Pictures of my 20+ years of involvement with the gift industry
Manager and bookkeeper of Wooden Memories — cooperatively-owned, woodcraft consignment store. Set up by a group of woodcrafters through a grant developed and executed by my husband, Malcolm. The picture was taken around 1998.
With the beginning of our Lewis & Clark Gifts wholesale sales rep business, we exhibited in the Portland Gift Show and won the best booth award for new exhibitors. Dressed in the costumes from the Lewis & Clark era. This picture is from 2002 — during the bicentennial commemoration.
Our third-year holiday booth, November-December 2005, in the Eastside Marketplace in Moscow, Idaho. The previous two years we exhibited in the larger Palouse Mall, Moscow, Idaho but were so successful, we were not allowed into the mall the third year. Apparently, the inline stores did not like us selling so much product!
In the spring of 2006, we were invited to the first (and, I think, only) Idaho Wholesale Gift Show. This was the year we changed our wholesale business name from Lewis & Clark Gifts to Idaho Gifts Wholesale.
In 2008 and 2009, we were invited back as an exhibitor at the Palouse Mall in Moscow, Idaho. This was during the time I was sick while the economy closed down many of my gift shop owners.
In 2010-2011 we opened our own Tastes of Idaho shop in the front of a printing shop in Orofino, Idaho. When our online business began to attract a significant online presence — which greatly outsold our small shop — we closed the physical location and concentrated on the online business.
After we sold our Tastes of Idaho and Idaho Gift Wholesale business in 2019, I expanded my Wholesale Business Coaching and Consulting online with weekly Biz Tips, webinars, and, of course, coaching sessions.