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Lisa from Giving Gifts { Independent Interview }

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For the second in what I hope will be a series of interviews with independent retailers, I contacted Lisa from Giving Gifts.

Giving Gifts is an online shop that operates out of Vancouver, BC. They carry a range of fair trade, eco friendly and fun items for babies, kids, adults and pets.

Lisa, the owner and operator of Giving Gifts, was kind enough to grant me an interview

Tell me a bit about yourself and your family.

I grew up in Toronto and moved to Vancouver to go university at Simon Fraser. I met my husband at university, he is from Ottawa and we both loved Vancouver and decided to stay out here. My parents and brother and his family live in Toronto, so we are back East visiting as often as we can.

How old are you (you don’t have to give an exact year, ballpark if you prefer, 20s, 30s?) You have three little ones, how old are they now?

My mother is completely offended by anyone asking her age. She keeps getting younger by the year – soon it will be slightly obscene how young she had me! Growing up with a mother who never shared her age, has made me proud to share mine. I am currently 32, but I’ll be 33 at the end of February.
In fact, I love my birthday so much, that I am having a Birthday Sale at Giving Gifts! Everything will be on sale up to 40% one week only – from February 21st to 28th. I only have a birthday once a year, so don’t miss it!
I have three young kids. They are very close together – my youngest daughter was born a week before my son turned 3. So I was pretty much pregnant for three years in a row. My two daughters are a couple of days short of 15 months apart which was a little insane at the beginning, but now that they are 1 and 2 it is a lot of fun.

What’s your background? Held any interesting jobs prior to opening Giving Gifts?

I actually studied Criminology at university because I was sure I wanted to be a police officer. I did a practicum with the police in high school and loved it. My degree is completely useless, as my “real job” is working as the Program Director at a synagogue. I just went back to work – I was on Maternity leave until January. I used to work full time before I started Giving Gifts, but I now work part time and am hoping to balance both jobs, as well as family life.

I know you opened Giving Gifts fairly recently. What’s your favourite part of being a business owner so far?

I did! The launch party was on May 29th, 2010 so it is pretty new. It was a dream for a long time to open a store. I thought of the name and got the website domain during my first maternity leave in 2006, but it wasn’t until my third maternity leave that I felt confident enough to actually open it. I am still so thrilled that I did. The feedback has been amazing and I’ve met so many great people. My favourite part is finding great products, made by amazing companies that are working to make a difference in the world and getting the chance to share those items with people who appreciate them too.

What do you think about working from home? Love it? Hate it? Are your kids around when you’re working?

I love working from home, although my working conditions need to be improved! We have 4 bedrooms and 3 kids so all the bedrooms are currently being used which means that the computer I use is in my bedroom and the inventory is all stored in a beautiful new closet we built in the baby’s room. This really poses a major problem when I want to ship out an order and the baby is sleeping! I’ve gotten really good at sneaking in there. My kids don’t really appreciate me working from home, as I am always running upstairs to check the computer and my husband hates it because I do most of my work between 8:00pm and midnight and he often falls asleep with the lights on because I am still working on the computer! I am really lucky because my kids are all young, they nap in the middle of the day for a couple of hours, so that is really good work time for me. I love that I can go back to my “real job” part time and still do Giving Gifts and that I can be around to play with my kids and take them to preschool and swimming and skating and all the programs that they are involved in.

I know that part of the philosophy behind Giving Gifts is giving back by helping to supporting charity. I had read that Carli’s Kids was your charity for 2010. First can you tell me a bit about Carli’s Kids? What sort of portion of each sale is going towards charity? Do you have a different charity lined up for 2011? If so, who/what?

Carli Travers is from Coquitlam (a suburb of Vancouver) and she moved to Uganda and adopted 12 street kids with her husband. They have just purchased 11 acres of land for the Abetavu (Safe Haven) Children’s Village where they will provide homes and education for 100 street children. The village will also serve as a centre for the local community, providing access to health care and education.
I like that Carli’s Kids has a local connection and is international at the same time and the that the money is going to help children in great need. Giving Gifts is just a small company, so it is nice to work with a very real, hands on project and know that my donations will make a difference. At this point, I haven’t thought of any charities after Carli’s Kids. I only started Giving Gifts in the middle of 2010, so they will be my partner charity for a few more months at least. I’d love to work with Carli’s Kids until I’ve donated enough to make a small, but significant difference.
As far as the portion of each sale, it completely depends on the item. I try to keep my prices low. I always appreciate getting a deal and I’d like my customers to feel great about their purchases – not just because they are great items, from great companies that help others, but because they got a great price on it as well! I donate 10% of my profits from Giving Gifts. I have donated $350 since June and I hope to double that amount by this June to bring the total donation to $1000 in the first year.

Since I started following your online storefront a few months back I’ve noticed many cool new additions to your product line-up (like the reuseable gift bags!) Anything else interesting that you might be planning on adding soon?

Lisa is getting in more of these
adorable Blabla Mobiles.
The first batch sold out almost immediately.
Yes, I sell Lyziwraps – reusable giftwrap. A few customers asked for reusable giftwrap, so I searched for a modern and fun and easy to use version and I absolutely love that it was invented by an 8th Grader! I am always on the search for great products. I just got BaaLLS wool dryer balls. They are the eco friendly alternative to dryer sheets. Coming very soon are Itzy Ritzy reusable snack bags (another request from many customers). I think Itzy Ritzy bags are the best version of the reusable snack bag, because they come in beautiful patterns, seal with a zipper – rather than velcro – and they are made in the USA. You will appreciate that I just placed a huge order for more Blabla dolls and rattles and mobiles. I don’t have many left, so it will be great to restock with lots more beautiful dolls. I sold out of the mobiles the first week I had them, so I’m excited to have those in stock too. I also have my eye on Papoose fairtrade made felted items, especially the play food and handpuppets – I am sure they will be arriving at Giving Gifts soon.

And finally, What is your one favourite gift to give someone else?

I love giving Envirosax bags – I wrap wine bottles in them for hostess gifts, I use the minisax bags as giftbags for kids presents and lootbags, I gave Envirosax bags to my kids teachers as gifts, I’ve given the pouches to friends for birthday presents, etc.. There is a design for everyone and I love picking out the perfect design for each person. They are the most useful present someone could ever receive. A 75 year old man bought one from me for his wife and she said it was the best thing since sliced bread and definitely the best present he had ever given her!

Questions for Lisa? I’m sure she’s still lurking around and might be willing to answer. Suggestions for what I should ask next time? What sort of things would you like to learn about the people behind some of these cool independent stores? Anyone in particular you’d like to hear from?

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Comments

  2. Lisa says

    Thanks so much Eva and thanks to Deanna for asking the interview questions – they were fun to answer. Hope to see everyone shopping at the Giving Gifts' Birthday Sale!

    Reply

  9. Mom vs. the boys says

    great interview, I love meeting Canadian Mompreneurs! it must be hard to work from home, it's hard enough to blog from home lol

    Reply

  11. Anonymous says

    Thanks for stumbling my Watermelon Cookies post. I have actually been one of your subscribers for a few weeks now. I love your Mommy Confessions as I can aways relate. Very interesting blog post about Giving Gifts. I will have to check out the site. Thanks againFaith Home Ec @ Homehomeecathome.com

    Reply

  14. ExJW33 says

    Thanks for stumbling my blog, I'm here stumbling back and following your blog, great interview! Look forward to more in the coming weeks. Happy Friday!

    Reply

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