Maggie Vincent's love for retail sales began with the lemonade stands she had as a kid. Now the experienced entrepreneur and owner of
Maggie's Gourmet Food & Gifts on 4851 Harvey St. has set up a petite boutique in downtown Muskegon's historic
Century Club Retail Center, 356 W. Western Ave.
"I have been in business with Maggie's Gourmet Food and Gifts for over 15 years, and we're known for having the largest selection of Michigan-made products under one roof," says Vincent with pride. "Since I was a child, I wanted to own my own store, and my parents always said if you can dream it you can achieve it. I started selling small items in lots of (other) stores and decided, why not put it in my own store instead? That's when I realized I didn't have many Michigan-made items and decided to add them."
Maggie's offers a wide selection of products in the stores and online, plus the shop puts together top-notch custom gift baskets for shipping or local delivery.
Products include spices, preserves, salsas, chips, soaps, lotions, hot chocolates, coffees, dried cherries, dried fruits, chocolates, candies, and Michigan beers and wines.
Although not all the products are made in Michigan (like the cheeses, for example, which are made in Wisconsin because Vincent can't find a shelf-stable cheese that's made in-state), Vincent works hard to bring the Michigan products to the fore.
Vincent says some of the most popular gift items she offers are personalized photo gifts produced in-house. Customers bring in a favorite photo, logo, or sketch and the store will put it on water bottles, mugs, glasses, cutting boards, shirts and other merchandise to create a one-of-a-kind gift.
The Century Club shop offers a selection of the most popular items sold at the Harvey St. store. The store is a small part of the larger Century Club Retail Center of small, locally owned shops.
Writer: Deborah Johnson Wood, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Maggie's Gourmet Food & Gifts and Century Club Retail Center
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