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Father’s Day will soon be here and many buyers are once again at odds over what “guy gifts” to bring into their stores. The challenge is not that men are difficult to shop for. Rather, it’s that most women buyers are buying for themselves and other women. There’s nothing wrong with that until Father’s Day rolls around and buyers find themselves with little in the way of "guy gifts" to offer their customers.
Our Father’s Day gift suggestion is books. There are endless titles with masculine appeal that can be easily integrated with gifts you may be carrying. For example, if you sell stemware, bring in titles relating to cocktails. This time of year, books on the art of grilling or gardening also abound.
A book is a gift that keeps on giving long after the holiday has passed.
Shown: Rules for My Unborn Son from Macmillian.
One of the summer's brightest pop of color is turquoise. This cool blue hue casts a calming spell on everything from fashion accessories to home furnishings.
Shown: Down filled turquoise bursts pillow by Trina Turk from Peking Handicrafts, Inc.
Northwest winters are known for endless days of rainy gray skies, but not for long! Just 4 Kicks is launching a fun line of rain boots and umbrellas guaranteed to brighten anyone's day. Samples are expected to arrive in our showroom in July.
Shown: Kowboy kitsch rain boots.
Rosanna Bowles was on hand at at Fireworks Gallery's University Village location in Seattle, Washington recently to promote and sign copies of her new book, Coming Home. While there, she and owner Michelle Manasse, discovered that they both attended the University of Oregon during the same time. These two "Ducks" are definitely birds of a feather!
For the last 25 years, $20 has been the magic price point for impulse purchases. It seems like it’s the only thing that has remained unaffected by inflation. In fact, statistics show over 25 years the cost of almost everything doubles. Why then has the $20 price point of impulse items remain unchanged?
I was recently visited Susan Wheeler Antiques, located in the booming Georgetown area of Seattle Washington. Wheeler’s shop is a magnificent mix of antiques and ephemera that beckons one to meander through it slowly and thoughtfully. As I walked through her shop, I kept noticing price tags for $28. The more I saw that modest number, the more comfortable I felt with that price point. Maybe it was that in the context of an antique store, $28 seemed like a bargain or perhaps it was the even number integers made it seem accessible. Maybe it was seeing $28 tags repeatedly. Whatever the reason, I felt comfortable with that number and left with the feeling that the time has come to begin pushing the price point envelope away from $20 for impulse purchases. In an environment where every sale is precious, an extra $8 to a sale represents a 40% increase. This is a huge increase to the retailer but an amount that many consumers can comfortably leap to spend.
I can already hear the registers ringing in an extra 40%.
Brooklyn New York has become a magnet for aspiring artist and designers who are quickly making their mark in the world of art and design. A stand-out among this talent pool is Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge, a daily website dedicated to home and product design (www.designspongeonline.com).
Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge was declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” (NY Times, 2008) and features store and product reviews, gift guides, DIY projects, before and after furniture, home makeovers, recipes, videos, podcasts, trend forecasting and more.
Bonney has a unique angle on the industry. If you want to get a beat on what appeals to "Millennials" and learn about the latest trends, join 60,000 other readers who daily soak up Bonney's wisdom.
New from Midori Inc. are six new gift paper designs joining over 30 other styles. Made of 100% recycled cotton, papers are individually hand pressed and hand screened.
