Retailers selling gifts and decorative accessories are a varied lot, as Gifts & Decorative Accessories' 25 Gifted Retailers '08 illustrate. They are typically untypical. Among our selected group is a stationery specialist, a shop within a car wash and a gift and fabric shop offering sewing classes. All but two operate only one store (the other two have two locations); 16 have websites, yet only four sell online; and they offer a wide range of product categories. These stores average about 4,200 square feet, with some as small as 500 square feet and another as large as 20,000 square feet. More than half of this year’s group have been in business for 10 or more years. This is just one of the reasons why we call them Gifted Retailers. They, and others like them, are the backbone of the gift industry, and even in tenuous times, are hardy. That is not to say that they aren’t challenged; they are. But by being small — and independent — they can adapt more readily to the changing retail climate, whether that change is an economic condition, an emerging trend or a shift in local population. And adapt they must in order to stay strong and competitive.

Presented here are snapshots of the second twelve of our 25 Gifted Retailers. Part 1, featuring the first 13 was posted in early November and can be found here. Continue to watch this spot. Beginning in early 2009, every two weeks, we will post a full profile of one retailer, letting you know what they are doing and how they are doing, so you can gain an even better idea of why we think they are Gifted Retailers.