nyigf tales

so the new york international gift fair has been going on this week and jessica and i hit nyc this past sunday looking for the goods. the show is generally located at the jacob javits center and the passenger piers which combine to cover almost 630,000 square feet. gadzooks, that is a lot of stuff people and stores like ours have to weed through it all to find the gems. luckily, looking for the diamonds in the rough, as it were, is my 2nd favorite thing to do, after merchandising them, and boy had i missed doing it. i had not been to this show in over 2 years! absence did make the heart grow fonder in this case for sure. the only thing was that my endurance is not what it used to be. while i am used to being with my son, red, scrambling hither and fro, we usually don't walk miles and miles in a day with him on my shoulder. as it was, i did rally, and walk as much as possible in the 2 days i was there. i could only stand to be away from the mini-man that long. it was our first time apart and it was hard but that's another post on another blog at another time (or maybe not). mothers know what i mean. it was good but hard but good but hard but...
now we are both back and resting today; me with redford, cozy by the woodstove out our way, and jessica at her place with her sopherdoodle hopefully snuggling up under some covers.
.....tomorrow though we get back in the groove at the shop and hopefully condense some sale and make some room for all the goodies and gems that we found here:

stat tuned for more highlights from the show.

sax are back

i must share the phenomenon that was to take place at o'suz this past christmas. we had been waiting on a huge shipment of envirosax since the fall, only to find that the reason it had not shipped was that they were lacking one or 2 patterns. lo and behold when we finally received it, 2 weeks or so before xmas, we had no idea it would be the hottest thing since say, robert redford in jeremiah johnson. anyhoo, we were to be gobsmacked daily by how many would sell and with such enthusiasm. one lady bought 25 at 10 bucks a pop. it was crazy. even men were coming in dazed and with huge coffees seeking "sacks that tie up and you put them in your bag or something, this lady told me my wife would love one". needless to say we sold the entire shipment of 250 bags, save one style that was a dud, in like 8 days. in all my days of retail i have seen nothing like it. it was my stimulus package for sure. it was my lifeboat. it was retail at it's best. so much for all the media's grim predictions. the next best thing would be to have invented the little buggers. ok, so the point to all this is that THEY R BACK IN FINALLY!
here is a new one that is so so pretty:

all of the above are organic.
below are 3 from their graphic series. these are polyester, waterproof and weigh only 1.4 oz.


hint hint, red for valentines!!!!

sale news!

not much to say and not much time to say it but wanted to let y'all know that most of the sale went down another notch. there were lots of deals before, but now they are hard to resist! here's a few of the big steals:

small things necklaces...from 74 to 37! and 118 to 59!
select lotta jansdotter bags...from 66 to 28! 46 to 18! 30 to 12! and 20 to 8!
crispina bags...from 88 to 25!
select nikki mcclure tshirts are marked down from 24 to 5 and 8!
studio vertu coasters and clocks...from 42 to 17 and 36 to 15, respectively!
all little flowers handmade pottery is more than 50% off!
and one last crispina blanket, from 258 to 105!

and we've even marked a few things down 75%, like:

all dvider wall decals...52 to 13! 44 to 11! 38 to 9.50! 32 to 8! 26 to 6.50!
macbeth decoupage buckets and containers are all 75% off, and a lot of this is new to the sale!

both of these are total steals for your home. the wall decals include flora and fauna and are a quick and temporary way to spruce up your space. the decoupage containers are great for party drinks, toys, mail, recycling, and so on.

the sale is always changing, so come see what's new!

day 1 of the sale!!!!

so the first day of the BIG sale is over and whewee, what a day.
it seemed to build as the day wore on. word of mouth i tell ya. thanks to all the mouths out there that made today so hoppin' busy!!!!! the sale will continue until it dwindles. there is lots to snag, today barely put a dent.
we are looking forward to seeing the deals put smiles on faces and to buying new merch
for the new year!!!!
specail thanks to aaron and jessica for making days like today even more fun and for all their hard work this xmas and leading up to this day. you did good!

the january sale

i thought i might wet the appetites of our readers with a punch list of some of the goods that will be in our big sale that starts tomorrow. we tore through the place this week like a windstorm and boy did we clean house. goodtimes. we are so excited for this sale. we have so much more space on 4rth street to do it justice.

