A man by the name of Sir Markadoo illustrates exactly what happens when an ordinary person takes their extraordinary belief – whatever it may be founded upon – and allows it to shape the future by creating an unstoppable will to succeed. Much like the recently-departed Michael Jackson, this company’s founder has been doing things the hard way… by working to provide each and every customer with the highest level of service and satisfaction! In this case, it was back in 1994 when Sir Markadoo decided to buy two dozen T-shirts, and printed religious messages on them. From this one step, his business was launched, and a year later his operation had expanded to a 700 square foot space that held a variety of products including fragrances, body oils and lotions, as well as bath and shower gels. Because of his drive to provide the best products at the best possible prices, the company quickly found itself housed in a 2,500 square foot facility. Today the company is known as Heavenly Body Products International, and it is operating within a 10,000 square foot warehouse in Decatur, Georgia USA. His business is flourishing, and covers both the needs of wholesalers and retailers alike. This – coupled with a strong online presence – has propelled the company to new highs, and shows a great deal of promise to further expand into other markets as well.

As a wholesaler, Heavenly Body Products International has been helping entrepreneurs with their own business dreams, by helping them launch their own small businesses with $100 starter kits of either body products or T-shirts. Sounds simple, because it is simple. In a wholesaler capacity, Heavenly Body Products International helps entrepreneurs launch their own small business with $100 starter kits of either body products or T-shirts. With a company creed that states “We help God’s people prosper,” and Sir Markadoo’s personal belief that helping people make today’s dreams the realities of tomorrow by giving them the tools to work hard for themselves and prosper, there’s a chance for anyone reading this right now to get a business started!

Some important points to consider:

• This is a company that strives to create a long term committed team of employees, each of whom is equally important to the overall success of the organization.
• Delivering excellent service by a friendly, efficient and well-trained staff is the priority.
• Offering a consistent product of high quality and value was the foundation.
• Pursuing success by fostering an entrepreneurial, sales focused culture.
• Aggressively pursuing financial growth and success, making it further evident that customer relationships are still a company’s best friend!
• Operating by the tenet of: “We Help God’s People Prosper!”

Heavenly Body Products International is a family owned business responsive to the needs of their associates and employees.  They are dedicated to providing a positive experience for each of their associates, and believe that every customer should feel cared for and valued.

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Let’s face it, in the middle of this non-recession(?), it pays to have a set of alternatives up your sleeve. I’ve mentioned the rise of opportunities during these economic hard times before, and I’ll say it again: this kind of market presents a lot of chances to service customers who are looking for the best deals, and the most personalized service. While the big box retailers do fine at their job of moving massive amounts of goods, they fail at identifying each customer’s needs on a case-by-case basis. This is where you step in, and make everything right for the frustrated consumer who needs immediate attention! DollarDays offers a whole bunch of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs as well as a quick-install, affordable option to start your own online store.

Here’s some additional highlights:

• This is a company that sells over 25,000 different wholesale goods on its website, and they are very interested in helping you to begin and grow your own business.

• Visitors have a choice between getting set up through their affiliate program, or by allowing the option to stock and sell their own goods.

• While there are hundreds – if not thousands – of sites that sell DollarDays goods, there are also plenty of brick and mortar stores that stock their products as well.

• If you don’t have the space to stock products, DollarDays offers a convenient drop-ship program that allows venders to drop-ship certain products by the piece.

• If you plan on buying a lot of goods from DollarDays, you can enroll in their Platinum Program, which could mean huge savings for you.

Look out for the twitter and facebook links on their site as well, and while you’re at it… make sure you get connected to our pages as well, where you can sign up to receive tweets, feeds, and updates from us about all the ways you’ll continue to Find it. Source it. Profit!

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Talk about quality and credibility! These guys have some of the highest quality diamonds you’ll find at any trade show and the reputation they have with buyers is quite impressive. When stopping bye their booth, you’ll likely see a bunch of people hovering over the millions of dollars of custom inventory talking to Mike Hassid , CEO of American Jewelry Corp, about the incredible selection, service and quality offered.

American Jewelry Corp. is run bye Mike and Bruce Hassid out of Los Angeles, CA in the heart of the diamond district. They have been there for over 10 years and have an established base of jewelry distributors and retailers. Better known for their diamonds, they also carry rare gems, engagement rings, earrings, necklaces and much more. Mike is also willing to custom make a piece or assist with the design on any project.

This Top10 Wholesaler is superstar and you wont be disappointed after your 1st buying experience with these guys.

Happy Wholesaling!

