New gift shop opens in Rainy River and cyberspace

By Ken Johnston
Editor

It could very well be Rainy River’s first vastly e-commerce oriented business.
VMG Gifts has a physical address, which it is sharing with Good Computer Service, at 602 Government Road in Rainy River, but for the most part the majority of the business will be done on line.
Vern and Martha Good were looking for a business opportunity that they could do from just about anywhere and VMG Gifts sounded like a great idea.
They started toying with the idea in February while in Branson, Missouri. They found a company that offers over 3,000 products and looked into it. Now VMG has its own website (www.vmggifts.com) and an ebay store.
The products range from touristy type gifts to bath and beauty products. Candles, toys, figurines, birdhouses, Harley Davidson promo products (like coffee mugs) also are popular items available. There are also seasonal items. “Every holiday they have a package of seasonal items such as decorations,” said Martha.
While they hope the on line side of things is very popular, they also hope that tourists visiting Rainy River will stop and see what they have to offer. They have quite a bit of inventory on hand and what they don’t have in stock they can order from their catalogue with about a two week delivery time. US tourists can even have the items shipped directly to their home. Local needs will see the items shipped directly to VMG for pick up.
Vern retired from Canada Customs last May and has operated Good Computer Services for a number of years. However, when he started the computer business he was building and selling computers. He said that sales of computers have been waning as people can buy them cheaper elsewhere than he can build them for. However, the servicing of computers has been steady and in fact growing over the past several years. So with Vern having more time in retirement and the sales side of the computer business dropping they decided they should try something else.
They feel their prices are very reasonable and noted that while their catalogue prices are in US dollars they are planning to sell items at par while the Canadian dollar is strong.
“I really like the idea of having access to a tremendous variety of items without having to stock it all,” said Vern. While they are hopeful the on line business will take off they note that they are trying all angles. If the physical address business is very busy they will grow that side of the business as well.
They have taken several training sessions from their supplier and have had several orders to date. They are running a grand opening special until this Friday. With every on line order they are also giving customers a free $10 gift card to be spent the next time they shop at VMG on line. It is sort of like Canadian Tire money, and Vern thinks it will work just as well.
The web business is open 24/7 and the physical address is open Monday to Saturday during normal business hours. Martha said they are also willing to do home parties.