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Ugly Duckling Day and Other November Dates to Ensure a Fairy-Tale Ending to 2023

Small Business Saturday is also your chance to play Cinderella.

Published

7 months ago

October 16, 2023

INSTORE Staff Instore October 2023 Issue

Ugly Duckling Day and Other November Dates to Ensure a Fairy-Tale Ending to 2023

1 Prep your red ribbon bracelets and blue circle earrings. November is National AIDS Awareness Month and National Diabetes Month. See if there is a role you can play in a local event or host your own. Then, with a tank full of community goodwill, you can get down to the commercial nitty-gritty of the holiday sales season.

11 The 180th Anniversary of the Publishing of Hans Christian Andersen’s Ugly Duckling is the perfect peg for a makeover contest. J + L Jewelry in Long Beach, CA, did one a few years ago with great success. “Boy, did we ever see some really horrible looking rings. It was hard to judge,” recalls owner Janis Krantz, adding the owner of the “ugliest duckling” got a $500 store gift certificate to redesign her ring.

25 Ever had the feeling that someone forgot to invite your store to the Black Friday ball? OK, Cinderella, this is your day: Small Business Saturday, which is held to remind consumers that there is more to holiday shopping than national chains. Get involved! (There’s a bunch of free tools at smallbusinesssaturday. com to help.)

25 On Shopping Reminder Day, launch a holiday countdown, employing a ticker on the home page of your website. Highlight a “gift of the day.”

She Wanted to Spend More Time with Her Kids. She Called Wilkerson.

Your children are precious. More precious than gold? Absolutely! Just ask Lesley Ann Davis, owner of Lesley Ann Jewels, an independent jewelry store that — until the end of 2023 — had quite a following in Houston, Texas. To spend more time with her four sons, all in high school, she decided to close her store. Luckily, she was familiar with Wilkerson and called them as soon as she knew she wanted to move on to bigger, better and more family-focused things. Was she happy with her decision? Yes, she was. Says Davis, “Any owner looking to make that life change, looking to retire, looking to close, looking for a pause in their career, I would recommend Wilkerson. Hands down!”