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Have you ever taken a good hard look at a warehouse filled to capacity with… stuff? I have. I remember back in the Winter of 2006, I was working with PANASONIC’s North American Division on some Document Solutions sales projects, and it was never less than a shocking experience to see how the warehouse of one particular dealership was stacked –- nearly to the roof — with junk. We were selling and servicing clients who covered a full spectrum of operations, from SOHO (small/home-based) to enterprise-level… and it simply blew my mind to see what a state of disarray everything was in. Somehow, things got done… but things also got broken, lost, and confused as the orders would come in, and whenever you needed to get your hands on something, the cavernous warehouse defiantly dared you to make an expedition into its inner recesses. I was one of those guys that was gunning for a new warehouse manager ASAP, because I didn’t have the time or energy to figure out how to separate old from new, broken from functional, and treasures from trash.

What’s in your warehouse?

Now it’s the middle of 2009, and we are dealing with an economy that doesn’t know where it wants to be at any particular moment… and customers who are tired of the run-around. Dropshipping is the new industry standard, as wholesalers and even retailers are beginning to see that letting a seller manage the sales, while the manufacturers and distributors can simply route the goods directly to the customer… is a good idea that has finally come to light.

What’s the secret to dropshipping? Is there something you need to know, in order to get in on the action? Not so much, really. There are, however, some steps you might want to take that will give you the advantage when trying to get your operation going in a customer-centric direction, while utilizing dropshipping channels. Here then, is my quick TopTen list of things to know when looking into the dropshipping option:

• Many online wholesale sources are getting keen, and they are improving their interface for ease of use, even for the newbies out there.

• Several of them are also listening more closely, as users report flaws or offer insights… and changes are made accordingly.

• With competition so ferocious, there is an emerging breed of legitimate companies that are going through great lengths to preserve their credibility in their markets.

• A lot of these companies are erasing borders by offering improved services for shipping internationally. There’s about 6 billion people in the world. Some of them should be buying from you, shouldn’t they?

• Membership has its privileges, and many sites are offering some substantial data to their members. Demographic research could be a few clicks away for you.

• Some great customer service is emerging from all of this.

• Efficiency might never be so easy. As this becomes more common, the processes involved will evolve as well.

• Reputation is everything, and many of the sites are quick to showcase their best partners.

• Shipping charges are not your problem any more, in some cases. Competition will make this more common as well.

• You will become more competitive, and your sales will grow as you develop your business over time.

Sounds easy, and maybe even fun. Of course, there are a lot of potential pitfalls out there, and it’s a well-known fact that there are scams aplenty on our beloved Wild, Wild West a.k.a the Internet… but you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t appreciate the allure of being rewarded for taking a chance on a venture, would you? One thing’s certain: I wouldn’t be writing this from all the way out in China, if there weren’t some adventure-seekers out there!

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It might sound funny, but it’s true… wholesale lobster — that venerable stuff of fine-dining menus everywhere — is going for a price that makes hot dogs a more expensive choice for a backyard BBQ this Summer. At the time of this writing, all-beef hot dogs are about a buck more per pound than fresh, live lobster that’s been snared off the coast of Maine!

Now, I have a pretty extensive background in the Food and Beverage business (with an emphasis on Fine Dining) and I can certainly tell you that the smart cookies are the ones who jump all over deals like these. Supply goes up… demand goes down… and prices pull a U-turn as the market reflects the overstock of goods. Not much different from the wholesale business overall, eh? Sometimes there are deals to pick up on, and if you act fast enough, you will walk away with a truckload of stuff for cheap.

All this talk of lobsters can produce some pretty comical imagery… and here’s some more: lobstermen (you know, the guys who snare lob-stuhs for a living) are trying their best to earn a few dollars, and have begun making the daily trip out to coastal towns themselves, in the hopes of selling their catch off on their own, rather than pay the extra costs of getting a broker involved. Who can blame ‘em? With the market prices dipping so low, they are losing money just by doing their job… since overhead costs are pretty high, and a typically higher margin makes up for it most of the time.

I like the spirit of the lobstermen. It reminds me of the enterprising types out there who find a good deal, and then act upon it. Wholesale is becoming more and more like this every day, especially with the economy being in the constant state of flux that it’s in. My only concern is that there tends to be a lowering of standards whenever the producer puts on the distributor-hat, and customers lose sight of this as they try to take advantage of a great price, in a no-holds-barred feeding frenzy.

“Lobster dealers and retailers have responded with a letter to state officials saying the lobstermen are actually making matters worse for themselves and will drive down lobster prices even more.” (WWLP News)

So… the price of lobster plummets, and the quality of lobster drops to unfathomable new lows, and everyone starts seeing grilled hot dogs at A-list venues? No… it’s a vicious cycle, but it’s one that can be avoided. Sellers and retailers, wholesalers and distributors… they are critical to keeping things going, without giving way to the temptations of pushing bad product. While the lobstermen might be the best at catching and harvesting lobsters, they probably aren’t the best at selling them. Frankly, the same is true for any area of industry. Salespeople and brokers are necessary, because we are the ones who are looking out for everyone, including ourselves.

