Anyone with a smidgeon of marketing knowledge will tell you
that what you name your business is of critical importance. After all, it’s the very first thing people
see and is the business owner’s opportunity to make a good first
impression.
Take our name, for instance. Webster’s Fine Stationers is what we went with when Scott and I
had to scramble to accommodate his father's request that we keep the original
name. Actually, that name is a misnomer –
since we were just a pass-through department and never a separate store
outright, like the Hallmark or the liquor stores were, we never really had a
name before. Prior to the separation of
the stores, we were just “the stationery department”. So, in our attempt to honor our landlord’s wishes, we kept the
name “Webster’s” and “Stationery”.
Historically, the name implied that we carried office supplies and some
paper, although the Hallmark store next door carried the bulk of “fine” stationery items, like note cards and
scrapbooking supplies. We carried
office products and things that didn’t fall under the auspices of the other
stores.
Now almost five years have passed since we’ve owned our
store, and stationery is just a part of what we are. We’ve become known as “WFS” and it's been our identifier. Keeping the “WFS” is
important in our attempt to re-brand, although it now stands for Webster’s Fair
and Sustainable. “Fair” for the fair
trade products we have (and hope to bring in more of) and “Sustainable” for the
US and locally made items we make a priority to stock. “Sustainable” also for the ecologically
responsible merchandise you can find here, as well as for the myriad locally
produced art, books, and yes, stationery that we carry.
Stay tuned to learn just what where we’ll be going with our “new”
name and what we’ll be doing in the future – we’ll have more next week.
Have a wonderful week ahead, friends!
4 comments:
What an interesting bit of history. I always liked "Webster's Fine Stationers," because it has such a Victorian ring to it. But I think you're right about the re branding -- you're certainly much more than an office supply or Hallmark store. You're the best place to find books by local authors, inventive gifts, regional artwork. The site of poetry readings, wine tastings, gourmet food trucks. Wonder how you get all that in a name...
Thank you for dropping by, AH, and you're right - it's hard to fit all that into a name.
I hadn't realized the FS had a new meaning to it. And Karin's right--hard to get all of that into a pithy name!
Pithy is my problem, Petrea. I should probably just leave well enough alone but wanted to broaden our horizons a bit, since we do so much more than stationery. Good discussion here, thanks to both you and Karin!
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