Coastal keepsakes

When customers visit Souvenir City in Orange Beach, Alabama, they’re usually there for one of two reasons.

“When they get here they buy a lot of their beach supplies to go to the beach, and before they return home they buy all their souvenirs,” says Lee Howell, general manager of the two Orange Beach Souvenir City locations and Gulf Shores Beach Supply.

Luckily, with a wide selection as the name indicates, souvenir-seeking customers usually have no trouble finding exactly what they are looking for.

The store sells all sorts of merchandise with Orange Beach displayed on them, including T-shirts, hats, picture frames, snow globes, keychains, magnets, drinkware, decals and towels.

“We sell really anything you need for the beach or to take home as a gift with a name drop on it,” says Howell.

“Our main thing that we sell with the name drop is T-shirts. Everybody wants an Orange Beach or Gulf Shores T-shirt to take back to a friend or family member,” he adds. “We also sell a lot of coffee mugs and a lot of picture frames, a lot of little trinkets and snow globes. People are always looking for something with the location name on it to take back home with them.”

Souvenirs large, small and everywhere in between adorn the shelves, racks, tables, walls and display cases at The Little Pelican in North Redington Beach, Florida. According to owner Rene Wolf, it is the only store that carries North Redington Beach merchandise.

“We have a lot,” she says. With a fixture upgrade in 2021 that gave the store more shelf space, the store has increased its inventory threefold in the past year.

The store brought in a new toy line, Waboba, added Dune Jewelry’s line of experiential jewelry and upped its apparel game with a new line of from Coastal Classics.

Shoppers on the hunt for the perfect souvenir can find just about anything they are looking for, including drinkware that includes hand-painted shot glasses, coffee mugs, and the store’s bestselling Silipint line of pint and shot glasses. They’ll also find a wide selection of magnets, postcards, pocket knives, keychains, picture frames, bracelets and towels.

It’s Christmas year-round at The Little Pelican. The store also expanded its ornament selection and now carries some 200 different ones. Approximately 100 of them feature a name drop. Snow globes are also a hit.

“Snow globes are probably one of the main lower priced souvenirs. I have glass and acrylic ones that are very different. We also came up with a magnet called ‘beachfront property.’ It is a square plexiglass block that is name-dropped with the person’s name as well as North Reddington Beach. The back has a sunset picture and inside has sun, sand and shells.”

When Wolf looks for new products to carry in the store, her criteria consists of two main factors: uniqueness and price point.

“We want to make sure we aren’t overpricing ourselves,” says Wolf. “We have upgraded the store and added higher price points, but the store has been here for 30 years. I wanted to upgrade the look and feel and bring in quality merchandise for a great price.

Plenty to choose from

Seaside retailers have to carry a variety of souvenirs to cater to a wide audience with varying tastes. Fortunately, many wholesale companies are up for the challenge, working to provide an array of products to appeal to customers’ many preferences.

PCF Souvenirs/The Postcard Factory is continually developing ideas and products. The company invests in more than 1,000 SKU (stock-keeping units) each year. It tries to stay on the cutting edge with its products, introducing innovative items like reactive glazed ceramics and its Mug Mobile, a mug resembling a car with rolling wheels.

“PCF has a huge catalog of finished ‘name drop’ products which can easily meet most retailers’ needs,” says Marcelo Caetano, marketing manager. “For those retailers who want their smaller beach or location’s name on product, we suggest starting with our Imprintable program.”

The program allows location names to be customized and items can be ordered in small pack sizes with a low minimum of 144 units across a variety of available products.

As for current styles, the tie-dye motif is hot, notes Caetano. “It is a trend that started in apparel and like most trends has trickled down into the souvenir market.”

Retailers in the market for drinkware have found success with About Face Designs’ humorous, nautical assortment, with travel mugs that combine nautical symbols and colors with phrases like “Ships about to go down,” “Drink or Swim” and “Not all Who Wander the Beach are Lost.”

“Our strongest souvenir products are mugs, barware and drinkware as we offer more than 500 items in these classifications which are perfect gifts for family, friends and coworkers,” says About Face Designs’ Kirsten Trossen. “Customers love our variety, quality and the humorous sayings on our products.”

Can coolers, insulated drinkware and slim can koozies are also trending with the company’s retail customers.

Decals that deliver

Decals have become big business in coastal shops over the past five to 10 years, according to Brent Durham, owner of Brass Reminders. The 30-year-old company used to carry an array of products, but today, it’s just focused on decals. “Believe it or not, decals are the single best-selling item in a lot of stores,” Durham says.

Brass Reminder’s Auto-Graphs brand decals are different from other decals in the coastal market because Brass Reminders manufactures its own products.

“We control every aspect of production in house, including design, sales and production,” says Durham.

Durham says seaside retailers shouldn’t be afraid to carry a higher quality decal. “When it comes to items in this price range, customers tend to buy the best, not the cheapest.”

The company also provides a patented wood and acrylic floor display that Durham says doubles retail sell-through versus hanging the exact same decals on a hook display in the store.

Beanies baby

Impulse Souvenirs’ products cover a wide gamut of souvenirs, including custom-made patches, lapel pins, magnets in metal and wood, key rings, bottle opener magnets, lanyards, beanies with leather or embroidered patches, and trucker and dad hats with patches.

“We have a broad range of souvenirs to hit specific retail price points as well as offering a wide range of items customers collect and wear,” says James Melley, Impulse Souvenirs sales manager.

Beanies have been a big seller for the company recently. They are available in 18 colors and include custom leather patches.

“Beanies are very strong at retail right now,” says Melley. “We sold thousands in areas this summer where there was oppressive heat. The customers purchased them to take home as a souvenir.”

Impulse Souvenirs continues to sell sea life themes, including sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and whales. “These icons sell year over year and we provide retailers new and fresh options within these icons,” notes Melley.

Before a retailer places an order, Impulse Souvenirs sales staff consults with the retailer and identifies the top themes that sell in the area such as sea life, beach oriented, lighthouses or surfing. They’ll then work with the retailer to build a cohesive collection in a wide array of price points and items to allow them to tell a proper story, according to Melley.

Dual purpose

Lantern Press focuses on souvenirs that have both utility and purpose. “Our benchmark for making something is that it’s thoughtful and has intent,” Morris says. “Because of this we call our products keepsakes — items such as wood magnets and absorbent coasters to puzzles 100% made in America.”

The company has continued to see popularity for puzzles grow, particularly over the last couple of years. “Our puzzles continue to expand,” says Morris. “New demographics were introduced to puzzles during the pandemic and the interest has only grown since. Puzzles have provided a way for everyone staying home to stay busy and calm their mind, all while building a beautiful piece of artwork, one piece at a time.”

In addition to the artwork and made in America aspects of Lantern Press’ products, the company prints on demand, which Morris says is eco-friendly and keeps minimums low.

Popular features

SJT Enterprises also is continually updating and adding to its product line, whether it be coasters or magnets or any range of coastal, beach or nautical souvenirs it carries. Beach-themed room signs for children’s bedrooms are one of its newest additions evoking memories of vacations. The signes were on display during the Grand Strand Gift and Resort Merchandise Show in December 2021

As far as items your customer is likely to grab up, Tim Smith, president of SJT Enterprises, says “anything with sea turtles. Particularly on the East Coast because there are so many sea turtle sanctuaries.”

And whether it is a sea turtle, a shell or a lighthouse, Smith says it’s all about the name drop. “Virtually every store wants it to say their destination. It’s what differentiates their products from anywhere else.”

As seaside retailers prepare for the busy 2022 season, there’s no lack of products that will help them provide their customers with the perfect memento of their time away from home.