Special Gifts and Home Décor Section

Looking Around (From page 35) up in everything from textiles to kitchenware, on any good quality practical item as well as beautiful, special items for the home. Home fragrance is something else that has a lot of appeal to our customers now, and it’s big for us – Japanese incense, palo santo, scented candles.”

In Fairbanks, Alaska, Angelika Krinner-Croteau , owner of the Arctic Travelers Gift Shop, said that while she may not carry a large number of home décor items in her shop, the pieces she does stock in the 3,000-squre-foot store are doing well. “Primarily I have decorative wooden boxes, candles, picture frames, and a lot of art and craft items, such as carvings, made by local native people. I also have pictures of the Northern Lights, since we are the land known for that.” The reason her customers are interested in these types of items is their distinctive nature, she said. These are not, she said, pieces that can be purchased anywhere else. “I do see that more people want to improve the look of their homes. In part, that is because I have a lot more local shoppers this year, compared to other years when I would say most of our business came from those traveling. Now, local people want to support mom and pop stores like me, so they come and shop here. That has helped me to recover from the summer months, when I had no tourists at all. But because they are local, they have less interest in souvenir-type items, and are more interested in buying things they can keep in their homes.”

From Alaska to Phoenix, the trend is the same: home décor items are growing in popularity at boutique gift shops, and while the most popular pieces may vary, the desire to improve the look and feel of a home is universal. ❖