By Lisa Yates
Editor, The Times
Get a head start on the season's hottest gift trends at The Perfect Gift – a Cottage Shop boutique.
“The biggest thing this year is anything with initials,” said Carol Henry, the owner. “Monogrammed wine stoppers, flat wallets, wine glasses, garden flags, and note pads – anything with bright, colorful initials is big right now.
She said these personalized gifts for women, men and children not only make great holiday presents, but are great for birthdays, anniversaries or any occasion.
If you like shopping, you will love The Perfect Gift, located at 2712 Hodges Street, in Lake Charles. The store is filled with beautiful displays of gifts and home décor – trinkets, treasures and inviting fragrances – the solution to Secret Santa gift-giving.
“I try to find fun things – unique things – where you can find gifts for all occasions and something fun for yourself, too,” Henry said.
Best-selling items include circle flap handbags, she said. She added, they come in a variety of stylish colors and make great gifts for the serious “fashionista” on your Christmas list.
What's new?
New items include designer-inspired, long-sleeved cotton tees and knit tops.
“I've just started getting into clothing,” Henry said as she opened a box containing a new collection arriving at the store. “These are fun tops – with LSU and Fleur Di Lis designs.”
Upscale OKA b's footwear is also a new item at The Perfect Gift. Reflexology-inspired, these fashionable shoes feature an ergonomic footbed enhanced with massage beads to pamper feet with every step. But unlike a lot of therapeutic-type shoes, OKA b's are cute and come in a variety of colors and styles - sandals, mules and clogs.
Not only are the shoes fashionable, they have made headlines for being eco-friendly. Customers can send their old pairs to the company's corporate headquarters, where they will be ground and mixed with virgin material to create a new product. Tre' chic!
For the kids, The Perfect Gift has one of the hottest Christmas toys this season – the Elf on the Shelf.
“He's one of Santa's little helpers and he makes trips to the North Pole every night,” Henry said.
She explained “Elf on the Shelf” is a book set with an antique-style Elf, formed to sit on a shelf. The book explains what the Elf does.
“He has a job,” said Henry. “This Elf is assigned to watch over your family and report back to Santa each night about who has been naughty or nice that day. By morning he's back but he's usually in a different place in the house. If you see him move, he loses his magic.”
It's a new family tradition created by a very creative mother, as a way of keeping her kids behavior in check on the holidays.
“Kids love playing the daily hide-and-seek game with the elf,” Henry said. “Parents love it too, because they have no trouble getting their kids to bed. They want to go to bed, so they can wake up the next day to see where the elf is next.”
A little something extra
As with any gift, presentation counts.
A beautifully wrapped present heightens the fun and anticipation. That's why The Perfect Gift offers complimentary gift wrapping with purchases.
“We all lead such hectic lives these days,” Henry said. “We have some customers who will call us and tell us what kind of gift they are looking for hand how much they want to spend. We'll have it wrapped and ready to go when they get here.”
It's like having a personal shopper. The store owner just calls it good customer service.
“It's just so hard to find good customer service nowadays,” she said.
As a boutique owner for many years, Henry said it's a key reason for the success of her business.
“I enjoy helping people; and, enjoy the merchandise,” she said. “You have to love what you do to be successful – and, I do. I thoroughly enjoy it.”
The Perfect Gift has been a part of The Cottage Shops of Lake Charles for 10 years, according to Henry. She purchased the store in February, 2000, after her husband retired.
“I had owned a boutique years before,” she said. “When my husband retired, this just fell into my lap.”
It was a good fit for Henry, who loves talking to people and getting to know them. When her out-of-state customers pass through town, they stop in for a visit.
“They say, 'We just had to stop in and see you,'” Henry said. “That makes you feel so good!”
A civic-minded shopkeeper
As a natural “people-person,” Henry is very active in the community. This includes serving on the board of directors for the local Better Business Bureau, and serving on the Executive Board of the Women’s Commission of Southwest Louisiana.
“I believe it’s important to give back to the community,” she said.
She said that’s a quality she shares with the other business owners of The Cottage Shop district.
“We’re all locally-owned, women-owned businesses,” Henry said. “We support our local schools, our churches and sports activities. We give back to the community.”
That’s something to think about this holiday season, she said.
“People need to realize how important it is to shop their locally-owned businesses,” Henry said.
She said there are many benefits to shopping local, including helping the local economy. In fact, local money helps to promote entrepreneurship and create local jobs.
Through paying local taxes, shoppers also help fund neighborhood, community and city projects.
“The tourist bureau sends out-of-town visitors to The Cottage Shops, because we have a variety of different shops here and we offers customers quick and easy parking,” Henry said.
She added that over time, local merchants develop more personal relationships with their customers.
“We connect with our customers and form relationships,” she said. “We know them and we care about them. We find that people like to do business with friends.”
Think outside the box
By thinking outside the big box stores, you’ll find affordable one-of-a-kind gifts, all while making friends with small businesses in your community, keeping money in the local economy and creating a more unique town.
Instead of spending cash on the same cheaply-manufactured gizmo everyone else is getting at chain megastores – shop local.
“If you only have a few dollars to spend, stop and think how and where you will spend those dollars,” Henry said.
Shake up your shopping habit this season. Find the most thoughtful and unique holiday gifts at The Perfect Gift.
For more information, call (337) 439-7693, or visit The Perfect Gift at 2712 Hodges St. in Lake Charles. Store hours are 10 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Mon. – Fri., and 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., on Saturdays.
