A tisket, a tasket

Driving up and down Crenshaw Boulevard or Western and La Brea  Avenues on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day can be a wonderful adventure  for the convenience shopper, or someone who has waited just a little  too long to get a gift for mom or the love of your life.
That is  because independent entrepreneurs selling baskets of every type, shape  and size crowd the sidewalks hawking their wares.
This street-level  gift basket phenomenon, which is apparently unique to the South Los  Angeles region of city, has continued to grow every year.
While  sitting on the street hoping people will stop by your table may seem to  be a hard way to do business, according to one published figure, the  gift basket business in 2007 was a $3 billion a year industry, which  makes grabbing a small share of the profits well worth the time and  effort spent on the streets.
Although she has sold gift baskets since  1991, street vending is a very new venture for Mahasin Regina Saleem,  who set up a table with a friend.
“This is only the second time I’ve  sold on the street,” said Saleem about her set up at the corner of  Manchester and Western avenues for Valentines. “My gift baskets are  pre-sold and pre-ordered. So I normally don’t have time.”
Instead of  going to the streets, the former buyer with Best Buy, started her gift  basket business with corporate accounts.
“The way I  started was  anybody or any service I went to–the dentist, doctor, whoever–I talked  to them about what I did. I worked with the businesses I patronized,”  recalled Saleem, who said that typically resulted in booking three or  four clients for the holidays.
And while she did well, Saleem said it  was the addition of Mary Kay products to her baskets that really  boosted her sales nearly 75 percent. “I was doing Mary Kay in my spare  time, and traveling with my job. . . I just didn’t automatically think  of it (adding products from the $4 billion direct sales company to her  baskets). But when they saw the Mary Kay product, people would say  ‘ohhh.’ It is such a noticeable brand name, and people were pretty  impressed.”
Combining baskets sales (which represent 25 percent of  her income) with Mary Kay sales enabled Saleem to match and then surpass  her income at Best Buy. This prompted her to take a leave from her job  and pursue her business full time.
In addition to adding Mary Kay,  what has helped Saleem grow her basket business is marketing and  promotion. Her tools include flyers with samples of her work; making  donations to churches and other events which enables her to advertise  the business; and understanding when potential clients might need  baskets such as for promotions, bonuses and for holidays.
She also  prides herself on creating distinctive baskets. “A lot of times when  people think about gifts and bonuses, they want to do something  different, but they don’t have the time and energy to figure it out.”
You gain their attention and often their business, if you approach them  and offer something painless, exciting, nice and simple, pointed out  Saleem.
So the next time you go past the line of basket entrepreneurs  on streets like Crenshaw Boulevard just know that you are passing  participants in a multi-billion dollar industry.