Are you a Wine drinker with Coozie Envy?

Well no more! Let me introduce you to the Woozie - the "wine coozie". Perfect for your next tailgate when you don't want your Chardonnay to get warm. And they come in different colors so you will always know which glass is yours!

We loved these when we got them at market, but WOW- so have you guys! It is a great girlfriend gift for all your wino friends!:) And at $7.50 a piece how can you go wrong?

The Woozie is currently available in our store (but not online - sorry) so if you are outside of the Cary, NC area please call us toll free (1-877-792-4437) and we can ship them to you!

Facebook Friday Winner for August 28th is..........

And the Winner of the Facebook Friday of the Week is...

Last week we gave away one of our custom picture frames! Finally you can print out your digital pictures and have somewhere cute to put it!

And the lucky winner is:#30 – Cathy Holland! Congratulations Cathy- I am excited to see what you put on your picture frame! See her comment below.

Email me at mandy (at) swaggergifts (dot) com and I will hook you up with your gift! You have until next Friday - September 4th to claim your prize.

For this week’s Facebook Friday contest, we are giving away a 5” Vinyl Decal! You can now personalize ANYTHING with these vinyl decals. Let’s see – I have one on my laptop and most of the Swagger employees have one on their car!
All you have to do to get yourself entered is hop on over to Swagger Gift’s FB Friday of the Week Photo Album, become a fan of Swagger Gifts on FB, and leave a comment before next Friday September 4th!

We are also offering a 15% off coupon good for the FB Giveaway of the Week!
Check out the FB page for details.

Good Luck!

Facebook Friday Winner for August 21st is..........

And the Winner of the Facebook Friday of the Week is...

Last week we gave away one of our new Monogrammed Laptop Sleeve! I am so jealous of all of you with the new Macbooks – seriously sooooo jealous!

And the lucky winner is:

#25 – Rochelle Roth! Congratulations Rochelle- you will love this laptop sleeve! See her comment below.

Email me at mandy (at) swaggergifts (dot) com and I will hook you up with your gift! You have until next Friday August 28th to claim your prize.

For this week’s Facebook Friday contest, we are giving away our new customizable frames! There are tons of patterns to choose from and ALL the wording can be changed – so basically you can write whatever you want to on the frame! I already know two babies that will be getting one of these. :-) I love them so much!

All you have to do to get yourself entered is hop on over to Swagger Gift’s FB Friday of the Week Photo Album, become a fan of Swagger Gifts on FB, and leave a comment before next Friday August 28th.

Also, we are starting something NEW this week!
We will be offering a 15% off coupon good for the FB Giveaway of the Week.
Check out the FB page for details!

Good Luck!

New Fall 2009 Purses have ARRIVED!

Looking for your new fall purse? I thought I would show you guys a couple from our new fall line! The colors are very rich and the details are beautiful! Come in soon for the best selection..... you know how quickly they sell out!

Trollbeads Autumn 2009 New Releases

OMG - I LOVE the newest release from Trollbeads! The beads start shipping in the U.S.A August 28th and we promise to update you all the MINUTE they come in!

Trollbeads collector's buy the beads as much for the beauty of the beads as for the "story". My favorite story for this release is for Chocolate Parrot:

As Mark Twain wrote, "She was not quite what you would call refined.
She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot."

Don't you just love that? I think it will definitely end up in my collection:)! I also love all the Coral Beads! What a great new color - obviously the Trollbead Artists were hard at work!

And finally they gave us more Pink Beads - yeah!!! I especially love the Pink Desert (and the Blue and Brown Desert for that matter). It looks like tiny sand crystals are in there.

I can't wait to see them all in person - but until then here are the pictures. Click here to read all the stories!

Facebook Friday Winner for August 14th is...

And the Winner of the Facebook Friday of the Week is...

Last week we gave away one of our 100% Waterproof Medium Sized Mega Mats! Seems that you guys like the mat as much as I do! And to all of the smart alecs – no you can’t have MY mat with Becker on it! ;-)

And the lucky winner is:
#52 – Erin McLean! Congratulations Erin - you will seriously love this mat! But I might suggest going with the black –you can see a bunch of red wine spills on mine – and I think you might run into the same problem. ;-) See her comment below! Erin, Email me at mandy@swaggergifts.com and I will hook you up with your gift! You have until next Friday August 21st to claim your prize!


PS - Erin is a FABULOUS event planner - check her out on Facebook or on her Website!

For this week’s Facebook Friday contest, we are giving away our new monogrammed laptop sleeve! I love my laptop and couldn’t imagine if something bad happened to it! Now you can protect it in transit while also looking cute and in style!


All you have to do to get yourself entered is hop on over to Swagger Gift’s FB Friday of the Week Photo Album, become a fan of Swagger Gifts on FB, and leave a comment before next Friday August 21st!

