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Retailer sells out of five products at holiday open house |
11.13.2009
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By Anna Wolfe
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.-They were stocked and ready for the holiday season. Or that's what The Gourmet Gallery Owners Cindy Utecht and Janet McDonald thought when they hosted their annual holiday open house at their store here and in Edmond on Nov. 7
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An annual kickoff to their holiday selling season, the open house sale featured in-store sampling and 20 percent off. Much to their surprise, they sold out of five items-including Roasted Garlic & Curry from VIctoria Taylor's, Pumpkin Soup from Frontier Soup and Cornbread Mix from Canterbury Naturals. They had to reorder the items earlier this week.
"With the concern nationwide over what this holiday season will bring, we were thrilled to report that we had our very best-in sales volume-ever holiday open house," said Utecht. "We ran out of at least five products that we were featuring. We had plenty, we thought, to last us for the open house and the Christmas season."
The Gourmet Gallery featured a condiment bar with holiday favorites such as pepper jellies-that filled an entire shelf. Condiments with cranberry were top sellers.
"Anything cranberry is always a hit -and if it has a little spice to it," Utecht and McDonald said. "New Canaan Farms Cranberry Chutney and Aloha Cranberry Pecan Chutney were the clear winners this year."
Mustards, flavored mayonnaise and any sauce with wasabi or horseradish are popular with their clientele. In their gift baskets, Robert Rothschild Farm's Raspberry Honey Mustard Pretzel dip is a best seller and a staple in their snack gift baskets.
Some shoppers do come into the store looking for gift baskets, and the store has 12-15 ready-made gift baskets in stock. "We put a sign out that says if you need more than 10 of anything, let us know so they don't raid the shelf clean," said McDonald. It's not unusual to get requests for multiples of 40, they added.
"The first thing employees learn when they come here is the answer is always yes," said McDonald.
After eight years in business, McDonald and Utecht are still going strong and planning to relocate to a larger storefront and add a warehouse in the coming year. Until they find a new storefront that can accommodate the store and the warehouse, they're leasing 3,000 square feet of storage for back stock and gift basket packing.
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