A Carytown retailer will soon be popping up in Shockoe Bottom.
Ten Thousand Villages, a national retailer that sells artisan crafts from around the world, is opening a second Richmond location in the former Vive space on South 14th Street.
The store sells handmade jewelry, home decor, art, sculptures, clothes and other accessories.
The Shockoe Bottom location will open as a pop-up store, which is a temporarily outlet for a business to drum up interest or test out a new market. Ten Thousand Villages will use the space from early October to January 2012.
Karin Taylor, executive director and general manager, said the store is looking to grow its customer base in the downtown area.
“We want to reach customers that may not know us yet or venture into Carytown often,” Taylor said. “We’re putting ourselves within walking distance of thousands of people.”
The organization buys products from 130 businesses internationally, which Taylor said includes family workshops, large established artisan groups and independent companies.
“They’re all [from] developing countries,” she said. “We have products from Indonesia or Chile or Peru.”
Ten Thousand Villages has a central office and warehouse in Lancaster, Pa., where all of its products are stored and shipped.
Ten Thousand Villages leased the 2,500-square-foot space from LaDiff and plans to move in this week.
Besides LaDiff, the fair trade organization will join These Four Walls and shirt retailer Ledbury, who just relocated to the same building.
Vive is a subsidiary of home decor retailer LaDifference and was launched in March 2009. Vive also sells home furnishings and will be sold in the LaDiff main store once Ten Thousand Villages moves in.
Taylor said Ten Thousand Villages started talking about a second Richmond store in 2005. But after the economy tanked, that plan got put on the back burner.
“We decided to put plans on hold until we were at a stronger point financially,” Taylor said.
In the past four years, the Carytown shop has increased its sales by 27 percent, Taylor said, adding that out of 175 Ten Thousand Villages shops in the United States, the Richmond location is in the Top 5 for sales.
“We have a very loyal customer base in Richmond,” she said. “We get a lot of visitors from out of town, and hopefully this pop-up store will introduce fair trade to new customers.”
Taylor said the items in the Carytown store range from $2 to $450, but most of the products are in the $20 to $40 range. Jewelry, wall hangings and bedspreads are the store’s bestsellers.
A Carytown retailer will soon be popping up in Shockoe Bottom.
Ten Thousand Villages, a national retailer that sells artisan crafts from around the world, is opening a second Richmond location in the former Vive space on South 14th Street.
The store sells handmade jewelry, home decor, art, sculptures, clothes and other accessories.
The Shockoe Bottom location will open as a pop-up store, which is a temporarily outlet for a business to drum up interest or test out a new market. Ten Thousand Villages will use the space from early October to January 2012.
Karin Taylor, executive director and general manager, said the store is looking to grow its customer base in the downtown area.
“We want to reach customers that may not know us yet or venture into Carytown often,” Taylor said. “We’re putting ourselves within walking distance of thousands of people.”
The organization buys products from 130 businesses internationally, which Taylor said includes family workshops, large established artisan groups and independent companies.
“They’re all [from] developing countries,” she said. “We have products from Indonesia or Chile or Peru.”
Ten Thousand Villages has a central office and warehouse in Lancaster, Pa., where all of its products are stored and shipped.
Ten Thousand Villages leased the 2,500-square-foot space from LaDiff and plans to move in this week.
Besides LaDiff, the fair trade organization will join These Four Walls and shirt retailer Ledbury, who just relocated to the same building.
Vive is a subsidiary of home decor retailer LaDifference and was launched in March 2009. Vive also sells home furnishings and will be sold in the LaDiff main store once Ten Thousand Villages moves in.
Taylor said Ten Thousand Villages started talking about a second Richmond store in 2005. But after the economy tanked, that plan got put on the back burner.
“We decided to put plans on hold until we were at a stronger point financially,” Taylor said.
In the past four years, the Carytown shop has increased its sales by 27 percent, Taylor said, adding that out of 175 Ten Thousand Villages shops in the United States, the Richmond location is in the Top 5 for sales.
“We have a very loyal customer base in Richmond,” she said. “We get a lot of visitors from out of town, and hopefully this pop-up store will introduce fair trade to new customers.”
Taylor said the items in the Carytown store range from $2 to $450, but most of the products are in the $20 to $40 range. Jewelry, wall hangings and bedspreads are the store’s bestsellers.