Small Business Secrets: Get Creative
Hermosa Beach, CA – At Lelands Just For Fun, a costume/gift and magic shop in Hermosa Beach, surviving the bad economy sometimes wasn’t at all fun.
“About six years ago, I had one of my best Christmases ever,” Leland Van Andler said as he led a tour around his novelty shop, one crowded with shelves of colorful wigs and racks of costumes, from Renaissance gowns to 1920s flapper dresses. “The next Christmas was my worst.”
Lelands was in another part of the city back then, about six blocks from the beach. Van Andler made the move to a strip mall on Aviation Boulevard four years ago. The proprietor, 72, who has grown accustomed to customers saying he looks “just like Hugh Hefner” (only cuter), said his business has survived via longevity. Not because of age, mind you.
