The Snowball Effect

Patti Renner, owner of Renner's Invitations in Akron, Ohio, underscores the fact that her store is much more than just your run-of-the-mill stationery store. As well as its regular merchandise, it offers a full range of party planning services. "We don't just sell invitations," says Renner, who is also featured regularly in Gifts & Dec's "We Asked … You Answered" column. "We like to help customers develop a theme, a feel, and an atmosphere for a party. We really have fun working with people and helping them make their events special, and that tends to make our business snowball from stationery to other areas."

Indeed, business has been snowballing from the very beginning for Patti Renner. In August of 1996, Renner left her job in print journalism to start selling custom-ordered wedding invitations out of her home in Akron. Almost immediately, business took off. Renner's Invitations found a special niche for stylish, contemporary wedding stationery that wasn't available anywhere else in Akron.

"When I started out, the paper options in town were a little bit stale, catering more to my mother-in-law's set," she recalls. "There just wasn't anything punchy or fun in those shops. People could come to me and find items that were a little bit whimsical — kind of girl-funny."

By spring 1997, Renner's Invitations had grown enough that Patti moved the business out of her home and into an office suite in Akron's historic Wallhaven district. No sooner was she settled in, however, than she realized that she needed a storefront, because her customers began requesting items such as imprintables and wedding accessories. Though she hadn't originally intended to go into retail, by the end of 1997 Renner's Invitations had leased an 1,800-square-foot storefront space in Wallhaven.

"Within a two-year period we evolved from being pretty much weddings-only to being a full-service stationer," says Renner.

Nowadays, Renner's Invitations offers all kinds of stationery merchandise, including wedding products, thank you notes, boxed and custom stationery, journals, inheritance albums, and notecards. They also sell home accessories such as flower arrangements and silverplated vegetables — items that are originally used in displays for party themes.

Over the last year the store has also added a variety of gifts. "We sell unique items that are great quality, maybe a little bit whimsical, and have price points of $25 or less," says Renner. Items such as wine charms, custom-cut soaps, sachets, and candles started out as hostess gifts for parties, and are now an integral part of the store's merchandise mix.

"When we started out, we were doing 90 percent weddings," says Patti. "Now we're doing 40 percent weddings. We're really more of a parties and imprintables store."

But when it comes to attracting new customers, Renner's Invitations still focuses on the bridal market, which is renewed annually. The store maintains booths at bridal fairs throughout the year, and has recently upgraded its approach to include a full-page ad in a regional wedding magazine. In return for the ad, Renner's receives a list of the season's new brides from the publication. From this list Renner's is able to generate direct mail campaigns and hold a yearly sweepstakes competition.

Throughout its various expansions, Renner's Invitations has remained ensconced in the trendy Wallhaven district, which is also home to the West Point gourmet market, a local attraction. Because her store is located on the beaten path, so to speak, Patti Renner has made it an inviting destination for stop-in shoppers as well as repeat clients.

Tables and upholstered chairs are situated alongside the displays in the store, offering customers the chance to sit and peruse merchandise at their leisure. The tables, which were originally to be used for consultations with wedding and party-planning clients, have also helped boost retail sales. "We finally had to start reserving tables," notes Renner, "because so many people walked in and stayed that there was no room for the clients that had appointments."

In fact, so many people sat down for a look that it gave rise to the latest evolution in Patti Renner's entrepreneurial odyssey: Last month, she opened Coco's Coffee Bar, a chocolate and espresso shop around the corner from Renner's Invitations. With all those customers coming in to sit down in her store, a coffee bar seemed like the next natural step for Patti.

"But we plan to keep it just coffee and chocolate, for now," she quickly explains.

For now, indeed.