anyhoo, here are just some of the goods on sale:

all xmas merch. 75% off
some hobo wallets

a bunch of archipelago candles

nicole larue tank tops with pink birdies

saltbox bags and holly aiken bags
some queen bee bags (only 2 left)

jezebel and bla bla t's for small peeps
makie sleepers and booties
lots of speesees clothes for small people
tons of kids books
many of the portolano accessories for winter
small things necklaces
a few pieces of susan fleming jewelry
decals by dvider more then 50% off

3 styles of reisenthel hanging storage

tooth fairy boxes, paperweights and napkin rings by vilmain

tons of books
a bunch of lotta bags and a few more pillows.
some little display tables - cheap
and so so much more. it is a giganormous sale.
please join us in the next few weeks and take some of these fine goodies home!!

let's get hitched.

we had to tell you about the sweetest thing that happened in the shop the other day -- o'suzannah hosted a marriage proposal! the newly engaged couple had been high school sweethearts back in the day, but according to the new fiancee, he dumped her when he got a car. (gotta love teenage boys.) they went on and lived their lives, going down separate paths, and then, five years ago, he wandered into the store on his lunch break, and lo and behold, there she was. they reconnected for the first time in many years, and now, five years later, they're engaged to be married! he had it all planned out and insisted they pick up prescriptions downtown, much to her confusion, but it was all so he could get her into the site of their meeting five years ago! it was so exciting to hear this couple's story and to have the store be the location for such a happy day in their lives.

happy new year friends!!

so i have started 2 posts since the 17th of dec. and not been able to finish either of them before their potential interest expires. busy times.
i am trying again, but extra early, so those of you who peek at this semi regularly will be the first to know..... our big january sale begins on january 3rd, next saturday. we will be closed january 1rst, to relax with family and friends, and jan 2nd, to do our annual inventory (gadzooks people), clean and re-evaluate. we will also be setting up the sale, which, as always, despite the 2 for 1 that has been ongoing since thanksgiving, will be hugely juicy. one thing that always illudes me is how to streamline the merch in the store. i love when a new year approaches for so many reasons. it's a chance for an ultimate spring cleaning but in the dead of winter! it's a chance to reflect on all that is good in our lives. we had a tough fall with the move and the economy but we pulled it out in the end. let me say, i am grateful to all who used the locally circulated coupon. the response was great. thanks to elizabeth b for the idea and the follow through. also, in general, people were shopping but maybe buying less and that's ok. we had the 2 for 1  which emerged victorious. we made many peeps happy i think. bottom line: we usually have a big sale in january anyway, but this year gift givers could be more generous, or treat themselves, and or save some at the same time. we sold more then we would have. it was a win win all around. thanks for shopping at o'suz!!!!!!
oh and......
see you in 2009!!!!!!!!

craft night at suz's....

...proved to be full of handmade and edible secret santa gifties, potluck yummies, crafts and good friends just hanging out. myself, aaron, helen, jessica, and our new family member, jen, all got together sunday night and exchanged our santa gifties, made crafts, and ate!!! what fun, but it always is. it's the best part of xmas at o'suz really. first we ate. we had cheeses and salads and mac n cheese and mexican dip. then we exchanged our santa gifties. here is what we opened!







.....then we made crafts, including: pomanders, amy butler paper covered clothespins and sugar and salt scrubs. i was in charge of the product making, as i love product, so it just seemed fitting i would gather the ingredients and get us going with scrubs. we made grapefruit salt scrub and peppermint and lavender sugar scrub. we also used some yummy yonka oil that my lovely husband got me last year at oasis day spa and made a special sugar scrub with that. we used stickers from work to adorn our jars.
jen brought the amy butler paper, which was so lovely to see and use. aaron and jessica brought clothespins that they keep stashed at home. here is where jessica keeps hers (from her childhood). i wanted to steal it, it was so sweet. aaron keeps hers in a lotta jansdotter box from a vase she bought at o'suz years back. the box left looking very different then whence it came via scraps applied artfully by helen. no hands idled. then at eves end, jessica and i made a pomander, mine random, hers beautiful. both smelling delicious. the only downside was knowing it may be a another year til we craft together again.....

