We Ask...You Answer   

MOTIF Modern Living participates in the 3/50 Project, and we love the concept, although I'm not sure that we fit the mold. My partner and I never wanted MOTIF to be seen as a "mom-and-pop shop." We consciously cultivate an image of slick sophistication through merchandising, marketing and technology, but that does backfire on us when it comes to being perceived as "local." We also have the issue of a suburban location, which "buy local" diehards perceive as somehow disingenuous. Having stores in other cities also works against us. But we are proud of being a local, independent furniture company and we hope that over time the connotation of "local" will broaden to include re...Read More

 

Stephanie Fleishman

Stephanie Fleishman, 2910 on the Square, Canton, MD

I am continuing to bring in reasonably priced gift items — less than $50. And I am still contemplating whether or not I'm going to the gift show or save the money on travel and just order from the huge consideration pile on my desk. Also in light of the economy we have picked up a lot of consignment artists. My consignment has trip...Read More

We recycle for our shipping: all boxes, bubble wrap, popcorn and peanuts that come in, we actually send back out when we send out orders from our website or anything else we ship. We haven’t gone to the CFLs [compact fluorescent lightbulbs], but we use halogen lights that get lots of hours. Our customers aren’t asking for bags as much. Some of them take out one of those little carry totes, put their purchase in their purse or just walk out with it. We don’t sell the carry totes yet but I want to look into them. Maybe if people spend enough, rather than selling them we will give them away when you spend $50. I always buy recycled refurbished toner cartridges for our printer. It is actually less expensive than going to ...Read More