When it comes to souvenirs, Andrea Weir doesn’t hesitate to name her No. 1 seller at Island Outfitters in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
“T-shirts are the No. 1 selling item in the whole store,” she declares without a second thought. “And it has been for decades. As long as I’ve been in the business.”
As a third-generation souvenir store owner, Weir’s experience in the industry spans decades. Her grandmother, Josephine Weir Nittolo, began as the cafe owner of Jo’s Lunchbox, cooking fishermen’s catch and other food before shifting to retail and introducing locals to Souvenir City in 1956 — before the town of Gulf Shores was established. Today, Weir is proud to be one of the few locally owned companies in the town where her family is known as one of the founding families.
“I was raised in the souvenir business in Gulf Shores,” she notes. “Actually, Souvenir City is older than the town of Gulf Shores. We’ve been here longer than the city.”
In 2008, Weir took all of her industry know-how and poured it into an 18,000-square-foot building with a pale yellow and coastal blue facade that stands a block from the sugar-white beaches; a totem-pole sign beckons beachgoers to stop in and have a look around.
Never out of style
Weir notes it’s a mad dash through the 100 days of summer between Memorial Day and Labor Day when her team swells from eight to 20 employees to ring guests out and give them the souvenirs that make them happiest.
“What I sell makes people happy,” Weir asserts. “I always tell people ‘It’s not like selling coffins.’ It’s a happy career.”
Among those that put a smile on the faces of tourists and visitors are tie-dyed T-shirts — a fad that Weir notes is cyclical in popularity that ebbs and flows when new generations discover it.
Some other favorite souvenirs call guests back for a second visit, maybe even a year or more later. “We make a lot of fudge in our own kitchen on-site here, so a lot of people come back remembering the fudge, craving the fudge, buying the fudge,” Weir says.
“It’s important for me to have a vendor that’s been around a long time, that knows what they’re doing and that has a good product.” — Andrea Weir
Visitors don’t forget the unique flavors the store churns out, such as peanut butter chocolate, Almond Joy, strawberry daiquiri, chocolate walnut and chocolate pomegranate. Among the favorites for Weir is its bushwhacker flavor, she notes with a laugh.
“We change our flavors a lot,” she says. “Maybe even every week. And there’s all kinds of additives that we put in it. We use real butter and make it in our own kitchen.”
Another bestseller is a metal tumbler by BruMate, which Weir notes has done really well at the store and “people continue to buy them.”
Longevity in loyalty
Weir says she remains loyal to the vendors that have been doing business with her family since her grandmother began. She says the relationships are sacred for more than one reason.
“Some of my vendors ship me merchandise in January and February, and I don’t have to pay for it until July because they’re vendors that I’ve been doing business with for that long,” she says. “My parents did business with them, and my grandmother did business with their grandparents so it’s a generational thing.”
She adds, “It’s important for me to have a vendor that’s been around a long time, that knows what they’re doing and that has a good product.”
Of the more than 200 vendors featured in the store, Sherry Manufacturing Co. Inc. of Miami ranks among the most coveted for its longevity as well as its top-notch apparel.
“My grandmother did business with their grandparents and now I’m the third generation doing business with their grandkids,” she says. “So, they’re probably my top vendor.”
Gulf Coast Panama Jack, Girlie Girl Originals, Sun Bum sunscreen, Darlene’s Shells, Old Guys Rule, Life is Good, Teva and Inis skincare products also can be found sprinkled throughout the store.
Weir also credits Island Outfitters as being the first to bring Blenders Eyewear sunglasses to the Alabama shores.
“I’m proud I was the initial Alabama retailer of those, and now they’ve just taken off like crazy,” she notes. “I saw them and I thought, ‘This is great, I don’t want high-priced sunglasses anymore.’ This company has just been wonderful for me.”
Keep it simple
Weir says little things add up in the eyes of a customer, like not passing along credit card fees and not expecting a “tip” simply for doing a good job. She adds that her history as a “local” not only helps her pinpoint what her customers want, but it also gives her an edge that big-box retailers can’t compete with.
“This industry has been taken over by a bunch of non-locally owned companies,” she says. “And [my store] is here in town. We just do things better. It’s my hometown.”
