Edible Gifts

they are all equally popular,” Soucy said. “There’s no one chocolate that sells better than the other – it’s pretty consistent across the board with the variety that we offer.”

Hype Up the Holidays

At the about 1,500-square foot gift shop at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix in Arizona, the holidays are when the store stocks the majority of its edible gifts with an emphasis on chocolate, said Supervisor for Guest Services Kathy Simpson .

“What does sell very well are individually wrapped pieces or small things that are holiday-shaped,” she explained. “Or even if it’s just a plain old what you can get every other day, but it's wrapped for the holidays, those sell well.”

The store also carries a variety of mixes, like dips, s’mores, and hot chocolate, during the winter holidays. However, Simpson said they keep it unique by packaging the edible mixes with another item, such as dip mix with a small cast iron skillet or a pancake mix with a cute apron or spatula.

“A lot of our staff (works) 12-hour shifts, so they don’t have a lot of time to do extra shopping,” Simpson said. “Our gift shop does a very good job of offering a lot of gifty items for the holidays, so people come in and do a lot of their Christmas shopping here.”

CornerStone Gifts also brings in special edible gift items for the holidays. For example, Dinoff said right now they have pumpkin bread and cheesecake mixes, as well as a variety of dip mixes. And for Christmas, they’ll offer hot chocolate mix and various Christmas candies.

Dinoff said the mixes tend to be excellent sellers for the store. “That’s not necessarily something that somebody’s going to send up to a room for a gift, but people have definitely started Christmas shopping – a lot of people are buying those for Christmas gifts,” she added.

Display It Right

Having eye-catching displays of edible gifts has proven to help sales at Banner University Medical Center Phoenix’s gift shop.

“The way we display them and where we put them in a store helps a lot,” Simpson said. “Two of our sides are glass, so it’s very inviting when people are walking around the shop. The girls in the shop

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