ELLE Jewelry

Our brand new ELLE Jewelry Boutique has been up and running for the entire holiday season, and we had a great response! If you have not seen the ELLE collection you are missing out! Each piece is set in rhodium-plated sterling silver, and has a genuine ruby embedded in it! The contemporary designs are based off the fashions featured in ELLE Magazine (the largest fashion magazine in North America), and can all be viewed HERE! Make sure to come in and take a peek - we are also giving away a FREE ELLE TOTE BAG with any ELLE purchase!

Look for more great additions to our DC Fashion Jewelry Gallery coming in 2009!

A Warm Holiday

We wanted to thank all of you for contributing to a wonderful holiday season here at Designers Center. Despite all the media hype surrounding the retail sector, we had a fantastic December and we want to thank you! We got to see a lot of familiar faces and lots of new ones that came in and found something beautiful and unique to put under the tree this year.

With that said, its back to work in the Designers Center offices as we seek to find new and unique gift and fashion lines to bring into the store. We are heading off to the largest gift trade show in the country in January; AmericasMart in Atlanta, GA.

Our event schedule is already starting to fill up for 2009. Here is a sneak peek of the first few events:
January: Vera Bradley Premiere - Spring 2009 (we will be featuring the 4 new patterns and all the new styles)

February: Pandora Valentines Trunk Show
Swarovski Redemption Event (featuring the 2009 Annual Edition)

Have a very Happy New Years, and we look forward to seeing you all soon!
Don't forget to look us up on Facebook!

Department 56 Bankrputcy

Department 56 is bankrupt you say? After news broke last week that the collectible giant Department 56 filed for Chapter 11, we had several concerned collectors wondering if this was the end of their beloved village series. We are here to quash those rumors. Chapter 11 allows businesses with debt trouble to restructure their organization in an effort to alleviate debt and continue doing business. This is what they are doing. While we don't know the details, we received a letter stating that they were eliminating several fringe lines from their sales line-up. These are lines that we are not carrying currently, and will not affect our business. These changes will allow D56 to focus more on their strong selling lines including, The Original Snow Village, Ebony Visions, Just the Right Shoe, Lenox Classics, and more. This should streamline their operation and allow for better service and selection for their retailers and consumers.

We have a fantastic display of all the D56 Villages and accessories. Stop by to check out the new releases and limited editions!

Extended holiday hours begin on Monday 12/8 (9am-10pm).

Black Friday Extravaganza

The busiest shopping day of the year is upon us - Black Friday! We all know what that means: waking up early, long lines at Starbucks, and Sales Galore! This year, Designers Center will be doing our first ever Black Friday Event! Everyone on our mailing list should have received a promotion and gift guide for the day, but if not, here is the rundown:

FROM 6am - 8am:
- 40% Off all Giuseppe Armani Sculptures
- 50% Off all Hummel Figurines
- FREE Skagen sunglasses with the purchase of a Skagen watch
- 50% Off all Lenox figurines
- FREE Vera Bradley Skinny Tote ($39 value) for the first 20 people to spend $100

AFTER 8am:
- 25% off all Giuseppe Armani Sculptures
- 25% off all Hummel Figurines
- 25% off all Lenox Figurines

ALL DAY PROMOTIONS:
- FREE Lladro silk scarf with any Lladro purchase
- FREE Franz panda sculpture ($45 value) with any $100 Franz purchase
- FREE ELLE Jewelry tote bag with any ELLE purchase
- FREE Brighton Ornament ($25 value) with any $100 Brighton purchase
- SALE TABLE: Great values on discontinued/overstock merchandise

Take advantage of these one day only specials! As always, we gift wrap for FREE and ship to your friends and family out of the area.

You CHARM Us

To ring in the Holiday Season, we are kicking things off this weekend with a Brighton Trunk Show featuring the ever-popular Brighton ABC Charms! Our You CHARM Us Trunk Show will be held tomorrow from 10am to 4pm! We have tons of charms in stock and lots of bracelets ready to be charmed! Arrive early for the best selection!These charm bracelets are great Christmas gifts and as always, we gift wrap for free!

At 1:00pm we are giving away our Grand Door Prize: a $240 Brighton leather handbag!

Don't forget to get your Pre-Orders in for our Franz Signing Event with Junnie Fu on Saturday December 13! We have FREE GIFTS for you when you order by the end of this weekend!

