The tall storefront windows of Sundrees, a gift shop on Main Street in Trumansburg, New York, look out onto a small but bustling downtown. Inside the shop, soft plush animals, wooden toys, classic games and organic baby clothes are neatly piled in, on and around a vintage metal crib. Colorful kitchen textiles, ceramics, jewelry, picture frames, garden accessories, clothing and handmade tapestry bags are displayed on shelves, tables and racks. Sundrees presents a perfect mix for gift givers in this artsy, rural community.
The shop just opened in November 2007. Co-owner Diane Richards is responsible for the day-to-day operations. She’s a newcomer to traditional retail, but she has an artistic eye, plus support and guidance from an experienced specialty retailer. Sherry Spielberg, her sister, has operated a successful garden and gift shop on Long Island for almost a decade.
What customers want
Despite a lack of store experience, Richards is no novice when it comes to making sales. She’s been crafting tapestry purses for 20 years and selling them at craft shows and at an artists’ co-op in nearby Ithaca. When those channels became less profitable, she and Spielberg decided to open the store.
Area residents identify support of local craftspeople and shopping locally as being important to them, along with being good environmental stewards. Richards’ signature bags are just one of the many handmade, locally produced items that attract customers to Sundrees. “I have four or five other local artists’ products alongside the bags I make, and I wish we had room for more,” she said. “A strong mix of locally produced goods is a draw in this community.”
In addition to bags, Richards plans to introduce a line of clothing soon. Her sewing machine has been set up in the shop near the cashwrap. She hopes that by using the place as a studio to demonstrate her craft, enough interest and excitement will be created to turn Sundrees into a destination location.
She plans to offer garden supplies, pots, tools, gloves and even some plants this spring. “There are a lot of gardeners around here and I want to give them a fun place to get their accessories like interesting pots and rubber boots. I’m also going to offer a small selection of organic seeds,” said Richards. “The only major garden store in town closed recently, creating a nice little niche for us.”
A lot to see in a small space
Richards has a knack for creating displays. She worked as a window dresser at the artists’ co-op for 10 years and has helped her sister with merchandising at Spielberg Nursery and Garden Center for the past five.
To create visual interest at a small shop like Sundrees, she varies the height, color and texture of the products presented. Within the store, a side window provides valuable natural light, of which Richards takes full merchandising advantage. The store is small, about 20 feet wide at the front, narrowing to about 10 feet in the back, and only about 30 feet deep. Displays line both walls and central fixtures taper off toward the back of the store. Much of what is there has little, if any, packaging. In fact, on the day we spoke, Richards was struggling with the presentation of a new line of toys she was bringing in. She was concerned that the mass-produced, commercialized look of the boxes might be off-putting to potential buyers.
The cashwrap is at the rear on the right, and affords a good view of the entire shop. The layout results in a loop customers can walk, examining products on both sides of their path.
“I’ve had people come in who just go around and around,” said Richards. “Some have spent 45 minutes browsing before they make a purchase.”
Despite its size and the amount of product it contains, the store is uncluttered and parking is ample. The hardscape along Main Street was recently given a facelift with the aid of state grants and a community fundraising effort. Downtown businesses have benefited from the improvements.
Time to promote
Sherry Spielberg has started her sister thinking about creative ways to market the shop. “One idea that we’ve had is to hold a wine-tasting event here, since we’re located on one of the Finger Lakes wine trails,” said Richards. “I’m also looking at ways to coordinate our advertising efforts with other local businesses, special events and attractions.”
The economy in the region where Sundrees is located relies heavily on tourism. As a result, many small businesses close or reduce their hours in the winter. Richards recently followed suit. With only a few shoppers coming in on Mondays and Tuesdays, it was more efficient to close on those days and concentrate on early evenings and Saturdays. Richards and another sister, Kelly Stiles, who lives nearby, constitute the regular staff. They’ll extend their hours when the weather warms.
“I certainly think what we’re learning now will pay off,” said Richards. “Issues like store hours will even out once we figure out all the details and develop routines for them all. I am glad to be doing whatever I can to get the place going now, but I need to make more little connections and complete a long list of small tasks before spring. We don’t have business cards yet because putting them together is on that list!
“In all honesty, running a store has been a little more work than I thought it was going to be,” she laughed.
With her sister Sherry’s encouragement, Richards is taking risks that she might not have otherwise – inventory management, for example. She told us: “I’ll say to Sherry, ‘You ordered more? Shouldn’t we sell what we already have?’ and Sherry will say, ‘No, you have to look ahead. You have to always have fresh stuff because – especially in a small town – your repeat customers will want to see new things. They will want the store to look different each time they come in.’”
“I must admit, all of what she said is true,” Richards conceded.
Shoppers tell her that they do all their gift shopping in Trumansburg because they want to support local businesses. “‘I know you’ll have something that’s right for me,’ they say. People who live here and in the neighboring small towns appreciate the special things I carry that they don’t have to drive far for. They enjoy knowing they can come in to get a high quality gift that’s unique,” Richards said. “I like to think that by being here, the store lessens the impact on the Earth, even if only in a small way.”
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