Launching an online retail business has its challenges but it helps when you have a product that resonates with consumers both in traditional and online media.
That’s what Petulia Pugliares has discovered with her new venture, DriveLikeYourKidsLiveHere.com. She launched in May from her Wethersfield home, where she also toils as an independent insurance agent.
DriveLikeYourKidsLiveHere.com sells yard signs, auto decals, baseball caps and key chains that promote responsible driving on local streets. Pugliares has embraced social networking and traditional networking to build her business that was inspired by walks with her dog through her busy neighborhood south of Hartford where she experienced several near misses and witnessed traffic accidents. She posted her first sign in her front yard “and it gravitated from there,” she said.
First Pugliares, 36, started a Facebook page and then created a website. She also pitched her signs at local community events and her hometown newspaper did a story. Eventually, local TV came calling for coverage and that story was broadcast at NBC outlets across the country.
The company sells lawn signs, key chains, baseball hats and bumper stickers. The products have now sold in “18-20 states” by Pugliares’ estimate.
“It’s really picking up speed. Unfortunately the need is there,” she said. “It’s turning into another full-time job because of the demands.”
Pugliares tracks orders to her website from her dining room and does fulfillment with her husband’s help.
She has modest financial goals for her venture. “I hope to have it profitable in about six months. I want to get my money back and keep it going,” said Pugliares who has invested about $10,000 into her business.
There is a desire to take the product line into traditional brick and mortar retailers. Its products are already sold at YMCAs in Central Connecticut. Pugliares would like to partner with toy stores and other venues that sell to parents. The product might also evolve from the plastic signs that cost $9.99 to more substantial and durable metal signs. The Town of Prospect has ordered 50 for posting on speed limit signs.
The ironic element behind Pugliares’ business is she and her husband have no children. “We’re newlyweds,” she said. “We hope to start a family someday.”
Christmas Express
Toys”R”Us, which has locations throughout Connecticut, will operate approximately 600 temporary Toys“R”Us Express stores in malls and shopping centers nationwide during the 2010 Christmas season, effectively doubling its 587 permanent full-size stores in the United States. The openings, which take advantage of a glut of retail space, are expected to add 10,000 jobs for the holiday season. No specific information was provided on the number of jobs that will be created in Connecticut. Express stores will be opened in Plainville, Enfield, Southington, Orange, Torrington, Danbury, Bristol, Vernon, Westbrook, West Hartford and Groton, according to a Toys”R”Us hiring website.
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Restaurant Plans Opening
The Nardelli family is planning the opening of the fifth Nardelli’s Grinder Shoppe at 100 Newtown Road, next to Xpect Discounts, in Danbury. The restaurant will be owned by the Ly-Benitez family, who have worked in the Nardelli stores for the past two years, and is expected to create 10 new jobs. Construction began in mid-August, and the company expects an October opening.
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Honda Dealer On A Roll
Manchester Honda has won Honda’s Presidents Award for the 11th time in 15 years. The announcement was made by John T. Larabee, president and owner of Manchester Honda. The President’s Award is a way for Honda to recognize top-performing dealerships in the areas of training, productivity, customer treatment, management, and quality of facilities. Winning the award this past year puts Manchester Honda in the top 1 percent of all Honda dealers nationally.
