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Gifts A'La Mode

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By William Gest Friday, 19 December 2008

Although unassuming from the outside, visitors to Gifts a’la Mode are greeted by an assortment of painstakingly designed, floor-to-ceiling displays of everything from art glass to sports memorabilia as they walk through the door.

Pam Maulding and Pete, her husband of 36 years, own and operate the gifts and collectibles store as a true mom-and-pop operation. Maulding puts her interior design degree to good use, designing the maze of intricate displays herself and arranging merchandise according to theme and color.

“I want it to be a fun experience,” she said. “Collecting can be cluttered if it’s not displayed right.”

When Maulding’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and required support, she found she could no longer keep up with the fast-paced world of the insurance business. Drawing on positive experiences working in department stores and her mother’s ceramic store in her youth, Maulding said a retail business was a natural fit. She left her career and opened Gifts a’la Mode in 1999, hoping for a business that would allow her to care for her mother and still make a living.

“I thought this would have a little more flexibility and a lot less mental work,” she said.

But starting an independent gift store came with challenges of its own. Maulding said that high gas prices, a slowing economy and competition with large chain retailers required her to develop an approach emphasizing personal service in order to stay in business. Maulding specializes in finding gifts for stumped shoppers and offers hot cider and cookies to customers during the holiday season.

“I realized the importance of customers having their own little place to feel comfortable in,” she said. “When people come in, I have to be a psychiatrist, helping them shop.”

Maulding also discovered she would have to turn to technology to overcome some of the limits of traditional retailing. That’s where Pete stepped in. A former civil engineer, Pete learned computer programming during his career and put that knowledge to use in creating an online store for Gifts a’la Mode. Maulding said the online store helps blunt the effect of a souring economy, allowing business from long-time customers who have moved away and from stretched shoppers trying to limit their driving.

Pete and Pam, both long-time Austin residents and University of Texas graduates, have seen ups and downs in the local economy before and believe that Austin’s commitment to locally owned stores makes it a great place to do small business. And even when the challenges of small-business ownership start to mount, Maulding remembers not to take herself too seriously.

“I’m a little bit of a nut, or maybe what’s called ‘eccentric’,” she said.