Entrepreneur Archive:
Specialty Merchandise Sales

Specialty Merchandise Sales—Branson, MO
Assisted by:
Rayanna Anderson, Small Business Development Center at Springfield

The Branson, MO, boom was about more than just country music. In 1994, it encouraged Nolene Davis to move her wholesale fashion jewelry business to the popular Southwest Missouri tourist destination.

Nolene buys and imports women's fashion costume jewelry. Many of her customers are entertainment venues including Silver Dollar City, the Lawrence Welk Theater and the IMAX Theater in Branson, along with Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN. The company also has two private labels—Branson Blues and Denim Connection—and two retail outlet stores in Branson. Nolene believes that her success selling fashion jewelry at tourist destinations results from offering products that are unique and hard to find. Those products range from clip-on earrings to the 10,000 butterfly necklaces purchased by the Rainforest Café chain.

While patriotic jewelry is popular year-round in Branson, Nolene purchased an extremely large amount in early summer 2001. Fortunately, Nolene's business had the inventory necessary to fulfill requests totaling over $100,000 in sales following the Sept. 11 tragedy. That equates to around 35,000 pieces of jewelry. Her red, white, and blue success story also included the distribution of 12,000 scarves.

Specialty Merchandise Sales has grown to produce more than $1 million a year and provides year-round employment to 10 people. Its latest area of growth has been the expansion of Christmas jewelry. Nolene recently filled an order for pins, earrings and scarves for Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, the largest Christmas store in the U.S. with 92,000 square feet. She also has her jewelry lines in Atlanta.

Nolene was first introduced to the SBDC through her enrollment in a "Financial Management Series" of seminars.

"The classes offered by the Small Business Development Center have assisted me in determining future cash flow needs and in developing financial plans for future growth," says Nolene. According to consultant Rayanna Anderson, the SBDC has since worked with Nolene on several issues including a building purchase, financial analysis and most recently a SMART analysis to help her plan for continued growth. Rayanna has enjoyed each project.

"What a fun business to work with!" Rayanna says. "Nolene has done a great job of monitoring fashion trends, giving great customer service and constantly seeking new information and knowledge to support her business's growth," says Rayanna.

Nolene plans to continue utilizing the services provided by the Springfield SBDC. "The recent SMART analysis really helped me focus on processes I need to have in place for the future. I have also appreciated the one-on-one time I have spent with my consultant, Rayanna Anderson, and the support of the whole team."

Specialty Merchandise Sales
P.O. Box 6728
Branson, MO 65615
(417) 335-6868
(417) 337-5308

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