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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024

It’s All In The Name

Make no mistake Creative Invitations and Balloons is no Party City. It’s not that the Woodland Hills business has anything against the chain. They actually refer customers there. It’s that, unlike Party City, they concentrate on customizing balloons and discount invitations. “Anyone can do balloons,” co-owner Mark Marfiak explained. “We specialize in decorating.” Added partner Patti Knowles, “We have personalized service. Everything is done custom.” Knowles has designed multi-layered invitations in the shape of butterflies. Marfiak has been approached by medical professionals about shaping a balloon as a hypodermic needle, a request he ultimately didn’t fill. Shortly after the New Year, though, Marfiak managed to supply 1,000 balloons in just over three hours for a client. To boot, Creative features musical balloons and balloon bouquets, all armed with a substance called “high float” to ward off deflation. That way, “The balloons are not on the floor in the morning,” Knowles said. As for the non-balloon items, “We can really make anything,” she continued. “We go all the way from doing the invitations to doing the envelopes.” Custom handmade cards, picture frames, leis, lunchboxes, napkins and towels with special imprints can also be found in the store. There are even items for those recovering from substance abuse, such as medallions, necklaces and other accessories to mark milestones. But, “We’re not a jewelry store,” Marfiak stressed. “We just have gifts that are geared towards 12-step recovery.” Most often, Creative services clients putting on bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings. Agoura Hills resident Gail Kagan visited the store while planning her oldest son’s bar mitzvah in 2004. She is now enlisting the services of the business as she plans another son’s bar mitzvah. “The first bar mitzvah was such a success, from the name board to the sign-in board to the decorations,” Kagan said. “Their name really suits them. They’re very creative.” Particularly, Kagan was impressed by how much her son and his friends enjoyed the balloon centerpieces Marfiak made for the event. “He made a beautiful centerpiece that reflected trophies of the different sports,” she said. “All the kids wanted it. It wasn’t like I wasted the money on centerpieces.” Kagan has also used Creative for a surprise birthday party for her husband. “They had balloons on the floor. Balloons on the ceiling,” she recalled. “I keep going back to them.” Kagan first discovered the company in the phonebook after contacting similar stores she decided were too expensive. Creative regularly gives consumers a discount off the retail price of its products. For example, 300 wedding invitations with a retail price of $375 might be sold for $100, Knowles said. Bouquets of seven arranged latex balloons are available for $15. There is also a $55 balloon bouquet, which comes with free delivery. In addition to the prices, Kagan is also impressed by Knowles’ and Marfiak’s dispositions. “They’re very pleasant to work with,” she said. “They’re easygoing. They have great ideas, and they’re not pushy, how other places kind of push their ideas.” Kagan said the two have given her suggestions but have never behaved in a way that implied she had to follow their lead. “A lot of people think, ‘oh, I have to find a party planner,'” Kagan said. “Well, no, you find a place where you feel comfortable.” Kagan, for one, believes that Marfiak and Knowles have come to feel like family. For Winnetka resident Dale Fishman, visiting Creative has become a family affair. That’s because she first found out about the store three years ago from her sister Lynn Ross, a Calabasas resident. Another sister, Sandra Raymer, of Valencia, is also a client. “We’ve gone to them, me and my two sisters, for just about everything,wedding invitations, shower invitations, 21st birthdays, Sweet 16s, a million different things,” Fishman said. Knowles considers it the highest compliment when customers refer loved ones to the store or use the store’s decorations for a series of family-related events. Fishman’s sisters aren’t the only relatives who have become fans of the store. Creative made her daughter-in-law’s baby shower invitations. The invitations had a Noah’s Ark theme because that was the theme chosen for the baby’s nursery. Each invitation featured plastic animals embellished with fur from stuffed animals. To Fishman’s delight, the wording of the invitation also matched the theme. “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Rachel is having a new little guy,” they said. According to Fishman, the invitations for her son’s engagement party and her niece’s baby shower were infused with the same personal touch. That’s because Knowles allows for customer input, Fishman said. “We work on everything together like a team.” An accountant who moved from Las Cruces, N.M., to the Valley five years ago, Knowles had no prior retail experience before buying Creative from its previous owner in 2003. She simply figured that if she adhered to the Golden Rule, customers would be content with the service. She tries to keep in mind the adage that if customers are happy with a company’s service, they will praise it to five others. In contrast, if customers are unhappy with service, they will complain about it to 20 others. “We try to make sure no one comes out of here unhappy,” she said. After relocating to California in 2003 to be with her life partner, Marfiak, who then had recently been laid off from a position in the computer industry, Knowles made a rather abrupt decision to buy the business. At that time, the store had been in existence for six years. “I was looking for a job,” Knowles remembered. This led to her perusing the want ads in the business section of her newspaper. There, she saw that Creative Invitations and Balloons was for sale. That very day, a Friday, she visited the store. By Monday, papers were drawn up to turn the business over to her. Three weeks later, it was officially hers. The previous owner was going in the direction of producing scrapbooks, Marfiak said. However, he and Knowles were keen on custom balloon and invitation decorating. They decided that Knowles would focus on the invitation segment of the business, while Marfiak would concentrate on balloons. While an intuitive approach was adopted for customer service, more practical methods were employed for developing business acumen. “I was constantly going to the Chamber of Commerce,” Knowles recalled. She also took a class about how to advertise on Google, which she believes helped increase Web traffic on the store’s site, www.creativesos.com. Additionally, Knowles joined a networking group of 20 people, advertised in the Yellow Pages and learned the best way to market by consistently questioning customers about what led them to the store a friend, the Yellow Pages or the Internet? “I can do bookkeeping,” Knowles said of her accounting background, “but it didn’t help me. Knowing what to do was all trial and error. Fortune kept us here. We have great customers.” Creative Invitations and Balloons Location: Woodland Hills Year Established: 1997 Revenues in 2005: $120,000 Anticipated Revenue in 2007: $150,000 Employees in 2005: 2 Employees in 2007 2 Driving Force: Offering personalized service with a great attitude and listening to customers.

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