Going Small for Big Sales Trends in Inexpensive Gifts at General and Variety Stores

By Carimé Lane

When it comes to gifts, it’s the thought that counts. And general and variety store owners are ensuring that this thought goes a long way–even when it comes to inexpensive gifts. Here, three retailers told us what sells best in this category, how they sell more inexpensive gifts, and how they curate their selection of small and inexpensive gifts.

GOODS, located in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighbourhood sells mainly locally procured items like jewelry, patches, cards and pet supplies, including goods they create in-store, which include printed T-shirts and coffee mugs, along with candles. They produce items for other local designers as well.

GOODS Owner, Carl Hunt , said T-shirts and socks are among their best-selling inexpensive gifts. The T-shirts are decorated with a range of images– either quips related to Cincinnati, or their renditions of album covers and cost from $15-$20 dollars. Their sock selection includes fun decorations like flamingos, donuts, or socks with political messages like #blacklivesmatter. Socks cost $7 each or two for $12.

Selling inexpensive gifts is often about positioning products, for instance: putting them in front of the customer such as the front area and around the checkout said Hunt. Keeping product at eye level is also helpful. Being on a fairly busy street adds sales from passersby. In addition, Hunt said they post inexpensive gifts heavily on Instagram to increase sales.

Hunt picks up new inexpensive merchandise at vendor street festivals. He wanders through, waiting for something to catch his eye and watching to see how other browsers react to products. Sometimes, he uses these trips to inspire his own creations.

Via Convenience in Calgary, Alberta, sells necessary sundries like face tissue, cleaning supplies and snacks, but also houses a section dedicated to local companies and products. In his two months of operating thus far, Razwan Arshad , owner, said

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best-selling inexpensive gifts have been locally made hand poured coconut or soy candles. Milk Jar and Land of Daughters–a Metis and female founded company–are popular brands at Via. Speciality chocolates including Dick Taylor are also fast sellers. “Lots of soul goes into these products,” Arshad said.

Farmers markets are one of the best places to find items to stock for his 1,200-square-foot shop in this category, said Arshad. Knowing and telling customers the story behind the product always helps to make purchases more meaningful, he added.

Arshad has found opening during the pandemic to pose an extra challenge since government subsidies in Canada have only been offered to businesses with pre- pensive items available to shoppers. Their best-selling inexpensive gifts include jewelry, toys, notebooks, and journals and stickers. Novelty socks–printed with yoga, animal designs, or TV-related prints–for example: The Office or Schitt’s Creek–were so popular that they opened a store to sell these socks exclusively. Their jewelry attracts customers of all ages–kids are happy to find jewelry at a price they can afford (which ranges from three to six dollars) and both kids and adults enjoy sorting through piles of rings to find the one they like.

“We find that we get a lot of young girls that buy five or six rings and stack them,” said Duensing. “It’s an inexpensive way to get a little bling on your hands. We go through thousands of them.”

Squishy toys and fidget spinners sell well in the toy category. Right now, bubble poppers are having a moment.

Duensing’s customers “love the hunt,” when it comes to shopping for gifts at his stores. For instance, they like searching through jewelry displays in various types of containers like bowls, boxes, or full tabletops of rings with different prices to find the one that stands out to them. “They find it, love it, and buy it,” said Duensing. “When we put our money and styling towards a particular collection, people gravitate towards that.” existing sales figures. He’s still been making it work by doing what he can, including keeping long hours at the store himself in lieu of hiring employees.

It’s also important to look for quality items, said Duensing. Even though the product is inexpensive, customers don’t want something that will break tomorrow, he added.

At Sunbeam General, with four locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania ranging from 500 to 2,000-square-feet, Owner Benjamin Duensing said their store is generally geared towards making inex-

Choosing inexpensive gifts for the store comes down to using your best judgement, taste and then researching the product. The past year excepted, Duensing mainly attends trade shows to find new products. They also take a couple of trips per year to visit stores similar to theirs to observe what types of products are working for these spots.

Leigh Navarro , who’s been in the retail business since she was a teenager, told us she closed two of her remaining locations, one in San Antonio, and one in Austin at the end of 2020 due to the effects of the pandemic, which included the downturn in customers in previously heavily trafficked tourist areas. Since then, she’s operated as a weekly pop-up shop, still under the name Austin General Store. “I only book pop up shows when I can work them myself. I will sell my favorite items better than any employee, so I am far more effective,” said Navarro of the transition. “I have all of the tools to open another full-time retail store, and if it feels right, then I will do it. In the meantime, even though I no longer have employees, I am enjoying the freedom that comes with pop-ups and the amount of flexibility I can enjoy without staff.”

Her best-selling inexpensive gifts fuse with a personal passion of hers. “I have been a jewelry designer/ maker for decades and I love to sell it,” said Navarro. It’s easy to find jewelry for the tastes of every customer, ranging from handcrafted USA-made pieces to those mass-produced overseas and “everything in between,” said Navarro. Currently, her favorite line to sell is Dawn & Dusk, one she produces herself. “I created it because I wanted a well-made, well-priced item that’s easy to display and sells without having to think about it,” Navarro said.

Navarro finds jewelry easy-to-sell because it is small, both to merchandise and for customers to carry home. Along with that, gifts of jewelry are a cinch for customers to ship home–or to a friend–and can easily be tucked into a suitcase.

In locating gifts to stock, Navarro said she “always looks for things I love at trade shows, listen to makers who stop in the store, and I also trust my instinct.” She also asks questions like: “What are people asking me for?”, “What do I like to buy on vacation?” and “What do I buy for hostess gifts, friends’ birthdays?” and so on. ❖