This holiday season, the top 10 things that Salutations in Charlotte is most thankful for:

1. Our customers!

2. Our Salutations team members!

3. Smock for their amazing customer service {and support of their retailers}.

4. Crane & Co.for their outstanding quality {and support of their retailers}.

5. Bella Figura for their whimsical designs.

6. Our many UPS drivers!

7. Geoff, our FedEx driver.

8. Rush Espresso, for fueling us through this busy holiday season.

9. Our Ballantyne Village friends and neighbors.

10. All of the basic freedoms and wonderful blessings we enjoy each day!

The top 10 things that Salutations in Chapel Hill is most thankful for:

1.       Our customers!

2.      Our Salutations team members

3.     Smock, for their amazing customer service

4.      Crane & Co. , for their outstanding quality

5.      Dauphine Press, for the relationships we have made

6.      Jeff, our UPS driver and Jason, our FedEx driver

7.      Our fellow Meadowmont merchants

8.     Linnea’s Lights, for giving us the fragrance of the season

9.      Unseasonably warm weather that has made shopping easier

10.  Holly, our owner for her continued vision for the stores {aww, thanks so much gals!}

{Italics added by Holly; concept inspired by this blog post.}

All of us at Salutations are sending out to you our best wishes for a very Merry Christmas filled with many reasons for gratitude!

Just in time for the hard-core, last-minute holiday shoppers, we bring to you the Salutations Holiday Gift Guide.  It is loaded with oodles of ideas for everyone on your list in every price point.

There’s even an incredible deal featured. Don’t miss the Walden Woods limited edition rollerball pen ~ originally $600, marked down for a limited time to only $450!

And, if you would like something personalized that may not arrive in time for Christmas, our elves are standing by to create beautiful personalized gift certificates with the recipient’s name and a description of the gift item.

We can’t wait to see you!

In need of a gift under $10 that doesn’t scream “dollar store”? Consider our “Wintry Mix” Hot Cocoa Gift Sets that include:

* Homemade hot cocoa mix {16 servings}

* Snowman Poop {mini marshmallows in a red pouch with decorative label}

* “From the Kitchen of Mrs. Claus” recipe card

* Wrapped up and tied with a decorative  To/From gift tag all ready for gifting

These make the perfect gift for teachers, hostesses, Secret Santas, coworkers, neighbors, gift exchanges, mail carriers, house cleaners, or anyone  who might appreciate some warmth and a smile.  They make perfect stocking stuffers too!

All of this for $7.50 ~ or $6.75 when you buy 5 or more sets.

We are so excited to share this fun project we just completed for one of our favorite customers whose daughter recently got engaged.

The bride was looking for a creative twist on the standard “Will you be my bridesmaid?” cards. Together we came up with the idea to create sets of paper dolls representing each of the bridesmaids.

Her colors are orange and navy blue, so we decided to “dress” the dolls in the fabulous Oxford gift wrap sheets from Smock. Then, we had our favorite Charlotte calligrapher Grace Edmands pen each of the girls’ names in orange ink. We printed the invitation on a 5×7 card in navy and orange inks, featuring a poem created by the bride.

Our original inspiration was from this OnceWed blog post by Anna Bond of Rifle Paper Co.

What do you think? Please share any creative ways you’ve found to invite bridesmaids to the wedding party.

Come on in to Salutations in Chapel Hill or Charlotte to see all of the delightful goodies that Boatman Geller has to offer for everyone on your list!

Printswell’s Black Friday sale starts Thursday!  Enjoy 20% off holiday photo cards with coupon code BLKFR2011 ~ good from Thursday, November 24th through Saturday, November 26th.

You may not have heard yet of another important retail day this weekend ~ Small Business Saturday.  It was started last year by American Express to help educate consumers about the importance of shopping with local independent businesses.

On Saturday, November 26th, use your American Express card at any local small business and American Express will give you a $25 statement credit {aka free money!}. To take advantage of this promotion, you need to register your American Express card here.

To sweeten the deal, and to give you one more reason to shop with Salutations this weekend, we are offering free envelope addressing for all holiday card and holiday invitation orders placed this Friday and Saturday, November 25th & November 26th. That’s right ~ we will address your envelopes for free ~ just send us your list in Excel {we have a template if you’d like to use it} and we will take it from there.

