Date: 17 Feb 94 18:49:03 EST
Subject: Gay Store to Open; Gay Cards
From: anon@queernet.org (Anonymous Sender)

Dayton's to Test Market Greeting Cards for Gays By Gail Marks Jarvis, Saint
Paul Pioneer Press, Minn.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 17--If you care enough to send the best, and you're gay ... Daytons
hopes you'll send a Cardthartic.

Dayton's is going to become one of the first major national retailers to
carry a line of greeting cards for gays and friends of gays. It will test
market them beginning in March at two Marshall Field's stores and at the
downtown Minneapolis Dayton's

Chicago-based Cardthartic sells cards under the brand name, "Through Our
Eyes." The one-year-old company hopes to carve a small niche in the $5.3
billion a year greeting card business. It describes its cards as Hallmark-
like, with warm messages rather than the risque sentiments that have
dominated cards sold in gay communities.

Robb Anderson, vice president for Cardthartic, said Wednesday the gay market
"is maturing and settling down. There is more domesticity and relationships."

He said, however, that Cardthartic has been ahead of the trend with its
cards, and is introducing another pioneer in the card business. He calls them
"crossover cards." They are cards a gay man could send to a straight friend
or relative, or that a straight person could send to a gay friend or
relative.

For example, one card pictures a man holding a birthday cake. It says,
"Birthday girl, if I were a straight man, I'd ask you out in a heartbeat. But
if I were a straight man, you'd probably write me off as an insensitive jerk
like all the rest of them."

Another says: "Our relationship is so special because it is not based on sex,
leaving us free to develop a more meaningful relationship.... So, do you want
to go to the mall and scope out the guys?"

The cards are written by two friends: a straight woman and a gay man.
"There's a real natural chemistry between heterosexual women and gay men,"
and Cardthartic intends to capitalize on that, Anderson said. Market research
shows women buy 85 percent to 90 percent of all greeting cards, but in the
gay community men eagerly purchase cards.

Lesbians generally don't buy many greeting cards, but Anderson thinks that's
because they don't find appealing ones. Cardthartic hopes to change the
trend.

Dayton's has agreed to sell about 500 cards initially, or 36 designs, and has
been particularily enthusiastic about the "crossover cards," Anderson said.

"Our buyers are always looking for products that are suitable for our diverse
customer base," Dayton's spokeswoman Molly Maloney said Wednesday. "We have
offered cards for other specific groups including African Americans and
American Indians; they've done well."

Anderson said having Dayton's as a customer will be a breakthrough for his
tiny company. He anticipates success at Dayton's and hopes it will open doors
for Cardthartic at other major retailers.

So far, independent sales representatives have sold Cardthartic cards
primarily to small speciality stores - especially in gay neighborhoods. A few
have raised moral issues with the new product, he said, but he has
encountered little resistance on those grounds. A bigger problem, he said,
has been to get warehouses to handle the cards. He presumes they are
concerned about offending employees.

But for Anderson and Jodee Stevens, the company's other owner, the cards are
not a moral cause. "We are here to fulfill a need and to make money,"
Anderson said.

About 85 percent of the greeting card market is dominated by the three
biggest companies: Hallmark, American Greetings and Gibson. "The majors are
overlooking the niche markets," said Anderson, "and that's what we're going
after."

Tulsa World, Okla., New Business Column By Ellen Averill, Tulsa World, Okla.
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

Feb. 17--GIFTSHOP IN TULSA, OKLA., SERVES GAY AND LESBIAN COMMUNITY:  Tom
Neal has opened TomFoolery, a gift shop for the gay and lesbian community.

The shop, at 1565 S. Sheridan Road, offers a variety of gift items including
pride jewelry, buttons, T-shirts, stickers, rainbow flags, news magazines and
gender-neutral greeting cards.

"To give an example, an anniversary card that implies men and women is not
going to be appropriate for the lesbian and gay community," Neal said.

"If you wanted to get an Advocate magazine, to my knowledge you either
subscribed or you went to a sexually oriented business, which this is not,
and you got it in shrink wrap despite the fact that it's a news magazine."

TomFoolery also sells gift items that would appeal to anyone, like Amazon
rain sticks, locally made candles and other collectibles "you could give to
your mom," Neal said.

"I have really tried to shy away from anything that can be thought of as
erotica," he said. "I mean, I have cards with good-looking men on the cover,
but there's no full frontal nudity.

"I have generic gift items for no particular sexual orientation and that are
carried by other people in town, but I think my prices are better."

Neal has opened a second TomFoolery located in The Alley, 3340 S. Peori Ave.

The Sheridan store is open evenings Wednesday through Sunday. The Alley store
is open evenings Thursday through Sunday.