Best-Selling Merchandise for Christmas

Pharmacies and florists often make an excellent stop for holiday merchandise. At both types of stores, for this article owners and staff members explained some of their top gift items. It’s not just floral arrangements that make a holiday present at florists anymore, and pharmacies offer a surprisingly wide selection of gifts and décor.

At Thistle in Tucson, Ariz., Owner Carly Wilson revealed that during the Christmas season, her store does “very well with physically small, medium-priced, luxury items like scented candles and soaps.” The store has a wide selection that falls under the category of goods, she said, from sweet baby toys to botanical pins and copper candles, canvas tote travel bags and designer chocolates.

“We think of them as the kinds of presents you’d give your mother-in-law. You wouldn’t necessarily buy the item for yourself, but it makes a great gift for a variety of people because it’s slightly non-personal.” She noted that throughout the year these items sell as add-ons for floral arrangements, but at holiday time they are often purchased as stand-alone gifts. And she offers potted plants as well as cut flower arrangements.

At her 600-square-foot shop, Wilson said the best way to create interesting Christmas displays is to reveal some of the decorative items they also sell along with gift items. “We bring in a lot of holiday specific merchandise like ornaments, and we also make wreathes and garlands. So, we change the store’s décor to reflect that, hanging ornaments that we can also include with arrangements as displays along with things like origami snowflakes. We really create a holiday theme.”

In Taos, N.M., at the 2,200-square-foot Buds Cut

Flowers and More, Owner Eva Martinez said her store carries a lot of special occasion gifts for all seasons from gift baskets and chocolates to plants.

During the holidays “We have candles and chocolates that do very well, we sell a great deal of those along with flowers and plants as well as separate items. And we also sell a lot of ornaments and nativity scenes that people will buy for décor-related gifts.”

Martinez’ best Christmas displays focus on color themes. “We have a tree that is blue and white, one red, one green. In each little space in my store, I am color-themed in general, and it continues through Christmas with gift items and flowers.”

“We bring in a lot of holiday specific merchandise like ornaments, and we also make wreathes and garlands. So, we change the store’s décor to reflect that, hanging ornaments that we can also include with arrangements as displays along with things like origami snowflakes. We really create a holiday theme.”

Moving from florists to pharmacies, in Beaverton, Ore., Sales Associate Lucinda Santos also assists with merchandising at Beaverton Pharmacy. Santos said the best-sellers at the pharmacy in the gift category revolve around two main companies: the Willow Tree figurine collection for adults, and Melissa and Doug toys for children. “We carry a huge selection of the toys, they’re a bit unique in our area, and that is the same for Willow Tree. During the holiday season we carry a whole collection of Christmas Willow Tree items. I think both the uniqueness and the ease of just coming into the store to handle other needs and being able to walk out with a great gift are what makes these items so popular.” She added, “We also do toy sales to draw customers to those children’s gifts, sometimes it is buy-one/get one half off.”

The gift store section carries a wide range of other products too such as candles, scarves, travel mugs, jewelry, magnets, picture frames, and wind chimes. They