Inspiration and fresh ideas can be found in some of the strangest places, and while the story of the lobstermen of Maine might give you a chuckle, it should also prompt you to do a quick search on the Internet for some trends in the market of your choice, for those hot deals and can’t-miss opportunities. Check out our own toptenwholesale.com to get some leads, and try to open your mind to the possibilities of markets you might not have paid much attention to before. This is 2009, and innovation will determine the success stories of the next decade.

Are you getting hungry yet? I am. All this talk of lobsters and hot dogs makes me want to get some lunch.

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Join our Facebook Fan club today!

Today, we announce the official launch of of our Facebook Fan page for TopTenWholesale.com and JPC INC . We want to see your face there and we want to discuss what’s on our mind with you! Please join us….

Why did we start a fan page? For a few reasons…There is no FUN place where the industry can get together and get to know each other. Buyers need introductions to sellers and sellers need to be acquainted with each other. We are not just some corporate machine only selling advertising….We are powered by people and we believe that having a relationship with our customers, partners, and vendors is important.

Come see what’ going on today at the TopTenWholesale Fan Club.

Happy Wholesaling!

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In this piece, the writer – a fellow Evanstonian (IL) comments on the changing retail in what was once the “Shopping Mecca” of Chicago’s northshore. Epstein takes consolation in the fact that the shopping adventure he once knew as a child can be experienced just a few miles south in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood. A few remarks about an “unpretentious and excellent shoe store,” and a “thrift store loaded with surprising items,” and Epstein speaks the language of the shopper who longs for the “wow factor” that has been missing in today’s corporate big box retail. “The element of unpredictability,” Epstein writes, “of delightful surprise, should be part of the adventure of shopping — an element precluded by the standard stores.”

This is vindication for local businessmen and women like myself (I was then GM for an eclectic group of 4 restaurants that were big players in downtown Evanston) who fought to protect independent retail against an initiative to bring in TIFD-funded big box powers with no real stake in the community back in 1998. Ten years later, not only has speculative risk not worked, but the city fathers scared away entrepreneurs and renaissance retailers in favor of becoming a second rate Lincoln Park (a trendy but over-priced and over-crowded Chicago northside neighborhood).

Going back to the bigger picture, Epstein makes two excellent points as to why independent shopkeepers are critical to our economy and to our society.

“‘England is a nation of shopkeepers,’ remarked Napoleon,…suggesting that…the English, as mere shopkeepers, were unfit to fight the French. Well, we know how the shopkeepers fared at a place called Waterloo. No great surprise, really. Considerable courage and perserverence are required to start and keep a good shop running. Especially is this so today, when real estate rental is expensive, taxes on profits high, and the prospect of being clobbered by a national chain store moving in discourage the initiative needed to open a useful shop.”

For this country to lift itself from the ruins of recession, we need to become a nation of shopkeepers. Self-sufficient people willing to take the risk of opening or acquiring a business can compete with the big boys through better service and sourcing the pleasantly surprising items at even more surprising prices.

The Off Price Show can furnish them with the best deals on a wide selection of quality apparel, accessories, footwear and home & gift. Online vehicles such as OffPriceShow.com, OffPriceshowrooms.com, TopTenWholesale.com, the newly re-designed OffPriceNetwork.com and other JP products can connect indy retailers with suppliers willing to deal in smaller quantities who can also drop-ship anywhere in the world.

Epstein ends his article with a second excellent point, that “Running a good shop is a service to one’s community, of much greater value, in my view, than the work of two hundred social workers, five hundred psychotherapists, and a thousand second-rate poets… A nation of shopkeepers, far from being the put-down Napoleon thought, sounds more and more like an ideal to which a healthy country ought to aspire.”

To this end, I invite all independent and smaller chain retailers to check us out at the show, online and of course, at JP’s sites. Jason, I hope you see this and list your products proudly with some sagely comment. And Jason, I also challenge you and your colleagues, especially at your new property Manufacturer.com, to extend yourselves to the smaller apparel retailers, home & gift shops, general merchandisers, and wholesalers, to take advantage of the online directories and links to vendors so that they can get a “marginal” edge on the competition. Oh wait, you do that already! You know have the Englishman (Daniel Brindley), now help us rebuild this nation of shopkeepers by bridging the gap between excellent values worldwide and THE RIGHT PEOPLE who know how to merchandise them.

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