Running a gift shop out of your business model is a great way to engage visitors and a creative approach to boosting revenue by adding a few extra cash flows.
Of course, you need to catch their attention and offer value. Stocked with the right essentials, a gift shop will continue to add to a business’s bottom line as long as visitors are coming through the door.
Naturally, knowing what to carry is the trick. What you sell in your gift shop must be both useful and affordable. That being said, here are 20 great ideas.
Beaded Ornaments
The hand-crafted beaded ornaments we offer here at Pichincha are made by skilled artisans, and we offer a whole bunch of different styles and designs, but the most valuable aspect of these ornaments is that they can be used in so many different ways which makes them appealing to buyers. They can be used as keychain ornaments, wine charms, or just to add a little personal touch to just about anything. Check out our collection of beaded ornaments via the previous link.
Seasonal Decorations
There is only one downside to seasonal decorations, which is that you need to keep inventory fresh and that you might need to rotate it. However, seasonal decorations are great at grabbing attention and many people buy them as gifts for others.
Pens
Pens are great gift shop trinkets for two reasons: one, they enable you to spread brand awareness (assuming you brand them, which you should do) and two, because they are useful. Everyone needs a pen and they’re fairly affordable too.
Drinkware
Don’t stop at mugs; get into branded water bottles, beer steins, shot glasses, wine glasses, rocks glasses and more. They tend to sell well, are fairly affordable to stock, and have built-in utility.
Branded Apparel
Customize some sweaters, t-shirts, hats, sweatpants, socks and more with your logo and you have a great gift shop idea in the making.
Jewelry
The great thing about handmade jewelry is that it is appealing and takes up very little space, which makes it easy to carry and inventory. Also, the mark up on jewelry can be pretty high, which should make it attractive to you as a gift shop trinket.
Hair Accessories
Hair accessories like hair ties, scrunchies and other similar items, like jewelry, are appealing and take up little space. Plus they tend to be pretty affordable to carry, and lots of people use them.
Keychains
Keychains, like beaded ornaments, are excellent as a gift shop offering, and they are affordable to manufacture and on top of that take up little space. Plus, you can brand keychains, which makes them even better.
Tote Bags
Tote bags, whether branded or custom options made by skilled craftsmen, make a great option for gift shops of all sorts. They’re appealing both because of their relatively low cost and because they have tons of different uses.
Stationery
Whether branded or not, stationery is affordable and attractive (every desk has a notepad on it somewhere) which also makes it an excellent gift shop addition.
Keepsake Boxes
Keepsake boxes are another one of those things that are found on every desk, everywhere, in some capacity or other. Add some to your gift shop and see how they sell.
Board Games
Board games like checkers, chess and other basic offerings, tend to be popular in gift shops. Also, decks of cards, which can be branded with your business or logo, fall into this category.
Toys
Every kid loves toys, and if you can get some toys themed according to your business operation, they will likely do well in your gift shop if only for the sake of their uniqueness.
Candy and Snacks
Everyone loves pick-me-ups and candy and other consumer packaged snacks tend to do well. It’s hard to resist a sweet treat.
Bottled Refreshments
Not just bottled water, but bottled energy drinks and other refreshments like iced tea and coffee tend to do well, especially if you invest in a refrigerated case.
Books
If you can find books that reflect the subject matter of your main business, they may perform well in your gift shop. Another alternative is to find books from local authors or publishing houses.
Kitchen Tools (Bottle Openers, Corkscrews, Etc)
Small kitchen tools and accessories make great gift shop essentials – think things like bottle and can openers, corkscrews, wooden spoons, skewers, silverware, and other things like that.
Magnets or Stickers
Magnets and stickers are affordable, easy to customize with your brand or logo, and take up little space. When customized they also offer something unique and memorable for customers to get at your shop as a souvenir.
Bookmarks
Bookmarks can be customized, are affordable, take up little space, and can offer you very high margins, even when you sell them to customers at very low prices. Plus, anyone that reads can use them.
Flip-Flops
Pretty much everyone wears them and they are cheap, which makes them another excellent gift shop essential.
Explore Gift Shop Essentials Here
Hopefully you found some inspiration to round out the offerings you carry in your gift shop through this article. Check out some of our collections here – we carry many of the items mentioned and may be able to help you out!