Become a Fan

On Facebook? Become a "FAN" of Designers Center! Our brand new Facebook page is up and running - this is a great place to interact with Designers Center when your not here in person. You can post photos of your collections, review us, start a discussion thread, and find out about all of our upcoming events! To join our Facebook page, CLICK HERE!

Two New Boutiques

For those readers that have followed the evolution of our store since we reopened Designers Center in 2005, you have seen a clear trend. Our store has not only become a store of higher end brand names, but we have gone to great lengths to enhance the shopping experience of some of these lines by adding a "Shop-in-Shop" or a boutique to our store layout.

We are very excited to announce that we have opened two new boutiques within our store: PANDORA Jewelry and ELLE Jewelry!

Our PANDORA Shop-in-Shop is the first one in the state of California, and provides shoppers with an experience similar to that of PANDORA's flagship stores that are scattered throughout Denmark. Clean and simple designs allow for the entire jewelry line to be displayed clearly for shoppers to view and understand the PANDORA concept. These types of displays have become a growing trend with PANDORA retailers, and we are very proud to provide this experience to our dedicated PANDORA customers. By the way, a merchandising representative from PANDORA will be in our store tomorrow to help with some finishing touches, so stop by to chat (and show off your bracelet) if you have a chance.

The ELLE Boutique is not only unique to our store and California, but to the entire country. We have been given the opportunity to showcase the ELLE Jewelry collection like no other store by using their fantastic new showcase to highlight their sterling silver jewelry. If you are not familiar with the ELLE line, it is a contemporary collection of jewelry designed in Montreal, with each piece containing a genuine ruby as a trademark. To kick off the new boutique, we are giving away a FREE ELLE TOTE BAG with any ELLE purchase through Christmas! Look for some of our ELLE ads in the SF Chronicle coming up!

Independance from Sales Tax

On November 4th and 5th, bring in proof of voting and Designers Center will pay the sales tax on all Brighton purchases! Be proud of your independence and be independent from sales tax!

What a weekend!

Join us this Saturday, November 8th from 1pm-4pm for an amazing day of events at Designers Center!

To kick things off we are hosting our first ever SKAGEN Trunk Show! Skagen is a sleek line of Danish designed watches, jewelry, eye ware, and handbags. Our fantastic Skagen rep will be on hand to assist customers and chat about the line. There are FREE gifts galore for this event:

Purchase 1 Skagen Item: Get a Skagen Gift Bag full of fun Skagen items

Purchase 2 Skagen Items: Get a FREE Pair of Skagen Sunglasses

Purchase 3 Skagen Items: Get a FREE Skagen Watch

Quantities are limited on these items, so arrive early for the best selection!

PLUS, each hour we are giving away a FREE Skagen watch!

The second event of the day features our Swarovski crystal line, and in particular, the 2008 Annual Edition Pandas. We will have the Pandas, along with all the other SCS items available for instant redemption. As well, this is your last chance to purchase the 2008 Event Piece, Gecko. The Gecko has been very well received and is available on Saturday ONLY for $109.99!

PLUS, receive a FREE Panda shirt with a $100 Swarovski purchase. We will have Swarovski door prizes each hour as well!

Don't miss these great events this weekend - this is a great time to get your holiday shopping started. As always, we are taking layaways for Christmas!

FRANZ Signing Event

Join us December 13th, as we welcome FRANZ artist Junnie Fu to Designers Center. Junnie will be signing all new FRANZ purchases, and will be doing a sculpting demonstration in the store. Last November, we had FRANZ artist James Tsai in the store, and it was a great event!

The FRANZ Collection is an intricate set of porcelain decorative accessories, each hand sculpted and hand painted. Within the collection there are several patterns to choose from, each one unique and different, including Bamboo Songbird, Island Beauty, Southern Splendor, plus many more! We just received a huge shipment of these and all the NEW Fall collections. Come in to explore a porcelain world of intricate beauty.

Pre-Order your pieces to be signed by November 23, and receive a FREE FRANZ Gift! Quantities are limited so order early - you don't want to miss this one!

Holiday Gift Ideas

When Ed and I head out on our buying trips to trade shows in Atlanta, New York, and Las Vegas, we are always searching for new and unique merchandise. Over the past couple years, we have stumbled upon two great gift ideas, from the religious category. We carry a nice selection of religious merchandise, and always try to find items out of the normal realm of figurines and wall decor.

