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July
26-29, Rosemont, IL
28-31, San Francisco, CA
29 - Aug. 1, Rochester, NY

August
1-12, San Francisco, CA
3-7, Overland Park, KS
5-7, Edison, NJ
5-8, Washington, D.C.
6-7, Dallas, TX
9-16, New York, NY
10-14, Minnetonka, MN
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12-16, Las Vegas
17-21, Columbus, OH
18-21, Seattle, WA
19-22, Edmonton, AB, Canada
23-24, Denver, CO
24-26, Orlando, FL
25-27, Biloxi, MS
25-28, Miami, FL
26-28, Louisville, KY
26-29, Montreal, QE, Canada

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• The Retail Times, They Are A-changin'!
• Featured Vendors In GiftsWholesale.Com
• Trade Shows
  

Featured Vendors in GiftsWholesale.Com
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American Picture Company: Great quality framed art at very competitive price points for gift & décor retailers. Primitive, Folk, Americana, Landscapes, etc. Always adding fresh new art images while maintaining top repeat sellers! Available glassed or textured.

Badash Crystal: Our 24% hand-cut lead crystal is produced in the finest factories in Europe by the same artisans that manufacture for Mikasa, Waterford, Lenox, and Sasaki. Every piece is individually and safely gift boxed. We offer superb quality and value for all your gift giving and/or personal pleasure.

Hansen's Christmas Stuff : Everything you will need to make your Christmas season merry and bright. Hansen's is the exclusive distributor in Canada and U.S. for Gnomy's Diaries, handcrafted originals from Annekabouke of Holland. Gnomy's Diaries is a wonderful line of products that has something for everyone. Two sites: US and Canadian.

Mud Pie: Mud Pie products are now featured in three catalogs: Mud Pie Baby, Mud Pie Gift, and Mud Pie Pet. It has always been our goal to offer innovative giftware that's affordably priced and adorably packaged.

Peking Handicraft, Inc. is an international manufacturer and wholesaler specializing in home textiles, decorative accessories and giftware. The company's expertise in sourcing and manufacturing the finest products from throughout China is reflected in over two decades of experience and is recognized throughout the industry.

Sassys is all about color and fun and gifts. Chock full of color and sass, these cute polka-dot bowpads, ribboned photoframes, brightly colored linen towels, cheeky wall décor, and resort fun-wear flip-flops, koozies and caps are all decked out in sassy bows. Get Fun. Get Witty. GetSassys.com!

Spring Street is proud to offer the finest assortment of personal, home, and office accessories. Our extensive product lines are all theme oriented, from baby to bride and beyond. All of our gift items are hand epoxy enameled and adorned with faux jewel encrusted motifs. Many of our designs are inspired from the famed Soho district of New York City where the very real Spring Street is located.

Wellspring: Stationery products that help keep you organized by giving you fashion with function--wherever you are in your home, office, or on the go. Includes: Pencil Pads®, Auto Notes™, Flip Notes, Wiggle Pens™, note cards, note pads, and recipe books.

The Retail Times, They Are A-changin'!

It wasn't too long ago that a retailer's favorite saying was "Cash on the barrelhead", when consumers would rather say "Put it on my tab".

Today most retailers don't run tabs anymore and there's scarcely a barrelhead to be found, but credit is becoming more and more prevalent as the preferred method of payment for retail purchases.

"It’s a convenience," says Laura Riegel, whose Glazed Expressions pottery painting shop has been in business for eight years in Clive, Iowa. "I want to make it as easy for them as possible." She says the equipment to allow her to take credit cards and the fees charged by the banks do take a bite out of profits, but people expect to be able to pay with credit cards. (source)

Of course Riegel says customers who use plastic tend to spend about 30% more. The same has been found to be true of vending machine users. When the vending machine accepts credit cards instead of cash, a survey by USA Technologies found that people spend 35% more on soft drinks. (source) In the restaurant business, studies say people spend as much as 50% more than they would with cash. (source)

It is especially true of younger consumers. So many 20-somethings prefer credit cards to cash that VISA has dubbed them "Generation P", for "plastic".

"I get so annoyed when I go into a place that only takes cash that usually I end up going somewhere else," said Erica Jostedt, of San Fransisco, 24. (source)

But a few retailers buck the trend. In Kearney, Nebraska, since "dumping" credit cards as a payment option several years ago, Gas Stop manager Tim Kennedy has been selling gasoline up to 10 cents lower than his competitors. One reason is that the percentage paid to credit card companies is often more than the profit margin of the average gas station. (source)

When online retailing came along, credit cards were the only way to pay, until someone devised a way to pay by check over the Internet. Now there is Check-By-Phone for people who aren't computer savvy.

But to bring things completely full circle, PayPal, which is owned by auction site ebay.com, allows online payments from bank accounts without credit cards or check numbers: essentialy Internet cash.

"Cash on the computer desk!" That's the ticket.