Black’s Gifts & Things opens its doors today at 1056 Pennsylvania Avenue in Tyrone. Proprietor of the store, Brian Black of Birmingham, has years of experience in the giftware business because he sells merchandise at both the Water Street Flea Market and the Antique Depot. The store in Tyrone is scheduled to be open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We offer general giftware, lawn and garden, seasonal merchandise, angels, wildlife, figurines, tables, houseware items like canister sets, things like that,” said Black of the array of merchandise in the store.
He added that the hot item for the year in which many people are buying seems to be dragons, wizards and fantasy merchandise, which the store also carries in a large selection.
Black’s Gifts & Things also has a wholesale division in which people who are looking to buy items for a gift shop or other purposes can purchase merchandise from Black’s. The division is entitled BL Gifts Wholesale, and the web site is www.wholesalecentral.com/blgiftswholesale.
On the web site is all the giftware, lawn and garden merchandise and other items that can be purchased. Anyone with a valid Pennsylvania tax identification and who is willing to spend $25 or more can order from the web site or stop in the store. Black’s is a supplier for two different knick-knack companies.
“We had a need for cheaper pricing, to find merchandise to sell, and it grew from there,” said Black of how he got into the wholesale aspect of the business. “As we went to the different companies, we got better pricing and could buy more, and it lead us to the wholesale part.”
Therefore, the shop offers something for the customer who wants to buy wholesale as well as for the customer who just wants to pick up an item or two for themselves. The reason why Black chose Tyrone for the location of his business was because it was close to his home and close for people to come and look at the merchandise, both for retail and wholesale purposes.
“We’ve always been in the giftware business, and Tyrone was a close vicinity for a storefront. We needed more of a showroom to let people come and look around,” said Black.
The Tyrone store offers a large amount of storage space, a place to let the shipping trucks get in and out, and another outlet for the merchandise.
“It took us a month worth of set up,” said Black. “We had to get the merchandise in, get the orders in, get the shelving set up, things like that.”
Black’s Gifts & Things opens today, so anybody interested should stop by and take a look around.
“We have a great selection and the lowest prices,” added Black. “We have a little something for everybody.”