Our first find came several years ago from a company called Roman that specializes in religious giftware. The Christ's Story bracelet, has quickly become our #1 selling item in the store because of its uniqueness and practicality. For $14.99, you can have the story of Christ on your wrist in a beautiful charm bracelet with each bead representing a different part of his life. With the company's success in this bracelet, they have moved into other inspirational and holiday stories including 'The Night Before Christmas,' 'Jingle Bells,' 'Silent Night,' and 'The Nativity Story.' They have also expanded on the original Christ's Story with picture frames and crosses. All of which are available at Designers Center.

We stumbled upon the other great gift idea this past summer, and it has quickly become a hit! Three Kings Gifts comprise the three gifts that were brought to Jesus the night of his birth - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Until now, we have heard the story, but most of us had never seen frankincense and myrrh before. The idea came to chemist who was on a business trip in the middle east and found a vendor selling these two incense. He got thinking and decided to market these as the original gifts of Christmas. Now, this Christmas you can give the same gifts the three kings did.
The Three Kings Gifts come in several sizes great for displaying in your home or presented as a gift.

We'll keep you posted on more unique gift ideas as we get closer to the Holidays. Until then, we are still taking Layaways for Christmas, so come in and reserve your holiday gifts early.

DC green

These days, it seems that everyone is talking about going green. Our fragile environment is on the verge of crisis, and everyone is trying to do their part to pitch in. Our industry though is behind the times - many gift and home furnishing companies still pack their merchandise in non-recyclable Styrofoam and plastic. However, some companies such as Giuseppe Armani figurines and Swarovski crystal, have gone to new types of materials that can be reused as carton packaging or can be compressed to almost 10% of its original size and thrown away. While this packaging is just as safe as regular Styrofoam, it is certainly more expensive. These companies are caught between a rock and a hard place as they try to go green, and that is what we believe is the reason our industry is dragging behind others in terms of environmental responsibility.

At Designers Center, we face the same challenges our suppliers do, and are taking measures to make sure we are becoming a bigger part of the solution, and less a part of the problem. We reuse the cardboard boxes and packing peanuts that get shipped to us to repack new merchandise. We save excess gift wrap to use for wrapping smaller gifts, or as scratch paper. We are in the process of switching all of our light bulbs to energy efficient models, and ensure that no lights are left on when the store is closed. We recycle all of the plastic containers and cans that are consumed at our events. While we are only one store, we are trying to do what we can.

To further this process we are asking customers to return brown cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, and bubble wrap to us for reuse (or recycle them on your own). Just give us a call 650-871-4462, and we can have one of our employees meet you out in the mall parking lot to pick up the materials. Further, we are encouraging customers to use eco bags when they shop with us to reduce the use of plastic bags (we are working on a Designers Center eco bag to roll out in 2009). All the easy little changes that we make can contribute a lot more than we think to reducing overall emissions worldwide. Lets all do our part.

A Vera Bradley Success Story - Plus New Patterns!

Last month, one of the Vera Bradley marketing associates that is based in San Francisco did a presentation at the Vera Bradley headquarters in Ft. Wayne, IN about store merchandising. He featured several stores to show the impact that a Vera Bradley Shop-in-Shop (a mini Vera Bradley store inside a retailer) makes on the overall shopping experience. He used Designers Center as an example, and furthermore was able to show the pictorial history of our Vera Bradley display, before and after adding the Shop-in-Shop. After the event, he was able to share with us the pictures he used to illustrate our success. Here they are . . .

2006 2006
2007
2007
2008
2008

On a Vera Bradley side note, we are excited to introduce the new Resort Collection featuring Mediterranean Blue and Mediterranean White. These limited edition patterns are available for 1 year only, and are available in every bag and accessory. The Mosaic pattern is only available in accessories, and is going to be retired at the end of 2008. We also have a FREE Gift with a $75 Vera Bradley purchase!

New PANDORA Beads

All the new PANDORA Fall 2008 beads have arrived! From a lovable elf to a fun octopus, an alarm clock to keep you on time to a picnic basket full of goodies! This new release of beads has something for everyone. Love is in the air with four new heart charms as well! Stop in to Designers Center to view all the new charms in person.

