Meet Stephen Thomas of A Gentleman’s Trove in Midtown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephen Thomas.

Stephen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I had recently finished my MBA at Clark Atlanta University when I first came up with the idea. My best friend and I were working on a short-lived blog focused on “cool stuff” for men. It was around Christmas time when I was telling my mother (who used to make gift baskets on the side) about how all of my female friends and colleagues were asking me “what should I get that special guy Christmas?” A lot of them had no clue what to get, because men don’t communicate what they want. And that’s when the light bulb went off. The idea for a men’s gift basket company was born. After two years of saving money, going through several design concepts, and getting suppliers to buy into my concept, A Gentleman’s Trove was launched in April 2016. Today we’re continuing to add our product portfolio, as well as grow our business partnerships.

Has it been a smooth road?
I’m not sure if anyone in the retail industry can honestly say it’s been a smooth road. Our biggest challenge lies in communicating the quality and value of our gifts to customer who essentially doesn’t actually use the product. 90% of our customers are women buying for men. So, with every box that we put together, not only do we have to make it a great gift for the man, we also have to factor in whether it will capture the woman’s attention. We concentrate on only providing quality products, because men value quality over everything in their products. So, when we put our boxes together, we only work with quality suppliers who care about their brand as much as we do. Before we even launched, we ran into the challenge of getting suppliers on board. No one knew who we were, or what we were about. So, initially we got a lot of no’s and no replies suppliers. We had to earn credibility before we were able to land some of our suppliers. So, we have to continue to communicate quality to customers and partners alike.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the A Gentleman’s Trove story. Tell us more about the business.
A Gentleman’s Trove is the premier choice in gifts for the modern man. We specialize in providing quality, themed gift boxes for men. But we don’t just aim to look out for the guys. We also aim to create an easy shopping experience for the shopper as well. Most people who have had to buy presents for men would acknowledge that it can be quite challenging to find a great gift for guys, so they end up purchasing the same old, clichéd presents which most men are also understandably sick and tired of receiving. Ties, belts, and socks are old, and nothing screams last minute more than a gift card. Our goal is to bring you a themed collection of quality products that are relevant to a man’s hobby or lifestyle.

What sets us apart is our emphasis on quality. Giving a thoughtful gift is great, but that gift is just going to collect dust if it’s not quality. Rather than focus on making outrageous margins with a bunch of filler items, our focus is on making your gift buying experience as simple as possible, while providing quality, unique gifts that a man would appreciate. We would rather provide 4-6 useful, quality items, than 8-10 items that he may never use. We put a lot of time into the process of curating our boxes. We only select suppliers whose focus is putting out quality products. We try each and every product ourselves, get expert opinions, as well as those of the average consumer. In other words, we do all of the hard work for you. Our commitment to quality is definitely what I am most proud of.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
There is definitely a shift in adding greater deal of customization. We’re in the age where the buyers are gaining more and more control on what they choose to purchase, and I could see that reaching new levels in the next few years. I also see more of an emphasis on user experience. Whoever can successfully bring together a fast, seamless experience that allows for a level of customization will be in a very good position.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.Gentlemanstrove.com
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @Gentlemanstrove
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gentlemanstrove
• Twitter: @Gentlemanstrove

Image Credit:
Shawn Shepard – Triple S Shots
Kelley Raye – Kelly Raye Photography

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