Sep 21, 2008

Stay awhile at La De Da — Gift shop aims for local goodsBy Jason AdkinsDL-Online.com

Detroit Lakes, MN — Those who dropped by La De Da Gifts and Décor late last year got a bit of a surprise.

Instead of going inside to find a completely new business, they would see Ladies Unique owner Deb Strozyk or manager Kim Samuelson were behind the counter.

“We did a business model change, and made it a gift and décor store,” Strozyk said.

It wasn’t a difficult change to go from a clothing store to a gift shop.

“In 1999, I put gifts downstairs and started out at Shady Hollow Flea Market,” Strozyk said. “So it was a real easy transition. We just moved the clothes and moved the gifts upstairs.”

There didn’t seem to be any complaints from regulars about the change in strategy.

“A lot of customers who had been Ladies Unique customers have been real positive about the change,” Samuelson said.

“And they still get to see our smiling faces,” Strozyk said. “That totally confuses them, because a lot of people expect it to be different.”

Any change along Washington piques potential customers’ interests.

“That alone generates a lot of activity when something changes from last year,” Strozyk said of changing the front of the store.

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