Do you know that we always do FREE bracelet cleanings for your PANDORA jewelry? We have a fantastic jewelry tumbler that gets your precious metals looking as good as the first day you got them. We love seeing the look on customer's faces when their jewelry comes out of the tumbler! Other household ways to keep your jewelry looking its best during visits to our store can be seen here.

Keep an eye out for information regarding our next PANDORA Trunk Show, October 18! This will be an event not to miss! Lots of prizes and surprises!

Fall for Tinkerbell

As the autumn leaves are getting ready to turn, the Walt Disney Classics Collection brings us a fantastic new piece to ring in the season. Tinkerbell: Blythe Fairy, captures the mischievous beauty of everyone's favorite fairy, all the while sitting on a beautiful Autumn leaf.

This limited edition piece of 2,000 is sold out! What this means is that the distributer, Enesco, does not have any more pieces available to ship to retailers. At Designers Center, we have stocked up on this great seller, but we too are getting low, and almost sold out. The piece retails for $99.99, and quatitites are very limited! Call 650.871.4462 to order!

For some inside information regarding the Walt Disney Classics Collection, view Duckman's Blog. Duckman is a very well educated collector that passes on his knowledge and passion for the WDCC. Give it a read!

Review us on YELP, let us know what you think!

End of an Era

Since the 1930's, M.I. Hummel figurines have dominated the collectible market with porcelain sculptures that have captivated many collectors. At Designers Center, we have been carrying Hummel's for over 20 years, and it has become a staple gift for our customers, particularly at Mother's Day and Christmas. We have watched the line evolve right in front of us as collectors have built, and passed on their collections to future generations.

At the recent gift show at the America's Mart in Atlanta, we received news that the Hummel collection was no longer going to be made. While the news is shocking, collectors will not feel the effects for a while, as Goebel (the makers of Hummel) has loads of backstock to keep the shelves stocked for a while longer. Word is from our sources, however, that the line may still be picked up by another distributor, and production may continue (possibly not in Germany).

At this juncture, we have made a descision to close out our entire Hummel collection. While it was not an easy descision to make, we felt that with the current situation, it would be best to move forward with other lines.

So what does this mean for you??? Well, we are running a SPECIAL on ALL HUMMEL FIGURINES! Your first pices is 25% OFF, while all pieces after that are 50% OFF! Select pieces are instantly discounted to 70% OFF! This sale will be running through the end of September, or while stock remains. Take advantage before they are gone.

PANDORA Trunk Show

This Saturday, September 13 from 1pm-4pm, join us for our PANDORA Trunk Show featuring Mix and Match Earrings!

DESIGN YOUR OWN EARRINGS . . .

. . . And combine them the way you want!

PANDORA jewelry introduces a whole new type of earring that makes it possible to create the exact piece of jewelry that reflects your mood, a special occasion, or the latest trend.

These earrings are fantastic! We have had them on display for a little over two weeks now, and the response has been great! Sterling Silver earring sets (a pair of posts and a pair of charms) start at just $50! And gold sets start at $250! From there, you can keep adding more charms to your posts! They make great gifts, and you always know what to get that special person for their next gift - another set of charms.

Trunk Show Special: Recieve a FREE PAIR OF STERLING SILVER POSTS (a $20 value) with your $75 Mix and Match earring purchase!

We will have FREE PANDORA Door Prizes each hour, meet the PANDORA rep, FREE PANDORA bracelet cleanings, and refreshments all afternoon! For more information or to purchase your Mix and Match earrings, visit our website at www.designerscenter.net.

Welcome

We would like to welcome everyone to our new blog! For those of you that have been shopping with us for many years, we appreciate your loyalty and patronage. As you know, our store has undergone a major facelift in the past couple years - both to the physical look of the store, and to the merchandise inside it. As we move forward, we are taking steps to upgrade our online prescence as well.

Our new Designers Center Blog, will be the new center of information for our store. We will be updating you on new merchandise, events, news, and more. Subscribe to our Blog, and be the first with the latest info. Our blogs will range from highlighting new merchandise, stories about some of the designers, human interest articles, new promotions, contests and more! Have a question or a blog idea? Let us know!

We will be updating our blog on a weekly basis, sometimes more often! So keep checking back! In the meantime, feel free to jump on our website and browse around!