Good Luck!

Why should you shop at Swagger Gifts?

What makes Swagger unique? What are the benefits of shopping with us? We know there are a million places for you to spend your hard earned money so we thought we would give you a Top 5 List of why you should buy your gifts at Swagger:)

Top 5 List of the Benefits of Shopping at Swagger Gifts:

1. You can grab a gift and ……. go to the party! Are you always running late? Have too many places to be and there is only one of you? At Swagger, we provide Free Gift Wrapping on ALL in store purchases so you can even buy a gift last minute and get to the party before they yell “Surprise”!

2. You get rewarded for shopping with us! You should be rewarded for being so nice to your friends and family – right? Absolutely! At Swagger, when you spend $250 you get a $25 Gift Certificate in the mail! (And we keep up with your purchase so no card to keep up with - yeah!)

3. You can buy the newest, trendiest gifts on the market! At Swagger, we get new products almost daily so it is always fresh and exciting! Come in on Monday – then come back on Friday – the store could be completely different!

4. Do you love personalized gifts? You will have the largest selection of Personalized Gifts in town when you shop at Swagger! When you get a personalized gift the recipient knows you went out of your way to get something especially for them – and you can’t give a bigger compliment than that!

5. You get the most amazing customer service! Don’t know what you want? No problem! At Swagger, we have a highly trained staff ready to help you find the perfect gift no matter what the occasion or who it is you are shopping for! We want you to leave thinking “Wow I just got the best gift EVER! I thought I would never find something for Great Aunt Mary Jo (or my son’s teacher, or my BFF who has everything) then I went into Swagger and their staff was so awesome – they helped me find the perfect gift!” Or something like that;)

Facebook Friday Winner for August 7th is..........

And the Winner of the Facebook Friday of the Week is........
Last week we gave away one of our AWESOME new signs from The Studio at Danielson Designs! I think these are going to be a big hit because the opportunities are endless!

And the lucky winner is:
#9 – Morgan Wayt! Congratulations Morgan- I can’t wait to see what you put on the sign;) See her comment below! Email me at mandy@swaggergifts.com and I will hook you up with your gift! You have until next Friday August 14th to claim your prize!

For this week’s Facebook Friday contest, we are giving away our medium sized 100% water proof Mega Mat! This thing is the bomb! I purchased one before we moved over to Zurich in May and we use it every weekend! We have used it to lay out on at the beach, for picnics with friends, and so many other things. The long strap for carrying makes it really convenient as well! Here are two pictures – the first is a picture of it folded up then one where we are using it so you can see how big it is – perfect for 2 people! :) If you need a bigger size we also have the Large Mega Mat!

All you have to do to get yourself entered is hop on over to the Swagger’s FB Friday of the Week Photo Album, become a fan of Swagger on FB, and leave a comment before next Friday August 14th!

Good Luck!

Fontaine Maury Clipboards are on the Web!

We have been hard at work on the website and uploaded all 26 of the Fontaine Maury Clip Board Designs! These sophisticated clip boards are a great gift for anyone from the graduate to your favorite teacher!

Check out all the Clip Board Designs Here!

July Survey - We asked...You Answered!!!

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of you who took the time to answer the Survey in our July Newsletter! We were advised AGAINST asking open ended questions (more radio buttons - yes, no, rate us 1-5) but that isn't the way we roll at Swagger because we actually wanted to hear what you guys had to say! So even more thanks for writing out the answers (proving us right against all these survey snobs:))! We had over 70 responses which I have to say is pretty darn good....you guys are the BEST customers in the world!!!!!

Below are the questions with some of your answers. I picked the answers that were reoccurring themes:)! I have added some of my commentary in GREEN so you guys know what I did with the information! You weren't just answering without cause - we took all the survey answers to heart and focused on them at market while buying and also now that we are back in the store!

Here you go:

1. We're heading to market this week! What do YOU want to see in the store in coming months?

• Anything with a monogram!!! Don't worry - you will see even more monograms - we can't wait for them to come in!
• Purses, Purses & more purses! Bright colors & patent is great! :o) We hear you! We have started buying from some great designers out of LA and they should hopefully be in soon!
• unique but useful gifts
• more $10-15 gifts We really focused on this at market and you guys should start seeing this as early as August!
• Some other themes were: more home goods, children’s items, wine related stuff, stationery Yep - got these things too!

