Winter 2007

Carding Home the Profits By Randall Mielke

Glitter Gal

About 13 years ago, Jenny Sweeney decided to put her graphic design background into use by creating a few cards. She doodled a few designs on paper but never thought they would take off the way they did. One of her close friends persuaded Sweeney to sell the cards, and Sweeney says she was pleasantly surprised by the response. Now she has a flourishing wholesale business and opened a retail store, “The Shop at Jenny Sweeney Designs,” a little more than two years ago in a Chicago suburb.

Sweeney says the retail store allows her to test lines before she releases them to her wholesale business. The store is very pink and is frequented mostly by women, many of whom are “paper junkies.” There are cards for people of all ages. Preteens are especially attracted to the Leo collection. “There is nothing that compares to a handmade card. It’s something tactile that people just love to send and receive,” Sweeney says.

There is competition from many quarters, but Sweeney says she is constantly working on “staying ahead of the curve.”

Besides cards, the shop stocks paper goods and clothing. “It’s little things with vintage charm and humor. A big part of our personality is sweet, quirky and charming, so products that fit that, do well,” Sweeney says. The store prides itself on its customer service and on being able to accommodate a variety of requests. Sweeney’s advice for retailers is to be original and diversify. “You can’t base your business on one kind of product alone,” she says.

The glitter on every card in the store is applied by hand. There is so much glitter to work with that the shop employs three full-time “glitterists.” Sweeney insists that working with a lot of glitter is fun and that it keeps things light-hearted. “We also wear a lot of it,” she laughs.

Randall Mielke

Mielke is a freelancer who writes about retail, business and economic development for a variety of publications.