I have a shop & want to add...

[sawyer's moon]

IKS (this is ff&p from the dish, btw) -

I've seen pics of your shop which is awesome!!!! and I just don't see potpourri fitting in with your style. You're fun, hip, bold, funky, etc - not country prim (rosehips) or upscale elegant (thinking Clair Burke like they sell at Nordstroms).

Just my 2 cents....

I think you should sell bold colored, funky sock monsters because I think they're really cute! What about fun, retroy sort of stuff? Neat barware? Your shop and look is just so fun...do something with bright and bold colors.

Jen

[mountainmadness]

I would suggest fine Italian linens.... like bathrobes, slippers, pillow cases, etc.

[KristinesShower]

The thing is that although my shop is funky and modern - my clientele is not. I am tired of fighting with it and I will keep at least ½ of the shop that way, but the other ½ I am going to cater to the needs of the customer that comes in every day.

I live in the middle of a cornfield literally. Country blue, prim things and all that country stuff is just what these people want. They come down from Chicago and all over and seem to just jump all over the "midwestern style" of things here. My shop does ok, but I know I can do better if I go with what my customer wants.

Now my website will never change. I will never put any of that stuff on my site - no way. I am only wanting to do this locally - can't fight it anymore & tired of the ladies walking in and walking out.

Income around here is about $18,000 - $25,000 a year so all that foo foo expensive stuff just won't work for my shop. My website sure, but I am not suffering with the internet - it's the shop that needs to pick up some slack.

[lindsaycb]

OH MY...country blue? Shut, is that color still around? Don't cave Jenny...don't do it!

Just kidding. I have two sides to my biz. Funky & upscale..then there's the extreme primitive side.

I think if you're going to add a touch of primitive to your shop, its easily started with a few things of your own. Create a line of jar candles & find a great old hutch. Fill it with apple dumpling, hansel & gretel, cloves and all other country smells they're looking for. Tarts, tart warmers, etc.

Make all natural soaps (colorants too..) and wrap them in corrugated cardboard with a label of your choice. Use old wash tubs & enamel basins as displays.

A great seller for me..is cello bag rose hips/stix with salt dough cinnamon buns. I can't keep it around at ANY show. $6 for 1/2lb and it just flies off the table. (I think frufru potpourri just isn't a huge thing much) Look into potpourri garlands. They're great for kitchens & they are sold with refresher oils too.

And...if you'd like to add on a line of seriously primitive pillars...among other things. PM me.

That's my two scents worth on the country side.

[roxi4112000]

I just started selling dipped ragballs and people love it, Ill also be doing potpouri, dipped bears, my sister is going to make purses and my husband makes wood crafts, thats all I have in the works right now, if you dont do these things yourself try to find some family members/friends that do them and buy there products at wholesale. Hope this helps some, Good Luck:highfive:

rachel

[Stephanie]

Forgive me if this was already mentioned, but you all wrote such detailed posts and it's late enough that reading is bound to put me to sleep. With that in mind, how about teas... bath teas, drinking teas, teacups, etc. I'm thinking about the entire spa/relaxing/bath experience. Whereas wine would be my choice of beverage , I'm sure many would adore a lovely cup of hot tea. Boy, that sounds nice right now!

BTW, I'll be reading those detailed posts tomorrow. I KNOW there are great ideas there!

[joym]

re selling rosehips - I'm country/primitive, I don't generally package them

- peeps think they're getting a real bargain when they can fill the cup to overflowing! (not knowing I already take that into account when pricing). I do have the bottles of refresher available; not a hugh moneymaker, but easy to do and good "customer service" for those that want them.

Lots of great ideas here - good luck narrowing them down to the best for your store.

[cybersix]

please bear in mind that I don't run a business.. and I'm in a foreign land too.. so mine is just an innocent question:

if people don't buy/don't find interesting your shop because they like totally different things, did you think it could be because the shop isn't in its best collocation?

I mean, could it be in the wrong area?

I find strange (and a bit offensive) that people after reading the sign of the shop walk in, say "uh this shop is not what i was looking for" then immediately walk out.

What I'm trying to say (and sorry for my english) is that if you thought your business as it is because you WANT it to be that way, because it represents you and your personality, it would be sad changing your nature to meet the people graviting in that area.

Maybe find a better place?

It would be difficult/expensive considering to move in another area where people are more like the people you're thinking of when you think of your business?

Sorry, I'm a total ignorant in these things and maybe I said a lot of stupidities!

