Compassion is contagious!

When people open their hearts to help a cause, their gesture can go viral and the community is inspired to make their own contributions. So we're thankful for businesses like Antique Trove in Roseville, CA for going beyond business-as-usual in memory of a child. 
The Trove is hosting a Thanks-for-Giving Bake Sale Saturday, April 2, with 100% of the proceeds going to the Collin McDaniel Hope Foundation to help stomp out Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) a rare autoimmune disease. Collin McDaniel loved Super Mario, so in his honor it'll be a Mario-themed event, and kids will get a chance to pose for photos with Mario & Friends.

The Antique Trove is at 236 Harding Blvd in Roseville. View their website at www.antiquetrove.com. For more information on NMO, visit NMO foundation-guthyjacksonfoundation.org 

Here to make friends in Niles

My Friends & I, a 14-dealer co-op on Niles Boulevard in Fremont, CA is going the extra mile, marketing-wise, by having a gift basket drawing every month. You get a chance to win with any purchase. Gift baskets are a popular drawing prize, and the prospect of winning one assures that shoppers coming to the well-known Niles Boulevard antique row will likely include My Friends & I in their stops. 

Another marketing tool that takes a little effort but potentially could help attract more clientele is the blog that Carol, the store owner, maintains at www.myfriendsandiniles.blogspot.com. Blogspot is a free blog hosting site, and she posts anything from photos of newly-arrived items to open house sales like the one they held a couple of weeks ago, to uplifting quotes or even photos of special dishes being served at nearby restaurants...shoppers have to eat too, you know.

Here's a photo of the gift basket for the drawing in April.

Tongue-in-Cheek Advertising

Wouldn't this be sweet in the powder room? A tintype image of a nun with soulful eyes was used to promote Cherry Blossom perfume, toilet powder and soap in this antique advertisement, with the promise, "Nun Nicer." Found at Susantiques in Aloha, OR.