Imagine all of the holiday shopping you can get done when you are not having to address all of your holiday cards and invitations!

{Editorial: This was a post that I wrote and published two years ago ~ as we enter the holiday retail season, and especially in advance of Small Business Saturday, I thought it would be good to put it out there again. I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments.}

When I was young, I used to view stores as “corporate entities” {a term from my lawyer days} – cold, lifeless businesses with stuff inside to buy or to browse. After spending eight years owning retail boutiques, I now know that businesses – especially local independent businesses – are so much more. They are very similar to humans ~ living, breathing beings with a heart, a soul, and a personality.

Just like giving birth, the owners of these beings imagine them into reality, plan for their arrival, and nurture them through infancy. Throughout the lives of these beings, the owners learn how to improve and make them grow into better beings, live through the growing pains of adolescence, and take pride as these beings evolve into mature organizations. Some owners even give birth to additional beings, taking what they’ve learned in rearing the first and applying it to the life cycle of the second. Just like with children, the owners of independent stores find themselves thinking about their businesses when they first awake in the morning and as they fall asleep at night, and often as they lay awake in the middle of the night.

Invariably, these businesses have a distinct personality ~ a personality that is shaped by the owners and embodied by the people who staff them. You can tell the personality of a good store within the first few minutes of entering ~ when it feels like you’ve just entered the home of a good neighbor. You are greeted with a smile and a warm welcome, often by name if you’ve visited before.

Stationery stores, in particular, tend to develop close relationships with their customers. When working on birth announcements, we are thrilled at the anticipation of their new arrival and overcome with joy at the birth of their babies. We get caught up in the excitement of brides and grooms, and do everything we can to help make the dreams of their big day a reality. We are thrilled at coming up with the perfect wording for a child’s birthday party invitation. We revel in gleaning the personality of an individual so we can create the perfect stationery to express their style. We help select and cheerfully wrap their gifts in a stunning presentation to help make the recipient feel even more special. And, we are saddened ~ often moved to tears ~ in working on sympathy acknowledgments.

In these stressful economic times, these local independent businesses are facing declining sales, rising expenses, increasing competition from online entities {and often from their own vendors}, and the death of their friends. Every day, the owners of these businesses are required to make tough decisions ~ which items to buy that customers will respond to favorably and purchase, how much of those items to buy so they don’t end up holding old inventory, whether to offer a discount on some items in an effort to increase sales but somehow still meet operating expenses, dreaming up promotions that will drive traffic into the store, and so on.

Just like every parent, the owners of these independent businesses take great pride in the reputation they’ve built and light up when they are told that their “babies” have done a great job. Similarly, these owners and the staff that care so much are hurt deeply by inconsiderate questions, disrespectful comments, and negative tones uttered about their “babies.” When we spend hours with a bride educating her about wedding invitations and helping her select just the right invitation set, and she then tells us that she ordered her invitations online or purchased them from a competitor at a discount, we are hurt. When we are asked with disgust why we don’t carry an extremely specific item in exactly the motif, shade or price point the customer is looking for, we are disappointed that we can’t meet someone’s expectations. When we are told that, although our products and service are phenomenal, we should offer deep discounts, we are bruised.

Many times, these types of behavior are really the result of a lack of understanding that these small businesses are living, breathing entities with feelings. During the impending holiday season ~ often a make-or-break time for many small businesses ~ we would all do well to remember that these “entities” are the result of the blood, sweat and tears {literally!} of the owners and their dedicated staff members. If you are pleased with your experience, let them know they’ve done a good job. If you are disappointed in something, you may want to let the owner or staff member know of an expectation that was not met {maybe they can get or create something for you}. Just remember that it’s not always what you say, but how you say it, that means the most. And, if you appreciate the personality of a local independent business, help them to stay alive by continuing to give them your business. {For more on the impact that your purchases at independent businesses have on your local community, see the 3/50 Project.}

Spending your weekend outside apple picking is the quintessential Fall activity to enjoy with friends and family. And these classic, cozy and casual pieces make the perfect fashion essentials for enjoying the crisp Fall weather! 

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{© 2011 Blog Boutique | Jessica of Jessica Tierney Designs | Photos © linked sources}