2. What do you like best about the service at Swagger?

• Always take the time to think through the gift I need and not pushy!
• Everyone is always so helpful & friendly....constantly willing to give ideas in times of desperate need and will do whatever necessary to make it all go so smoothly & pain free! :o)
• It is very personal. You seem interested in your shoppers. And, I have no idea
  how, but you remember us. I only hire people with photographic memories - it is part of the interview process - j/k:)
• Everything...especially their willingness to "go above and beyond."
• Always extremely helpful, not standing over you, and love the gift wrapping.
• Greeted but left alone so I can try to look AND think; great about answering questions.
• They are always willing to give you ideas for something, and to help you look for something that fits your budget.
• Besides the great gifts I've purchased there, I love the trademark zebra print wrapping paper. It's stylish and my friends immediately know they have a great Swagger gift to unwrap!
• free wrapping!!
• The main themes here were free gift wrapping (this will NEVER go away- promise!), "not hovering or being pushy" (which I appreciate because I hate it when I get that feeling at other stores - we try to train our staff to be helpful but not overbearing - thank you for confirming that!), and helpful staff.

3. What could we do to improve the service at Swagger?

• Show more online what's in the store. I will try doing this but it might be more on the blog than on the actual website. Unfortunately/Fortunately we have such a high turnover rate on the stuff we carry in the store it is almost impossible to keep up with it online (also we don't buy in huge quantities so you always have a unique gift). But I hear you and it will be my personal mission to accomplish this!
• Cocktails while we shop! Just kidding! :) There is always one:)
• Last time I was in I noticed afterward that they didn't ask for my name to credit my account with my purchase "points". Perhaps she noted my name on my credit card, but not sure. Because we do remember so many customers by name and/or we can get the info off the credit card we often do not ask. However, several people mentioned this so I will make sure the staff lets you know that we are adding your purchase towards your Frequent Buyer Points - so you don't think we forgot or just didn't do it! I promise I already threaten employees within inches of their life to add your purchase to your account - we LOVE giving away our $25 gift certificates! Here is a pic of a customer with over $150 in gift certificates!
  

• Open later, I work so I can only come to the store on Saturdays, everything else I do on-line! We are trying to come up with a solution here - maybe stay open late on a specific day? I will let you guys know!

4. Is there a staff person you would like to commend?

• I have yet to meet one that I don't like, but Gina is really wonderful. Okay - so I have to laugh here because A LOT of people mentioned that they loved "Gina". Gina is the "person" in our ads and Kelly is on the staff. Customers call Kelly "Gina" all the time - it cracks me up. It does look like Kelly posed for the cartoon picture - but I assure you they are NOT one and the same:)

Gina

Kelly

5. What do you like best about the product selection offered at Swagger?

• Great selection for the "has everything" person to buy a gift for.
• Designer style wrapping at store is a HUGE plus for those of us who need to be in and gone with a complete gift!
• The variety is unmatched! There are always the latest and most clever items...gifts, apparel, baby items, and jewelry.
• There are different levels of price points, so no matter who you are shopping for, there is something for everyone.
• Unique and not overpriced.
• I love that Swagger is oriented toward gifts of all kinds and prices--whether I am gifting others or myself :).
• Thank you guys - those are the things I keep in mind when buying for the store - Variety, Price Point, and Uniqueness

6. What could we do to improve the product selection offered at Swagger?

• Want to see MORE Scout bags! I was surprised at the number of people who specifically mentioned Scout Bags by name - wow! Well let's just say this - after ordering for fall and Christmas the Vice President of the company personally came over and thanked us. :) They also asked us for our input on next year's designs and styles - and we are super psyched about what is coming!
• Add some guy friendly stuff. We were on a mission at market to get more "guy" stuff. We did get some great items, but I will tell you there isn't a whole lot out there for the men.....
• Maybe not so much pink and green. Us earthy girls like our reds, oranges and golds. Okay I here you - sometimes I forgot EVERYONE isn't into pink and green!:) Enough said - will do - but of course we will keep the pink and green too!
• As I had previously mentioned, gift options for tweens. It is great to be able to put a gift together with cute things such as a monogram bag and the little colorful bag of gumballs! We tried to focus on this while at market as well. What we have found however is that we sell more "adult" stuff to tweens than "tween" stuff. They are so mature these days.......
• Broaden young children and toddler items beyond the baby stage. We did this to!

7. If you were the owner of Swagger, what would you change?

• well, because I like knowing customers names; I would maybe once a month or so have a meet our staff evening with a couple extra specials... I like this idea!
• I would take the area where the kids can play and have more merchandise. We got this comment almost as many times as we got the one below. I guess we know who has little kids:)
• Nothing to change, but I do want to commend you on having a "play area." Very helpful.
• I might change the hours of operation some days. Looking into it...
• Possibly offer a little wider selection of gifts under $25 or so......when I go in looking for a little something I sometimes struggle with what to get when I don't want to spend over $20. We added a HUGE number of items under $20 - you will start seeing them arrive in August (and not stop!)
• Expand! We received over 20 of this exact comment - so you guys are officially NEVER allowed to meet my husband!:) He wants me to do this all the time. We shall see..... I'm just not ready.... YET!:)

Thank you so much! You guys are what makes all of our jobs at Swagger so much fun!

Cheers,
Mandy