Neo: Classic Gifts

Elena Cala Buscarino 3

Joan and Joyce Zoerb, owners of Neo Gift Gallery, have an uncanny knack for filling their shop at 512 Elmwood Avenue with the most unique and sought after gifts, decorations, apparel, and so much more. In fact, a look inside is almost like a real-time trip through an I Spy book - filled with every little thing you want and some things you may not have even been aware off. When planning a trip there, be prepared to spend some time in Neo.

The key to the wide inventory of unique and beautiful things, according to Joyce, is her twin sister Joan's incredible eye for that which is "special". Twice a year, Joan will spend 5 days at a time at markets in NYC, where she hunts down special pieces, keeps an eye out for knock-off items (she won't buy them), and finds new vendors - those who may not be positioned like the big sellers yet, but who have exciting new offerings. It's treasure she seeks, or at least those things she knows her customers back home will recognize as treasure.

Going back to New York to shop is like going full circle; the sisters went off to the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in Manhattan right after graduating high school and came back home to work at LL Berger's Department Store. At FIT, they learned merchandizing and design; at Berger's, they learned customer service, all of which was a boon, when Joan stepped out of Berger's to start her own store, leaving Joyce to be a buyer at Berger's.

"She was the one with the paycheck," Joan laughs.

The first store was called Habitat, and it was opened in 1983 on Elmwood near Forest. 6 months after setting up the "lifestyles" store, getting signage in place, and ordering cards and print materials, Joan was contacted with a "cease and desist" order by the lawyers of a company in NYC with the same name.

It took about a year to wrap up the naming business, at which point Joyce was already looking at the Allen Street location that would become the home of a newly named store, Neo, for the next two decades, and then some. Opened in 1985, Joyce joined Joan there the next year. It was Joyce who named the store and had a hand in its overall concept.

"It was an exciting time," Joyce says. "We had furniture, and we had artsy types with handmade wares. There was this newness; it was a time of creative thought and expression. It allowed us to have some very exclusive items." It was the customer base that Joan and Joyce (and sometimes baby sister Leslie) built on, back in the day of "yuppies" when there was an influx of new couples moving downtown with no children, disposable incomes, and a will to fill their apartments with the latest and greatest designs from Neo.

Though Joyce says they miss their Allentown shop, they no longer

had need for the large, 5,000 square foot space when they phased out their furniture line.

The new shop on Elmwood (opened in 2007) caters to their loyal customer base, and a whole new generation of shoppers - the children of their original customers.

"We've been blessed with a strong following," Joyce says.

Like two halves of a whole, the sisters have each used their own unique talents to fill the Elmwood shop to brimming with a vast array of gift and personal items in an array of prices from low to high.

There is kitchenware, clothing, jewelry, watches, toiletries, lamps (to die for), hard goods, candles, edibles, a special rack just for men, one for women, one for children, and almost more than one can take in on one visit - not to mention updated seasonal items for every holiday.

As an example of customer loyalty, a pretty woman named Sharon, a constant customer since the old days, comes in and talks client holiday gifts with Joyce (above). After discussing last year's purchases for the same purpose, Joyce makes some suggestions. Here is a teak and pewter salmon board with a silver spreader - paired with a box of salmon, and Sharon thinks this would be perfect. Add in Joan's signature gift wrap, and the presentation of this particular gift holds excitement from presentation, to use, to lasting memory and reuse. "Joan's gift wrapping makes everything special," Joyce says.

Soon, LaQuita Rucker comes in and manages the cash register while Joyce helps customers browse and Joan wraps. LaQuita is a customer from the original store, whom the Zoerbs have "recruited" to work along with them, and one gets the sense that the sisters' penchant for collecting and serving goes beyond inanimate objects; they have made themselves lasting friends to a great part of their following - people like Sharon and LaQuita.

"The big challenge is going forward," Joyce says in her role as a merchandizer. "We need a new direction for our younger audience, for the children of our customers."

After Joyce is done fretting on this new thought, it's likely she'll come up with the perfect solution.

A successful 26-year run in a city that has seen its ups and downs says she can.

On the way out, Joyce presses a goodie on us - a bag of chocolate covered corn flakes from Chow Chocolate.

"You'll eat them on the