Want personalized items that are made in Wichita? The new Wichita Gift Co. is for you

At the suggestion of many of her Lazerworx Design Studio customers, Tammy Arnott is now opening a sister business: Wichita Gift Co.

“For years people have been telling me I need a gift shop,” Arnott said.

She and her husband, Tim, first operated their laser engraving business out of their Colwich home and sold through Etsy for a decade. They incorporated in 2016, bought a Wichita warehouse and then recently began operating at a second site. Those aren’t open to the public, though.

“We do a lot of drop shipping and internet sales,” Arnott said.

She said she and her husband “really wanted a way to connect with the community.”

The gift shop will be in the Maple Ridge Center at the northeast corner of Maple and Ridge by late this month. A sign in the window says Oct. 26 is the opening, but Arnott said she needs to push it back to Oct. 31.

The shop will sell Lazerworx products and make some engraved items on site.

There will be customized mugs, stainless steel cups and wreaths, personalized wedding and baby items and creative ways to show photos on wood and canvas with all kinds of options, including help for low-resolution photos.

Customers can watch the artisans create smaller items and take home the merchandise immediately. Larger items may take a day or two.

Arnott said the gift shop and two Lazerworx sites will employ 14 full-time workers who will rotate around the businesses. There will be about 15 to 20 seasonal workers. Christmas, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are the biggest times of the year for Lazerworx. Arnott said the business is cyclical, and the gift shop is “something to do to keep them busy year round.”

The store also will sell ready-to-go items that already have engraved words such as mother or grandmother on them.

“We don’t just buy something from China and put it on our shelves,” Arnott said.

Whatever the item, she said shoppers “can get something completely unique that’s manufactured here in town.”

“People love things that are manufactured locally, I believe.”

This story was originally published October 20, 2020 at 2:20 PM.