Shop Local This Holiday Season: #Bergen and #Rockland County, #NY, #NJ

My newest shop! SilverInitialJewelry on Etsy

This season, more than ever, there is a big push in the "shop local" movement. What better way to shop is there?  Local food growers, artisans and small shops are constantly battling  the big guys for the small piece of the pie they need to make a living at what they are truly passionate about.

Beads - good enough to eat!

And that's the biggest difference, passion. Small business men and women, whether they are farmers, jewelers, or artisan cheese makers, cannot do what they do without passion for their product. They live, breathe, sleep, their product; knowing their great fortune is having the opportunity to make a living at what they are passionate about. They yearn  for customer connection as much as their customers seek it out. This personal connection makes it impossible for them  to deliver an inferior product.

Big business lives for the bottom line. Period.

I connect with each of my customers on line. I send at least one email to them to thank them and inform them of shipping time. I have some customers whom I am always in constant contact with, whether or not they are shopping. Etsy's system keeps count of "back and forth's" in their "convo" or email system. It is not uncommon for me to have 50 or 60 convos for one custom order. By the end of this process, we are discussing children's runny noses, and recipes. It is a personal connection yearned for by both parties. As I tell all my customers. "feel free to ask a million questions".

When I stop to think about it, it is a little strange. All this takes place so personally, virtually. This has become what now feels like a connection to people. Granted, ordering from a large company gives you zero human "contact", but what about face to face, hand to hand contact?

I don't do shows, the street fair circuit or any type of market. But I am local to my neighbors. I do have a huge studio that customers can visit. So I am opening this up. This is new for me. I am encouraging my customers to "shop local".  Come to my dusty, basement jewelry studio. Lets meet and have coffee and look at gemstones and pick out typefaces for custom silver wax seal jewelry and initials. Lets have face to face and hand to hand contact.


Its not pretty, but a lot of pretty stuff comes out of it!

Everything is on wheels for functionality

Every day starts with a smudge of Sage

Aromatherapy while I use my Dremel

If you  are local in Bergen or Rockland counties, I am literally on the border,  and you would like a personal studio visit. Email me or "convo" me at Etsy and we can set this up.

Thank you for visiting and reading