2 for 1 continues with reckless abandon!!!!!

just a few things real quick, that we added to the 2 for 1 holiday gig:

daub and bauble's lotion and hand soap in sorento lemon and ginger scent, yum. usually 10 each now both for 10!!!!! here is an example of the packaging, it comes 3 diff. ways which is fun.
great host(ess) gift idea. lavender soak and bubble bath by jane inc.
lavender is so relaxing, as is a bath. even better when you combine the two.
it makes us ladies feel special when we take the time to soak, ya know.
rub a dub dub....
some dryads roof tin frames which are super cool and rustic:
we have 4x6 and 5x7 but only 1 set of each!!!!lotta pillows are dwindling but there are still some left. these are so rare and hard to get, i recommend them highly. they are beautiful and such a nice gift!!
tomorrow is going to be busy but come on out anyway, the mood is festive as is the decor, and we will all be there to greet you with holiday cheer!
xo
suz

suz's top 10 gifts to give and receive

so we thought for fun we might list our favorite gifties to give and receive at o'suz. this is my top 10. jessica's and aaron's favs are soon to follow.

my #1 gifty to give are sachets made by local textile designer, lotta helleberg, of inleaf designs. the sachets are hand printed with a pair of fern fronds or a geranium leaf on soft natural linen. They are filled with dried organic lavender buds and smell delightful. a most lovely gift indeed. i use them in my car on the dash over the vents.

my #2 fav gifty is a charm necklace by lucid new york, my favorite is the owly. there is also a flying bird, a horseshoe, a wishbone, 3 keys, a feather, a hedgehog and a bee.they are sterling and just as sweet as can be and just 50 bones each.


my # 3 gifty is anything by fluffy co. i love it all. i especially love the little card cases. i have this one: but these new designs are so tempting! the poppies are so bright and cheery. and the owls, well, we know about my love of owls...
my # 4 gifty is the 2009 nikki mcclure calendar. she just keeps coming up with the most amazing calendars each year. i think this is the 4rth year we have carried them. they are so hot, we ordered 36 to start off the season. i always keeps the sample and can't wait to turn it's pages. here is the cover and 3 of my favorite images from inside.

my # 5 gifty (and mind you these are in no particular order) is a pencil roll made by our own aaron wine of sew seamless. we featured her a while back as our love it artist and created quite the buzz. they really are incredible and made so sweetly by hand. red has 1 ready for when his creative juices flow and can be contained no longer. i think we have 5 pencil rolls in the shop now and 2 marker rolls that aaron just brought in. here is red's:

we had a blast shooting these, he put them on his john deere tractor and then i put them in his truck. we pushed them around the room, aaron's pencils never had so much fun.

my #6 gifty is any rae dunn really, but the mugs, in particular, appeal to lots of folks. the words are simple, the shape is basic and it just feels good in your hand. you could sip your coffee, tea or your hot toddy in style. they have words like think, dream, create, calm, pause and begin.


my #7 gifty are the new zents attar roll on solid scents. we have them in fresh, petal, water, sun, oolong, earth and ore. they are scents we have come to love at o'suz, only stronger i think, and we agree the scent really lasts. my fav is oolong. here is pic of some of the scents that zents makes in the attar. we will happily order those we don't carry. no problemo.

my #8 gift would be the big gift on someone's list.
a crispina blanket. boy are they special. i have a few that i have collected over the many years (almost 13) i've carried her work. there are so many reasons they are a favorite. they are all made by hand and from 100% recycled sweaters. they are made in pittsfield, ma (home to james taylor). they are all so unique given the nature of the craft which makes them more like a treasure. some have buttons, pockets orthe occasional alligator from the knit's past life.
all i can tell you is they are one of my all time favrite items that i carry. we always have between 5 and 10 in the shop, right now e have 7 i think. she also makes sweaters that i live in and pillows and xmas ornaments which we also have in the shop. this is a quick pic of my most recent crispina aquisitions. i love yellow!!!!my # 9 gifty is anything made by jenna rose. it is all so cool. belts and hats to adorn ourselves and each other and these cool storage bags for stashing our stuff. here are some pics. she is also our featured artist this month but we have not posted her interview yet as the merch just came from canada in the post this week.
last gifty i would recommend is a reclaimed wood frame by dryads dancing. we just got some new ones in so the selection is good and varied. all sizes including some new 5x5's and some new mirrors made with celing tin.