Renee and I are in Atlanta at Americasmart, one of the largest Gift Shows in the Country. We come here twice a year, for six days, to do the majority of our buying. At the January show, we set our themes for the following Christmas, and fill in Spring and Summer merchandise. At the Summer show, we finish up our Fall and Christmas buying and, if you can believe it, we buy for next Spring and Summer. Why do we buy so far ahead?! Well, we didn’t used to but, lesson learned! If we don’t buy that far in advance, the good stuff is sold out by the next show.
I think one of the most interesting things about being a giftware buyer is the fact you totally lose track of the season you’re actually living in. It’s crazy switching seasons in your brain every 10 steps.
Lets take today for example….First stop, the temporary vendors in the High Design section, Building 2 West, Floor 3 (luckily only 10 floors to shop in this building). This is one of my favorite places to get inspired, although we don’t buy much because “high design” usually means “highly expensive.” Vintage is totally in this Holiday season and I fell in love with this paper line! We bought vintage Christmas cards, calendars, notebooks and tins of gift tags.