[ScentsandMore]

You probably already know about this site, but have you went to the Countfy Sampler Discussion Forums and did a search or post your question. There is one link for The Great Product Search. You could actually do a search or post your question. Here is the link: http://68.73.224.229/scripts/dcforum/dcboard.cgi

then click on Country Business retailer Forums, then click on The Great Product Search. If I remember correctly you have to sign-up to post questions but not to search. I like looking at this site because they have all kinds of forums:

The Great Product Search, Marketing and Promotions, Display and Design, and lots more.

Hope this helps.

[sawyer's moon]

Jenny - thanks for that clarification and it makes perfect sense then for you to do country prim and rose hips are the very best way to do that! What about adding grubby candles to your line to sell along with your soy candles? The scented rag balls are cute...tin candle plates, punched tin accessories, etc, buckets of prim fixins that they can scoop to make their own concotion, etc.

Good luck! Jen

[KristinesShower]

My location is really good - the foot traffic is amazing, but I am greedy I guess and want to make more money LOL

I just thought I could really come in with a different kind of shop (than what was in the town) and really sell it to them. Yeah, the bathbombs do great (they never fail), but it is hard to get people to try soap when they do shower gel and really hard to get them to even try sugar scrub (when they have no clue what it is lol - no matter how much we teach em)

Don't get me wrong, we have our die hards that come in almost every day, but I am not trying to capture them (I already got 'em!). What I am interested in doing is getting that person that wouldn't stay because of first glance. I just wanna get them in there to walk around and shop - maybe buy something here and there instead of walking in and walking out. That kills me and I'm so glad I don't have to work at the shop - I would go nuts.

I am going to the local craft mall today with my sister so we can see if there are any gals/guys out there that will be interested in doing consignment with us. I am going to definitely rearrange the shop (and post pics!).

You guys, I really appreciate all this brainstorming and I think I will be really happy with what we come up with Thanks, thanks and a million thanks!

[cozyaromas]

I don't have my own shop but when I do open up a shop or start my website, I plan on selling other people's homemade or hand-crafted items such as greeting cards or wooden items. I also like the idea of having mood cd's or relaxation cds, you know the cd's that have sounds of the rain or other relaxing sounds. I have a friend who writes her poems on parchment paper in calligraphy so I thought that might go hand in hand. But as mentioned before beaded jewlery, potpouri (sp), teas, and special blended coffee all works!!!

[The_Dallas_Texas_Dean]

I would consider investing in the Lampe Bergers. If the originals are too expensive you COULD settle for the knock offs. My friend has these in his shop and everyone that walks in looking for a nice gift walks out with a Lampe AND extra oil. He keeps one in his store and lights it occasionally throughout the day....they sell themselves.

The Hallmark Store in my neighborhood sells them also and say they are a huge item for them....not to mention they have to come back for the oils. (which you could make, label and sell yourself if you have the time)

It is all about home fragrance these days....everywhere!

Another thing..in line with the country thing...what about the scented Bandana trivets?

[mystical_angel1219]

I just visited Kimberly and we went out to deliver an order to her new wholesale account. She lives in a very artsy, vintage industrial town.

The woman that owns the store knows her market well. In fact she has two stores. She has items that are only hand crafted. Her store is impressive. She has fudge, biscotti, gourmet sauces and marinades. Candles from probably 19 different crafters. But she doesn't allow anyone to use the same container. Each one must be unique. Hand made jewerly, woodcrafts, antiques and crocheted blankets and throws. Cards, wall art and many other vintage type items. Even wine made by a local. I just thought I would share these ideas with you- and give you my opinion as a fellow crafter as well.

So without rambling another second... LOL.. I am thinking if you bring other gift items in, you culd tie them all together and command high dollars if you made your own "Build Your Basket Station" in your store. People LOVE the idea of being able to customize a gift for the recipent and keeping it in their price range. It takes alot of guesswork out of gift giving. If you advertise locally- you could run a basket give away, and make sure you specify "must be present to win" so that people can come spend some money while they wait for the lucky winner and see that you do offer custom baskets.

[KristinesShower]

We have the build your own gift set station already and although it does good, it doesn't do as good as I thought it would. We offer about 20 different styles of gift boxes, a couple wrapping papers, about 20 bows, tissue paper, etc... I really wish this would have taken off a little better because I was actually working with the other shops in town for them to send customers my way with products they had bought from their shops & I would do a discount on wrapping. We get about 5 people in a week - I was hoping for more.

I went to the craft mall yesterday and I got a lot of ideas that I am interested in pursuing. Instead of calling a bunch of people though, I am actually doing one at a time to see how much "stuff" they actually have.

The first lady I called is a PERFECT fit for my shop. She does very colorful outdoorsey things like lawn ornaments, signs for outside by the pool - everything is neon colors and she is all about colorful drinks, fruits, flip flops, etc. It is truly a perfect fit.

