It seems like LED candles are everywhere these days, and no brick and mortar gift store should be without them. They’re just too commonly requested. Fortunately, there are some standouts in the pack. This LED candle from Spi Inc is particularly unique. For all the LED candles I’ve seen, I’ve never seen one quite like this.
If you’re interested in carrying their candles, get in touch with them at:
SPI Inc
Michael Stone
400 N St Paul St.
Suite 1400
Dallas, TX 75201
Toll Free Phone: (800)322-0688
Fax: (214)740-0605
Email: spi (at) spiinc-tx (dot) com