Oscar & Libby's Gift Store - Victoria, BC

Tell us about your store, your community, and your customers.

A pair of quirky and eclectic gift stores with something for everyone! With two locations centrally located in downtown Victoria, we have been an active part of the downtown community for 17 years. Our customers are of all ages, and they are the best! They have supported us through a fire and now through a pandemic and we are so grateful for their support. As a buyer, there is no greater compliment than hearing the store full of laughter!

What's your favorite thing about being a store owner?

Faith & Giggles Gift Shop - Hartford, WI

Tell us about your store, your community, and your customers.

Faith & Giggles Gift Shop is a one-of-a-kind gem tucked into the quaint landscape of downtown Hartford Wisconsin. Part of Faith & Giggles’ charm is the warm friendly feeling you get just walking in the door, and besides the large selection of unique gifts, conversation is just as fun and inspiring and will be sure to leave you with a little extra smile in your heart and spring in your step.

The name Faith & Giggles was inspired by the power of faith and importance of humor, and the products inside reflect that name. You’ll find gifts ranging from religious and non-religious inspirational, including ones for those hard to shop events like Baptism/ Confirmation/1st Communion/Wedding/Memorial, to things such as purses and accessories, books, journals, devotionals, Bibles, greeting cards, wall decor, kitchen items, Snoozies slippers, locally made chocolates, candles and bath and body products, stain glass crosses, pet gifts, local authors, and trinkety items as well! Some of the “humor” can be found on what is called “Jason‘s Shelf”, lots of fun tchotchke, desktop entertainment and laughs can be found there!

While products are important, top notch customer service and experience are most important of all in this family friendly shop, and you’re sure to be made to feel right at home as you browse all the nooks and crannies, looking for the perfect treasure or gift from the heart. Being a part of a community as a brick and mortar business is a special opportunity, one in which you can be a part of something bigger than yourself. You have an opportunity to inspire people with your product, conversation and leadership, and to be inspired in return. You can lift each other up, promote each other, support each other… If a community thrives, everybody thrives. We are grateful to be a part of the amazing Hartford community and they have been so good to us!

What's your favorite thing about being a store owner?

Being a store owner brings opportunity to be involved in events, organizations and community fellowship in a unique way. We have learned about so many resources available in our community and use our platform to share those resources with others, we love being able to be a conduit of information and resources.

What marketing tactics do you use to engage with your customers and get them to shop in your store?

We use social media and a large contact list for email blasts to engage our customers outside of our store. During Covid we were forced to get creative, we continue to evolve and are always looking for new ideas to connect with customers both old and new. We feel we can never be complacent. We have done Facebook live fundraising events, virtual bingo, virtual store tours especially during the holidays, we post product, photos of our canine shoppers, and short video blurbs… there’s always a little shenanigans tucked in along the way and most importantly we like to keep it light and fun and fresh!

We use our social media outlets to educate about important topics as well, promoting resources for domestic or sexual violence situations, mental health etc… We believe these topics, as well as the fun stuff, are things our customers are interested in hearing about, and we certainly know these topics touch the lives of so many...

What are your favorite Danica items?

What's your favorite season to decorate your store?

Christmas would have to be my favorite season to decorate the store for, although fall is very close second. It is a heck of a lot of work but it is worth it! I love hearing customers rave about how magical things look during the holidays.

What are you excited for about 2023?

First, sleep in January. After that, each new year brings new ideas, new products and new people… I would say we are excited for the next thing, whatever that is.

 

The Kitchen Engine - Spokane, WA

Tell us about your store, your community, and your customers.

The Kitchen Engine is a 16 year-old, family owned business that serves the greater Spokane area. We started out as a kitchen supply & gift store but quickly learned that our customers wanted more kitchen and less gift. We listened and quickly became the area's go to location for anything found in the kitchen. In 2020 we decided to take on additional space, expanding our retail, adding a full café with espresso, tea and quick bites AND adding a cooking school! We now operate as three distinct businesses all under one roof. Our community has supported for the last 16 years. Through the economic crash in 2008/09 and again during the pandemic. We have the best customers and are so excited to continue to serve them for years to come.

What's your favorite thing about being a store owner?

I can now multi-task in ways that I never thought possible.... Just Kidding... I love the people. Both customers and employees!

What marketing tactics do you use to engage with your customers and get them to shop in your store?

We use primarily Social Media and our email database of over 30k that we have developed over the years of operation. We also offer knife sharpening at a VERY low price. This brings customers in twice a week to drop off and pick up. They usually find something else while they are here.

What are your favorite Danica items?

We LOVE the Swedish dish cloths! We have a large display up by the cash-wrap. They designs are always so much fun.

What's your favorite season to decorate your store?

I love Spring colors and designs. I am sure most people say "Holidays" and I like those too but it always feels so fresh when Spring comes out.

What are you excited for about 2023?

I am excited to see how our store performs with the addition of the Café and Cooking School. We are also adding a patio in front of our store for outdoor café dinning as well as outdoor classes such as BBQ, Smoking and Pizza.