Christmas is coming!! And we all know what THAT means… Thanksgiving is coming first! Sometimes in our rush between Halloween and Christmas, it seems that Turkey Day gets overlooked as an opportunity to harvest more holiday sales. That needn’t be the case if you designate one or more areas within your store – somewhere between the jack-o-lanterns and the angel tree-toppers – to create an enticing display of specially-selected merchandise that’s geared toward the festive fall celebration. Whether your customer is the host or hostess of the traditional meal, seeking to decorate for the season, or one of the dinner guests looking for an appropriate gift, there’s a bounty of merchandise from which to choose.

Pumpkins, of course are a perennial and versatile symbol of the autumn season. For carving spooky (or friendly) faces, baking into pies, or simply setting them on the front stoop, their selling period extends for several weeks. Some of the best fresh pumpkins anywhere come from Bottomley Evergreens and Farms, Inc., where the pumpkins are given special treatment so they are prettier, cleaner, and last longer. They plant pumpkins through a cover crop, such as rye, giving them a nice soft, clean bed to grow on, as well as yielding a bumper crop that is clean and ready for sale. The variety of pumpkin shapes and sizes is almost endless, from small, round pie pumpkins to jumbos weighing in at 60 pounds or more! Bottomley Evergreens also grows Autumn Wing gourds; a beautiful assortment of shapes, sizes and colors that are perfect for decorating indoors or out.
Now, what’ll you do with all these pumpkins? You could showcase them on The Pumpkin Tree from Creative Displays. These unique pumpkin merchandisers are designed to sell more pumpkins in a minimum of floor space with maximum visual impact. Rings hold pumpkins up to 12lbs. each; and after Halloween or Thanksgiving, you can also use these racks to display mums and poinsettia plants.
While we’re on the subject of gourds (a pumpkin is really just an oversized gourd), check out the fanciful creations at Gourdaments. Your customers will love the menagerie of whimsical animals, like cats, roosters and other barnyard animals that artist, Devon Cameron creates by applying paints, dyes, clay, and varnish to various dried gourds. Sizes range from 3 inches (ornament size) to 12 inches or more, and the finished products are as hard as wood. Cameron turns some of the gourds into birdhouses with many distinctive styles, like the “Beatrice the Bird House Cat” whose open, meowing mouth is the hole through which the birds may enter.
Thanksgiving is the time for home and hearth, for family, and for celebrating the bountiful harvest. Decorating themes center on products that nature offers. For example, see an assortment of gorgeous wreaths, composed of natural, dried materials that are made by Naturals by Webster, Inc. Their Farmer’s Market Harvest Series features a lush “Fall Gathering Wreath” created of yarrow, coxcomb, globe amaranth, sunflowers and more. Spicy wreaths of dried red chili peppers are included, as well. Webster’s also produces a line, “Haystack Harvest,” free-standing bouquets of dried flowers that make great cash-and-carry purchases. If you or your customers like do-it-yourself (D.I.Y), Webster’s has all the natural loose, dried flowers, pods, grasses and berries necessary to create beautiful fall arrangements, wreaths, and door swags.

Need some containers for those custom arrangements? A unique wholesaler, Kraft Klub, Inc. carries a large variety of nostalgic, handmade tin items in rust, galvanized, antique white-wash, black colonial, wire, and a new enamel line, their most popular yet. Even empty, these basins, pitchers, buckets, washtubs, and wire baskets impart a wonderful sense of home and history to a Thanksgiving display.
If you’re not in the business of creating your own floral designs (or even if you are), check out the great collection of pre-made permanent arrangements from Burton & Burton from Flowers, Inc. They’re super time-savers … just take them out of the box and fluff them up. Burton & Burton also carries a unique line of home decor items and tabletop accessories that will surely generate Thanksgiving sales. For even more decorative accents, be sure to visit Creative Touch. Their clever wood-carved pumpkins and turkeys are really charming.
Most people have strong and pleasant memories of Thanksgiving celebrations past, and many of those memories are conjured up by the sense of smell. Especially familiar are the aromas of foods traditionally prepared and eaten during the holidays. You can make the most of this fact by offering scented items, like candles and potpourris that carry with them the smells that evoke nostalgic memories. Unique Aromas produces a line of scented, double-wick, poured candles in glass dishes. The sweet aroma of Pumpkin Pie, Lemon Meringue, Blueberry Muffins and other dessert favorites inspired the delicious candle scents featured in the Bakery collection.

Their sophisticated square votive candles (packaged in fours) burn up to 18 hours each, and carry such essences as Cranberry, Gingerbread, Spiced Pear and Cinnamon Cider. The same fragrances are available in 7-oz. poured candles in unique triangular glasses, wrapped in cellophane, and tied with a matching ribbon. Unique Aromas’ Bundt Cake candles smell almost good enough to eat and look like little bundt cakes. They make wonderful holiday and hostess gifts that are sure to please!
Another candle company, Applemill Cottage makes double-wicked, palm/soy candles in old-fashioned 16-oz. cottage jars with domed lids. With such yummy “flavors” as Apple Pie, Cinnamon Buns, and Pears and Berries, their candles carry one of the highest scent loads in the industry. They’ll also create private-label candles, which you can brand with your store’s name and logo. A portion of Applemill Cottage’s profit is donated to help establish freshwater wells in rural villages in India; customers feel good about their purchase and humanity benefits.
If all this talk about food is making you hungry for the real thing (and so much of Thanksgiving Day has to do with eating), let’s go straight for dessert. Award-winning Heart’s Desire Chocolates creates extraordinary confections in the Sonoma Valley in California. Taking the cake, so to speak, is their incredible Chocolate Cornucopia– overflowing with chocolate fruits, vegetables and nuts (unfortunately, it’s too delicate to ship, but local delivery is available). Perhaps more realistic for your store is their uniquely-delicious Pumpkin Fudge, English Toffee Assortment and harvest-decorated Gold Ballotin, a gift that’s filled with tempting chocolate truffles or other sweet treats.

Finally, The Fruit Company creates baskets full of luscious fruits, gourmet nuts, crackers, and such delicacies as smoked salmon and chocolate-covered Bing cherries in all price points. You might also consider trying their irresistible gourmet cheesecakes. They are all out of this world… think Triple Chocolate Raspberry… yum!! Based in Oregon, The Fruit Company has orchards that produce eight varieties of fruit and they also have a drop-ship program, offering online gifting companies the ability to provide orchard fresh gourmet fruit baskets and gifts to their customers.
So, as you’re busy decorating your store for Christmas during the next few weeks, remember that Thanksgiving presents a lot of great sales opportunities long before Santa starts loading his sleigh. From hostess gifts to home decor, FGMarket.com can direct you 24 hours a day to vendors that can satisfy every craving, suit every desire, and fill every sales niche. Don’t be a turkey… go shopping right now!