Smoky Mountain Gift Show Section

Where Gifts Are a Natural (From page 100)

ter.’ You should always have your staples— have a good assortment of mixed metals and your smaller jewelry pieces. The more ‘fashion jewelry’ pieces will be the ones to change with the trends.” Natural Bridge has two retail outlets—a small shop in the visitors’ center and a location in their village called the Trading Post.

Schleiden said as far as materials, amethyst and rose quartz are by far their two biggest sellers, with tiger’s eye rounding out the top three. “I think many people are drawn to amethyst because of the color. I wear a lot of it myself because I was fortunate to be born in February and it’s my birthstone. I’ve seen more people being drawn to the labradorite, as well,” she said.

Women are the primary customer in most cave and cavern stores, although Schleiden said it’s heartening to get younger customers—especially boys— visiting the cave on a field trip looking for a special gift for their moms. “It’s always very sweet,” she said. “It’s interesting to see what they are drawn to. It seems that for little children buying for adults—the more sparkly the item, the better.”

Jewelry with some connection to a cave or cavern and contains natural materials are strong sellers for gift shops. Retailers try to stock a wide range of items to appeal to customers’ diverse tastes. They rely on trade shows, sales rep suggestions, and feedback from fellow staff members, as well as what might speak to them personally, to choose the merchandise they carry. Price point is also a factor. “I do all the buying here and I try to choose what people will like—maybe not necessarily what I would like, but you can’t think like that. Across the board, I try to get what people will like,” DeLong said. “Some things fly off the shelves; other things are slower to sell. We like to carry a wide variety of everything, whether bracelets, anklets, necklaces, rings, and we try to have things that are similar so people can match items.” ❖