Specialty Retail Report (January 2014)

The Magazine for Retail Entrepreneurs
Winter 2014
SpecialtyRetail.com
Santa Claus is
Coming to Town
Fatih Hidirligil’s Store
Concept Delivers
Year-Round Cheer
18th Annual
Startup Guide
Kiosks’
Accelerating Growth
Delicious Food
Concepts!
STORE PROFILE
A Different Type of Retail Environment
A single location retail venture turns into a
nationwide chain boasting year-round and
temporary locations with Christmas in
[Your City].
Fatih and Neslihan Hidirligil were barely legally considered adults, when they decided
to open their first store, a 700-square-foot
shop in the Broadway Mall in Hicksville,
New York in 2002. The duo initially carried an array of handmade décor items, but
customers persistently inquired about ornaments. In order to appease the requests,
Fatih and Neslihan began researching new
vendors and rather quickly ornaments became their main category. This shift in inventory eventually led the Hidirligils to devise a new vision for their retail venture – a
year-round Christmas wonderland.
From those rather humble beginnings,
N&F Global Corporation as it became
known in 2004, operates numerous Christmas kiosks and temporary stores across
the country with multiple locations in New
York, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. While the temporary stores and kiosks at holiday fairs and
markets did well, Fatih and Neslihan saw
more opportunity in the marketplace and
in 2007 opened a year-round Christmas
store in New York at the Sea Port Mall.
It became the biggest year-round Christmas store in New York carrying more than
1200 Christmas products.
The company continued its meteoric growth with its Christmas in the City
(www.christmasandcity.com) concept and
opened another year-round store in 2009
at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace in Boston,
plus year-round locations at Bayside Marketplace in Miami and the Hollywood &
Highland Center in Hollywood, California.
Recently they opened the first international
shop at Niagara Falls Canada.
After Hurricane Sandy forced the closure
of the Sea Port Mall store which suffered
damages, the company opened a new, bigger store in Little Italy with 18,000-squarefeet of space. “It is two floors and the ground
floor alone is about 13,000-square-feet,” explains Micheal Brother, corporate consultant.
“In addition to the retail space it will feature
other amenities like a café – the Claus Café.”
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With the opening of the Little Italy location
on Mulberry Street, the Hidirligils wanted
to create a truly immersive holiday experience. With an unfinished basement, the
duo decided to transform that space into a
themed display along the lines of a Disney
park. “We’ve created animated whimsical
characters in displays so guests can walk
through each scene,” Brother describes.
Grand Santa Station features thirteen separate scenes picturing the character “Mayor Mouse” enjoying the holidays at New
York’s famous sites including Rockefeller
Center and Radio City Music Hall.
While creating the ultimate holiday atmosphere is paramount for the Hidirligils,
they also take great pride in the product
offerings in each of the stores. “The owners do all the buying and the product selection,” Brother reveals. “Over the last couple
of years, they’ve even designed and manufactured a lot of their own ornaments and
our stores are the only ones selling them. In
a year or two these designs might be available to other stores to buy.”
Because many of the stores are located in
heavy tourist areas, a huge portion of sales
is from souvenir and personalized ornaments. “People are prepared to spend money
when they’re in a particular place, it’s part of
what they are doing,” Brother says.
Beyond items geared to appeal to tourists, The Christmas in the City product mix
also reflects the fact that there are many
local buyers who make a trip to the store
a holiday tradition. The stores all carry a
variety of light sets, florals, decorations,
For More Product Info Visit www.sellingchristmas.com/moreinfo.html
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STORE PROFILE
nativities, advent calendars, and figurines. Some of the specific lines carried include: Enesco, Jim Shore, Midwest-CBK,
Mr. Christmas, Lenox, History & Heraldry,
Department 56, Annalee and Doug & Lisa
among many others.
“We buy from all the major Christmas
people like Kurt Adler, Christopher Radko,
Mark Roberts, etc., as long as it’s good
quality,” Brother states. He goes on to admit that licensed items are very popular at
Christmas in the City stores, especially at
the Hollywood location where buyers are
always looking for Marilyn Monroe, The
Beatles, and Elvis among others.