I haven't called anyone else yet, because I think I may want to fill my store up with her stuff alone - it really goes with mine perfect. I can't stop saying that LOL

[KristinesShower]

Ok I think I may have gotten this ball a'rollin!!! I have done all kinds of shopping and research (asked all my little nieces friends what is cool lol) and I've come up with the following I am going to put in my shop:

*Potpourri station & refresher oils

*Scented bears

*Purses

*Jewelry

*Another lady in my town sells soap, lotion bars and lip balms - I am asking her if she would like to display in my shop too

*Also country style candles (I am selling tins right now, but making some country style candles too - square masons and maybe some of those big ones with rusty lids)

Now I saw a really cute idea this weekend while browsing around the local craft mall, but they didn't have a contact name or anything on them so I don't know who they were. It was the cutest little corrugated kraft box with window and 4 little bitty mini muffins as tarts that you would put in a tart warmer. My GOD they were the cutest damn thing I've ever seen!!

Does anyone make these & wholesale them? I am very very interested !!

[sudsnwicks]

Jenny, I'm sure there are lots here who make those little muffins. You could probably get several responses quickly if you started a new thread entitled, looking for muffin tarts.

Good luck with the new items for your store!

[KristinesShower]

Thanks so much - just started a new thread

[Chauna1]

Kristine,

Pick up a copy of Country Sampler and browse through it. You may get some more ideas from it. Great book to get ideas from.

Chauna

[Michi]

I decided to include other crafter's stuff in my shop. We got the place primarily to have the manufacturing space, so what is sold up front isn't what we will depend on to pay the rent. But I wanted to take advantage of the store front too, so in addition to my stuff I've got some other crafters things.. country wood furnishings, rugs, country signs and dried florals, and my DIL makes jewlery, so that's going in, along with quilts and lots of antiques which may or may not sell, but will definately make awesome displays My sister in law is a scrapbooker who makes fantastic greeting cards with scrapbook embellishments.. those are going in, and I've also decided to add potpouri. It's getting "Country'd" Up pretty well LOL. We're shooting for a July 1st grand opening, but will be open by June 1st a few days a week, to test the waters. Like you, I didn't want to invest a bunch in retail.. so this seemed to be the next best thing to try.. time will tell I guess.

Good Luck to ya!

Ok that's it, I'm taking a road trip to PA's new shop, it sounds FANTASTIC girl!!!!!!:highfive:

[MsDammit]

I soooo know what you mean about sugar scrubs- I gave some out to some of my friends & co-workers and they're all like "huh-what's that?" I went in this cute little shop a few months ago when I went on vacation and they had some kind of body whip- it was set up like an ice cream parlor- gallon size buckets of it and you picked out a scoop of whatever kind you wanted. It got me, I think I payed over 2 bucks for a scoop-and I ended up throwing it away cuz it was sooo sticky!!

[heirloomoriginals]

Scrapbooking items are always big. I plan on making blank albums (made out of paper lunch bags) and selling them in my mom's shop. I also found little tins with books in them for wallet sized pics. I am going to order some and do them up and give to a friend that is graduating next year, a great item to put all those graduation pics in (also great for mom's grandma's etc).

Steph

[sandyrose]

Just dug up this thread because I was wondering the same thing about what non bath products I could sell once I get my website going.

I live a couple hours from you Jenny and everyone here knows what a sugar scrub is! LOL!!! More people from my area (Naperville) are coming your way I promise since the new attractions that have been built, instead of going to the Dells!

I saw your products at a gift shop but I wish I would have stopped in your store. We go to that area a few times a year so I might mosey in sometime.. so don't think I'm a stalker. LOL!

There are some great ideas here wow! What I decided for my online store is...

-Relaxation CD's

-Fun books about bathing rituals & stuff- there's alot of them out there.

-I also like the idea of fun pictures/prints for the bathroom

-Oil burners

-Anything relaxation related!

[Crystala25]

This is an old thread, but new to me so I had to comment. What I look for in a bath store is the accessories that can be used with the bath items. Like, cute travel bags and pouches. Also, like loofah scrubs and mitts. I like to be able to go into one place and find everything you would need for the bath all in one place, but not pay too much for it all.

[wilsonswix]

Love those soap saver loofahs. I hate using bar soap, so I put the bar inside the loofah/mesh bag & works well for me. Consider the bath mitts, slippers, etc.

Jewely sounds great also. What I think you would like your customers to think is "this is the perfect place to buy a gift". Market towards "last minute gift baskets" and perfect gift for someone who has everything. No matter what, we still have to get clean every day, and ppl run out of stuff.

I know its a big investment, but I think cotton robes would be great too. Keep investigating.... Good luck!!