WICHITA, Kansas, June 26, 2008 – You see it at just about every major retailer; a store theme to match the season whether it be Christmas, Easter or Halloween. Now comes a store that exists solely to sell the season.

As its name implies; Seasonal Decoration transforms the entire store depending on the time of year.

“The main focus of this store is a general gift store with an emphasis on seasonal product,” said owner Brian Allender.

It takes a huge leap of faith, a great idea, a bunch of sweat equity and some cash to open up a small business. Brian has combined all of that to build his. His biggest fear is that the big box stores will swallow up the small Ma and Pa businesses like his. He encourages everybody to support the unique neighborhood stores so that they can continue to thrive.

Brian's business has thrived for 12 years. A huge part of his success is his ability to predict the next trend.

“Retail is always a guessing game, I mean you never know,” he said.

In spite of his business degree from WSU, Brian didn’t create a business plan.

“I just had an idea and went for it,” he said.

It took about $10,000 to start the business. He currently sells about $250,000 to $300,000 in inventory a year. Christmas is about 1/3 of that revenue. He does some advertising, but most of his business is generated by word of mouth. The next move is to offer his decorating expertise for hire.

Outside decorating is now about 10 to 20 percent of his business and he projects it will become 50 percent in the next year.