We’ve all been in the position of looking for a gift and feeling at a loss of what to give someone. That is where Lisa Pozin of Giving Gifts in Vancouver comes in. This beautifully curated store on Main Street takes the stress out of gift giving and puts your money in the hands of brands making a difference in the world. We caught up with Lisa to learn more.
What is your business called and what does it do?
Giving Gifts – we are a gift boutique on Main Street in Vancouver. We carry a beautiful selection of custom curated gifts by local artists and fair trade brands. We also create gift crates and gift boxes.
What made you want to do this work?
I love finding beautiful gifts and bringing them together in one place. All the gifts we carry in the store tell a story and are by brands making a difference in the world. I believe you can buy the change you want to see in the world and that you should always love what you give!
What problem did you want to solve with the business?
I wanted to bring together beautiful gifts by inspiring brands. Gifts that are eco friendly, fair trade made and made by local artists. I believe that when we purchase something we are making a statement for what kind of world we want and it is great to put your money behind brands that are socially sustainable and environmentally conscious and where we know the people behind them, and to me this is especially true when giving gifts! You can give a gift or you can give a gift you’ll LOVE to give!
Who are your clientele/demographics?
Everyone comes into the store! We love it when people shop in the store or shop online with us. We also work with many realtors, mortgage brokers, investment advisors and other corporate clients to curate gifts for their clients.
How does your business make money? How does it work?
We are a retail store so we make money from sales. We also have two online stores. We also create gift crates and gift boxes – sometimes one at a time and sometimes 100 to 200 or more for corporate clients.
Where in the city can we find your profession?
The Giving Gifts store is at 4570 Main Street, Vancouver
We are also online at: www.givinggifts.ca & www.givingcrates.ca
What is the best question a prospective customer could ask a member of your profession when comparing services? Give the answer as well.
They can come into the store and ask us the stories behind our gifts. We love telling them about all the great people who create the beautiful gifts we carry.
What is the best part about what you do? What is the worst part?
Best Part: All our amazing customers and creating special gifts for them. We love when they pick out gifts themselves and we also appreciate when we are the ones to put together gifts. They always turn out really well! We also really appreciate all the artists we work with. We have long-term relationships with so many of them and we have loved watching their businesses grow and contributing to that growth.
Worst Part: It’s a hard business to be in. If it was up to me, the store would be so full and overflowing all the time. We’d support every artist and be able to carry everything. I need to be selective and careful with what I buy as cashflow in a small business is always tight. It has taken a lot of persistence, passion, determination, creativity and grit to get this far and we want to keep expanding so the worst part is feeling like I am held back all the time for what I really want to do based on what I need to do based on what is realistic.
What is your favourite joke about your own profession?
People love to ask if I make everything in the store! I definitely don’t! We work with over 200 artists!
Where can we follow you?
@givinggiftsca on Instagram or Facebook
PAY IT FORWARD: What is another local business that you love?
All the businesses we work with! There are so many of them! We also love our neighbours on Main Street – Trafiq Bakery is one that comes to mind right away.
