What's Retailing 2003 Recap

You've no doubt been following our monthly feature "The Top 5 List — What's Retailing," which we introduced in May 2003. Information for the list is collected from interviews with specialty retailers across the country. We ask them to name their best selling merchandise. Some respond by offering their top selling product categories, while others name their favorite brands. Respondents are chosen at random; some are subscribers to Gifts & Decorative Accessories, others aren't.

While the results are not based on hard sales data (that information is almost impossible to collect from an industry of mostly privately held businesses), they do reflect trends in the gift and home accents marketplace. Following is a compilation of the responses of the 40 specialty retailers we talked to in 2003, and the more than 200 products (many duplicated) that they named. The list is arranged in descending order of the number of responses for each product category, with candles leading the pack. Brand names are listed in alphabetical order, and not by the number of responses each received.

Brand names mentioned include:

• Blue Sky
• Bridgewater
• Illume
• Kel-Toy
• Trapp
• Tyler
• Votivo
• Yankee

Brand names mentioned include:

• Avanti
• Claudia Cohen
• Crane's
• Ecrie
• Embossed Graphics
• Julie Holcomb
• Marcel Schurman
• Page
• Sweet Pea
• William Arthur

Brand names mentioned include:

• Ayala Bar
• Big Baby
• Brighton
• Ed Levin
• Ganz
• Guiding Light
• Holly Yashi
• Metal Pointus
• Wasabi
• Zoppini

Brand names mentioned include:

• Amici
• Arte Italica
• Campbell
• Fenton
• Franz
• Kiln Art
• Lolita
• Peggy Karr
• Schlanser

Brand names mentioned include:

• CBK
• Jay Strongwater
• Urban Evolutions

Brand names mentioned include:

• Dept. 56
• Hallmark Keepsake
• Jim Shore snowmen/Enesco
• Jingle Buddies/Roman

Brand names mentioned include:

• Boyds Bears
• Celebrity
• Eeboo
• Groovy Girls
• Legos
• Manhattan Toy
• Three Marthas

Brand names mentioned include:

• Chronicle
• Pulp Paper
• Rag and Bone
• Swing
• Worst Case Scenarios

Brand names mentioned include:

• Brighton
• David and Goliath
• Jon Hart
• Joy & Jake
• Murval
• Vera Bradley

Brand names mentioned include:

• Sarah's
• Seraphim/Roman
• Willow Tree/Demdaco

Brand names mentioned include:

• Camille Beckman
• Gianna Rose
• The Thymes

Brand names mentioned include:

• Charming Tails/Fitz & Floyd
• Hagenrenaker
• Harmony Kingdom
• Just the Right Shoe/Willitts
• Precious Moments/Enesco
• Rinconada
• Swarovski

Brand names mentioned include:

• Bailey Street
• Four Hands
• J.M. Paquet
• Sticks

Brand names mentioned include:

• April Cornell linens
• Asiaphile boxes
• Evergreen wood boxes
• Karen Rossi/Silvestri
• Lampe Berger
• Mary Engelbreit licensed products
• NCE windchimes
• Peggy Potter wood bowls
• Pendleton blankets
• Rothschilds gourmet foods
• Sarut Zen garden
• Shira Leah lacquerware
• Silvestri
• Tag
• Toland
• Westland Giftware
• Woodstock windchimes