The Fashion Counter

Across the retail spectrum, there has been a blurring of the lines that divide one type of retailer from another. During the past few years, a shift has occurred, as book and jewelry stores introduced gift items, clothing stores offered housewares and personal care, and retailers as unlikely as Starbucks and Williams-Sonoma sold CDs. Much of this merchandise poaching came at the expense of the gift retailer, who now sees his or her product on the shelves of department and drug stores, discounters, museum shops, and restaurant boutiques.

But what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and one solution for the gift retailer is to expand into fashion accessories. Three Rooms gift store in Edina, Minnesota, did just that. For 30 years, the 1,500-square-foot store carried pottery, lamps, ceramics, glassware, frames, stationery, and candles, and for the last 15 years, jewelry. About two years ago, the store added scarves, and recently started offering handbags. Store manager Melissa Lansing noted that new customers are surprised to see jewelry, while old customers are initially startled by the handbags. While the store's customer base once consisted primarily of women decorating their homes, the product expansion has brought in a younger, trendier crowd. A fashionable line of "seat belt" bags have become the store's hottest item. "We sell at least a couple every day," Lansing stated.

Men have become regular shoppers, too. They've been buying the over-the-shoulder, messenger-style bag for themselves, as well as jewelry and handbags as gifts for their wives and girlfriends.

Lansing noted that Three Rooms is now making sales that nearby retailers — including the local Coach shop, a jewelry store, and a shoe and handbag store — might have once garnered. As a result, Lansing is planning to expand Three Rooms' fashion accessories inventory at the expense of stationery items such as writing paper and pens.

The comfort level women have in shopping in gift stores gives gift retailers an edge when it comes to selling jewelry and handbags. "Some women are still a little apprehensive about marching into a jewelry store and buying a pinky ring," said Michelle Orman, spokesperson for the Jewelry Information Center, New York. "I think that women are going to be in gift stores for other reasons, and they might see something else that strikes their fancy." In other words, the Tracy Porter tableware that drew a customer into a store might easily translate into a sale at the jewelry counter.

Gift stores are also more likely to benefit from customers purchasing a gift and then deciding that they'd like the same thing for themselves. They might also receive a gift that they like so much, they return to the gift store to buy for someone else. Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, an owner of Vera Bradley Designs, known for its line of handbags and personal luggage, is well aware of this phenomenon. The sale of one Vera Bradley handbag often leads to another.

A change in the way today's woman is viewing fashion points to an emphasis on accents, and the potential for sales. Barbara Baekgaard noted that sales of jewelry, handbags, and scarves are on the upswing because women are no longer buying dresses for every new occasion.

"I'm at a wedding right now," she told us. "I'm wearing the same basic outfit, and accessorizing it with different jackets, bags, and shoes. Women are dressing more simply now and having fun with accessories and jewelry." Sales at her Fort Wayne, Indiana, company, which primarily targets the gift market, are up 36 percent this year.

Fashion accents, especially jewelry, will also play into the country's current mood of heightened appreciation of friends and family. Michelle Peranteau, director of communications at Lagos, a jewelry manufacturer based in Philadelphia, said, "Jewelry is usually associated with a lovely occasion, whether it's an engagement, Mother's Day, or a birthday. I think that's going to come into play. I think that people are going to recognize that they want to give gifts that are indicative of how they feel about the world right now, and that really supports our business."

Choosing fashion accessories for your merchandise mix should go hand-in-hand with the gift and decorative accessory merchandise you sell. "Dress the way you live, live the way you dress," is the motto of Yvette Fry, a gift showroom at 225 Fifth Avenue in New York that also offers fashion accessories. Manager Gwendolyn White believes retailers should take a holistic approach when selling a diverse selection of products.

"You take on the role of a physician," she said, "and you meet the needs of each person who comes into your store. You need to diagnose them and sell to them based on what they're telling you." In other words, treat the whole person, from their personal accents to their decorative accessories.

You won't get that kind of treatment at Wal-Mart.