Summer 2006

Passion and Profits By Patricia Norins

Welcome to the premiere issue of GIFT SHOP! We hope you enjoy reading about the products and trends shaping the gift industry as much as we enjoyed creating this magazine—for you.

If you’re like the gift shop owners we talk to every day—including those we profiled in this issue—you have an intense passion for your business. You spend hours searching for new and interesting products your customers will love. You love chatting with your customers, and get a natural high from helping them find the perfect gift or a wonderful home accent to complete a room.

But you also know that competition for the consumer’s wallet share is fierce today, and passion is only one element of what it takes to be a successful gift shop owner. You also need the inside scoop on the trends that are catching on (and those that are fading!), the marketing techniques that will bring your customers back again and again, and the management strategies that will turn ho-hum sales into blockbuster profits.

In this issue we’ve focused on what matters to you most:

• Fresh ideas for new products
• Creative tips for displays that sell
• Low-cost, high-impact marketing strategies to draw traffic and increase sales
• Details on what’s selling in other gift shops
• Profiles of successful gift shop owners who are reinventing their stores every day
• Strategies you can use to grow your business every day

At GIFT SHOP, we share your passion—and we have our fingers firmly on the pulse of the business of retail. In this issue and in all of GIFT SHOP’s future issues, we’ll be focusing on whatever it takes to help you serve your current customers, bring new customers to your door, and boost your bottom line. Our primary goal is to help you create a unique retail oasis where your passion shines through so clearly that your customers can’t stay away.

Here’s to passion and profits!

—Patricia Norins, publisher

P.S. The GIFT SHOP door is always open! If you have a topic you would like us to write about, if you want your store featured in a future issue, or if you just have something you would like to share with us, we’re here for you. To contact me directly, email norins@giftshopmag.com, or call 800.936.6297. Enjoy this premiere issue of GIFT SHOP magazine!

Patricia Norins

Norins is the founder and publisher of two national trade magazines and two trade shows. Specialty Retail Report, the voice of the specialty retail industry (carts, kiosks and temporary in-line stores) has a readership of more than 75,000 and GIFT SHOP, the magazine for independent gift shop owners, has a readership of more than 60,000. She also serves as consultant to small independent retailers across the country.