Smoky Mountain Gift Show Section

Sales Amid Beautiful (From page 38) for local realtors and housewarming gifts for customers. Our biggest customer demographic is women aged 40-60. Most of our sales are from our women’s clothing—there aren’t a lot of clothing shops in our area. We offer relaxed quality clothing which can be easily worn while enjoying our area.” Food is another great gift because of its practicality and versatility. Rucci said at her store, pretzels, trail mix, and easy grab-andgo items fly off the shelves because “people take them out on their boats or to their cabins.”

Limited space for displaying items means some retailers are forced to be even more creative with merchandising stock. Rucci said despite her limited space, creating fun, eyecatching displays is very important to their brand. “For us, the whole foundation of our business is giving people the feeling of nostalgia—going up north and going camping on the lake. We try to tell stories with our displays. We do groupings [of merchandise]—1,000 square feet fills up quickly, so we have to be smart about how we use the space. We get in as much as we can without being crowded. We have a lake section, which could be anything from T-shirts to rugs with a lake motif to lake-scented candles, or an outdoor cabin camping section. That’s how we create our displays, by doing themes. Some people might come in and just want one thing—such as lake-themed items, so we’ll point them in that direction.”

Besides arranging attractive displays, providing stellar customer service is critical. It not only helps to drive sales, it goes a long way toward bringing in repeat business through relationship building. Simply greeting customers when they walk in sets the tone for their shopping experience. Sloan said they do their best to

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