Creating the looks for each store is something that Neslihan takes great pride in doing. “All the themes have to be approved by
her.” Each store has a different look because
of the layout or the specific demographic
who shops there. The Hollywood store, for
example, has a southern California theme
with palm trees used as Christmas trees and
a big prop biker Santa. Meanwhile the Paramus, New Jersey store has a candyland vibe
with nutcrackers guarding the doors.
Staff gathers with Santa Claus for the grand opening of the Christmas in Niagara Falls store location.
Setting up themed trees inside the store
is one way Christmas in the City seeks to
appeal to all kinds of shoppers. “We’ll do a
traditional theme, but we’ll also have gold,
silver, licensed, tropical, nautical, etc.,”
Brother reveals. “We want to offer something special for everyone.”
Year-Round Focus on Sales
While Christmas is the reason for everything at Christmas in the City, being a store
that is open 365 days a year, gives the store
owners the chance to focus on other seasons
as well. Other retail holidays such as Halloween, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day
offer the owners opportunities to experiment with other product themes. “We do a
big deal for other holidays,” Brother admits.
“We want people to have a reason to come
in other than just buying for Christmas.”
Another component that helps with
year-round sales is the company’s online
shopping cart. The corporation has invested
in an IT professional who handles online
The Whitehurst Company LLC
www.thewhitehurstcompany.com
Atlanta AmericasMart-Bldg 1, 20th Fl, E-23
585-473-4790
H a p p i ly
Serving
yo u fo r
Give your trees the glow
of designer glass ornaments
fashioned in Europe.
Come to Christina’s World
for the elegant, the traditional,
the whimsical, and the
collectible. Find Santas,
Sea Creatures, Butterflies,
Animals and more.
These are the treasures your
customer wants. These are the
treasures your bottom line needs.
Many new products for 2015!
Contact: Christina’s World, 27 Woodcreek Court Deer Park, NY 11729
email: msornamentlady@gmail.com phone: 631-242-9664
fax: 631-586-1918 Web: www.christinasworld.com
Circle No. 114 on Product Card
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Circle No. 115 on Product Card
For More Product Info Visit www.sellingchristmas.com/moreinfo.html
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STORE PROFILE
The Christmas in New Jersey store is located in the Paramus Park Mall.
selling as well as maintaining the Facebook
page. Marketing for the year-round stores
seeks to drive a concept of community,
so each store focuses on its own area and
teams with other local businesses to drive
sales. The Hollywood store for example,
will have cards advertising Madame Tussauds and the famed wax museum will
return the favor by directing visitors to
Christmas in the City.
Hiring Christmas Lovers
In 2014, Christmas in the City had six yearround locations, plus ten seasonal operations. The number of temporary locations
varies because the family has a commitment to quality and won’t just open a store
just because an opportunity is available.
“We’ve turned retail spots down,” Brother
states. “Everyone wants us because of our
reputation, but we can’t be everywhere.”
Brother goes on to say that many seasonal opportunities are what he classifies
as down and dirty pop-ups that just throw
plastic fixtures and merchandise wherever.
“We create the same amount of ambiance
in our temporary stores to make a Christmas wonderland,” Brother says.
Staffing these locations becomes a team
effort. Brother will begin the process, but
both Fatih and Neslihan will be involved.
Brother explains that over the years they
have tried to become imaginative in their
approach to hiring. “We have found that
we really want to hire someone who loves
Christmas more than someone who just
wants a job,” he says.
Brother takes great pains to train all
management personnel to ensure a uniformity of service. This includes the fact that
every customer gets welcomed. Brother
himself can greet people in 30 different
languages. “To me it’s a mark of respect,
that you value who they are,” he says.
“Making people happy about Christmas is
something you can do whether you have
a tough year or make a lot of money.” n
Circle No. 117 on Product Card
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For More Product Info Visit www.sellingchristmas.com/moreinfo.html
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