Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and for our last few minutes today we're going to do Shop Listener 2022, Episode Two. There were so many of you yesterday who we couldn't get to with so many cool businesses so we'll be doing a couple of more Shop Listener call-ins in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas and the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa shopping seasons as well, which of course are upon us. If you are a listener who owns a business selling things that people might buy as holiday gifts that you want to tell your fellow listeners about, you are invited to give us a call at 212-433 WNYC 212-433-9692 or tweet @BrianLehrer.

For those of you who are new to Shop Listener, who may be confused in thinking, “What is Shop Listener? What does that mean?” It's a spinoff of Shop Local but with a little this radio show spin and this radio station spin. We want to keep in mind that some of you in our listening community do run businesses and wouldn't it be nice to pass along those holiday dollars to a fellow listener. For a small business out there, it's hard these days competing with e-commerce conglomerates like behemoth or whatever that's called and other big box retailers in person not to mention the supply chain issues that are happening too.

If you're on the buying side of the holiday shopping equation, maybe you'll feel better knowing that you're giving your money not to some huge corporation but to someone who's a fellow listener whose voice you might even have heard on our air or at least someone who shares in public radio values or is just part of this listening community. We have a limited amount of space on our caller board but unlimited amount of space online.

We have the 2022 Shop Listener Gift Guide launched on the web based on yesterday's entries. We have tweeted out the link and it's also hyperlinked on the website in connection with this segment. Listeners, you can just go to wnyc.org/shoplistener and you can post what you're selling, find a way to put it on a map and for those of you who are looking to buy things, you can find a match there perhaps too. So wnyc.org/shoplistener but we're going to hear from some more of you and what you're selling as holiday gifts on the phones right after this.

Brian Lehrer on WNYC and now to your Shop Listener free classified ads of the air for people selling holiday gifts who are listeners. Yeliz in Park Slope you're on WNYC. Hi, Yeliz.

Yeliz: Hi Brian.

Brian Lehrer: What you got?

Yeliz: So yes, I'm Yeliz from Park Slope I have a store called Kolonya Carré, which no one can pronounce. It means Cologne Square, Cologne Corner and I am selling [unintelligible 00:03:31] cologne.

Brian Lehrer: You’re selling--

Yeliz: And the product is--

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead I'm sorry. Broke up for just a second but go ahead.

Yeliz: Sorry. The cologne was invented as both hand and body cleanser like a sanitizer in the 18th century. This is the history of the modern perfume actually. This so basically light perfume that you can apply to your hands and body simultaneously because of the alcohol. It kills the germs just like any other hand sanitizer but it's also the perfume.

Brian Lehrer: You have a retail shop, you have a brick and mortar storefront?

Yeliz: Exactly. I have a retail shop on 7th Avenue in Park Slope, 7th and Garfield and you can also order it online from hellokoku.com, which is hello K-O-K-U.com.

Brian Lehrer: Yeliz, thank you very much. Anna I should say in Astoria, you're on WNYC. Hi, Anna.

Anna: Hi, Brian. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. What you got?

Anna: I have a store called Babs Home and Pantry. It's on the corner of Astoria Park and I sell unique home decor and pantry provisions. I have a refillable olive oil and balsamic station where you can bring your own container or I have some that you can fill up there. I feature a lot of local artists’ work and right outside of New York as well, from Beacon and Hudson, et cetera.

Brian Lehrer: Babs Home and Pantry. Thank you Anna. Edmond in Mount Vernon, you're on WNYC. Hi, Edmond.

Edmond: Hi, Brian this is Edmond I'm calling from Mount Vernon New York. My business name is 7 Principles 365 where we celebrate Kwanzaa, living the Kwanzaa principles all year round but of course, particularly Kwanza is coming up and we sell a full array of Kwanzaa essentials. We're an online retailer but this week for the remainder of the week we're in the New Rochelle Holiday Market, booth 17, and so you can come by and see all of our stuff. We'll be at a couple other markets this season. Our website address is 7principles365.com.

Brian Lehrer: I have a question for you. Are there gifts that you sell that are appropriate to specific days of Kwanzaa, like day one, umoja, unity? Are there specific gifts for that and then others for the other principles that line up with the other days?

Edmond: That's very interesting. I do have a wide array of gifts. Some of them do align with some of the days, like I do sell Black History flashcards and that of course would fall deeply under purpose, or kujitegemea, self-determination, and we would find some, that's a great idea.

Brian Lehrer: I don't even want to cut, consider it a donation. Edmond thank you and good luck with that.

Edmond: Oh, thank you Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Maybe we should match you up with Christina Greer who runs a Black History trivia show and you can work with her and the flashcards and maybe you'll have a thing. Edmond thank you very much. Okay, how about Cathryn in Mineola you're on WNYC. Hi, Cathryn.

Cathryn: Hi, Brian. I'm an artist and for this season I've created a coloring book for grownups living outside the lines. It's a series of my portraits and I encourage people to color outside of the lines. It's a great stress buster. It makes a really great gift and you can get it at cathrynmezzo.com. It's Cathryn C-A-T-H-R-Y-N, a little bit different, Mezzo, M-E-Z-Z-O.com.

Brian Lehrer: I'm not quite sure I understand. If it's a coloring book, which traditionally comes with the sketches and you draw inside the lines and it's actually got your art as the outlines, people are supposed to just draw in the margins.

Cathryn: No, no, no. It's black lines on white paper. It's 32-pound paper so it's great for coloring and they can put the color in so I consider it a collaboration.

Brian Lehrer: Got you.

Cathryn: They add the color and it’s just black line art of different portraits of people that I've created with little funny backstories that are also included.

Brian Lehrer: Say your web address again.

Cathryn: It's Cathryn, C-A-T-H-R-Y-N, Mezzo, M as in Mary, E-Z-Z-O.com.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you very much. Good luck with it. Happy Holidays Gene in Asbury Park. You're on WNYC. Hi Gene.

Gene: Hey, good morning. Thanks for doing this.

Brian Lehrer: What you got?

Gene: We have a couple of stores in Asbury Park, New Jersey called Asbury Park Fun House. We do gifts and souvenirs but one of our main focus is a collaboration with artists that do murals here on the boardwalk called the Wooden Walls Project. We sell merchandise based on the murals and 10% of the sale goes to the artist and 10% goes to the mural project.

Brian Lehrer: Nice. Thank you very much. Greetings from Asbury Park to everybody else from Gene in Asbury Park. Kathleen in Eatontown you're on WNYC. Hi, Kathleen.

Kathleen: Hey Brian. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Thank you. What you got?

Kathleen: Oh, I’m sorry. My product is called the Happy Box and the Happy Box is a monthly subscription box for senior citizens. The box is full of interesting gadgets, fascinating information, inspiring words, delicious treats, puzzles and other awesome things and it's sent monthly to senior citizens. It's a way that people could keep in touch and it's a very exciting thing for a senior citizen to receive once month.

Brian Lehrer: You buy a subscription for a year or that kind of thing, right?

Kathleen: Yes, for whatever length of time.

Brian: And it's called Happy Box?

Kathleen: It's called thehappybox.info.

Brian Lehrer: Great. Kathleen, thank you very much. Well, that's all the time we have for your Shop Listener ads on the air today. We're actually going to do a few more of these. These are so much fun just to listen to, aren't they? Because people, not only are they from our listening community, they're selling so many interesting things that you probably never thought about and giving you lots of ideas. Everybody go to wnyc.org/shoplistener, that's if you want to post yours or if you want to just see what folks are selling, wnyc.org/shoplistener and we're going to do a few more call-ins just like this during the holiday season.

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