Go Back to School With Max's!

If you're anything like me, back-to-school season was an exciting time, especially when my mom took me shopping for new clothes and school supplies. The biggest question I had to answer was what pattern I was going to pick for my notebooks...was it going to be the year of flowers, birds or bright colors? Unfortunately, many children today face much bigger and more difficult questions at this time of year, wondering where and how they will find the resources for necessities like backpacks and school supplies.

Richard Moody, founder of IamMoody (www.iammoody.com), a modeling, production, event planning and branding company, and all-around terrific human being, is coordinating Minneapolis Backpacks 4 Kids In Need, a grassroots effort to gather basic school supplies for kids who won’t have any at the start of this school year. Max's wants to help and we hope that you will join in the effort with us. We are donating 100% of the proceeds (pre-tax) of all of our sale chocolates and 5% of the proceeds (pre-tax) from regularly-priced chocolates sold between August 12 - August 30 to Minneapolis Backpacks 4 Kids in Need. I hope that you will be inspired to join us in support of this great cause, as we just don't think it's right for any child to begin the school year without the basic tools necessary for success.

Very Honored

Every year, NICHE magazine presents awards to retailers of American craft. Max's was fortunate to win an award in 2008, and I am honored, thrilled and humbled to be able to announce that we have won a Top Retailer Award again for 2009. The annual Top Retailer Awards program recognizes craft retailers who are committed to fair business practices and to growing and strengthening the North American craft community. “This awards program honors galleries and retailers for their commitment to supporting craft artists and the craft community,” said Wendy Rosen, publisher of NICHE magazine. “It’s not about the biggest sellers or fanciest shops. The ‘Top Retailers’ are often mentors who work hard to build and maintain good relationships with emerging and established artists.”

I have long believed that the relationships one has with its customers, suppliers and employees are critical to the long-term success of the business....ANY business. With that said, it is tremendously rewarding to be recognized within the industry for building and maintaining strong relationships with our artists. Thank you so much to all who recognized this core value from Max's and enabled us to be recognized so publicly for it.

It's Time for Another Trunk Show at Max's!

Yep, that's right. We're just keeping the trunk shows coming this year as we think it's such a fun way to get to see the full collection from a jewelry designer. This weekend, we're welcoming Dana David to Max's. Actually, we're welcoming both jewelry artist Dana Melnick and her business partner/husband David...thus the name of the jewelry line! Dana was a graphic artist prior to becoming a jewelry designer, and she has melded the 2 together with her scribble and graffiti pieces done in 18k gold and sprinkled with diamonds, as well as her icon necklaces and earrings including peace signs, hearts, the sun and moon and daisies finished with pave diamonds. I know that a necklace isn't going to bring about world peace, but I have both the pave peace sign necklace as well as the 18k gold peace sign necklace in my personal collection, and I find myself wearing one or the other many days of the week. Dana has been hard at work at some new designs...come in and take a look! The show is this weekend....Saturday, August 1 from 10am - 6pm and Sunday, August 2 from noon - 5pm. Hope to see you here!

This Quote Makes Me Smile from Ear to Ear!

Many of you who know us here at Max's know that we are huge fans of Vicente Agor...both his gorgeous jewelry as well as the man. We were thrilled to learn of the recent profile of him that San Francisco Magazine did as he so deserves this recognition. I have to say that his quote "life's too short to be mousy" makes me smile inside and out every time I read it or hear it (and I've heard him say this MANY times!). Aside from causing me to have that screeching Road Runner moment in my brain, questioning whether I really want to walk out of the house wearing whatever it is I'm wearing for fear of invoking images of Mickey (maybe Minnie?) in others, it really does speak to a major fashion trend right now. Things have become so casual, it sometimes seems as there's sometimes a blurred line between casual and "blah" (a.k.a., mousey). Don't get me wrong...I'm all for casual and can usually be seen here in the store in jeans, but I do believe that great jewelry can not only make the outfit, but can also change the whole look of something that is otherwise very plain to an outfit that becomes striking in its simplicity and ease.

Ok, so it's not going to go down in history as one of the world's greatest quotes like "Ask not what your country can do for you...." or "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart", but doesn't it make you smile....just a little?

This is So Much More Civilized Than a Paper Cup!

Now I certainly don't have anything against my local coffee shops (how could I...I'm there every day!!!!) but, given a choice, I would much prefer to drink my cuppa joe from one of these pretty hand-blown espresso cups from glass artist Shiloh Hunkapiller. For those of you who have shopped with us for a while, the pattern may look a bit familiar. Shiloh also makes beautiful holiday ornaments as well as candle snuffers (and yes, the candle snuffers will definitely make an appearance again this year at holiday time!...you let us know that we missed the boat by not having them last year!) in this dot pattern and we just love it. In addition to the espresso cups, we also have some port glasses in the same pattern which (I think) make a really beautiful gift....especially for a wedding or an anniversary. If you've been in recently and seen the glass ring stands on the counter, those are from Shiloh too!

We're Getting Ready for This Weekend's Todd Reed Trunk Show!

It's always exciting to see the new things that Todd has been busy creating, and here's a sneak peek at a few of the "pretty pretties"! I'm thrilled that this show will introduce some of his newest creations and I hope that you'll be able to join us to admire this fabulous work. When I first saw Todd's work, I was really drawn to the organic nature of it, and that seems to be the thing that customers react to the most when they see it. I like the mystery of the uncut diamonds, and the subtlety of the natural colored stones. The show is the Friday from 11am - 7pm and Saturday from 10am - 6pm. Of course we carry Todd's work throughout the year, but for 2 days we'll have his full collection. Even if you don't have any intention of buying a diamond this weekend (!), this work is really special and something to see!

Max's Summer Sale Starts Today!

We only do it twice per year. Our semi-annual sale starts today. Come see if that special something that you've been eyeing is one of the items that's been marked down...you could enjoy savings of between 30-80%! Select items only, final sale...you know the drill!