You’re So Invited! Westwood’s Unique Invitation Store

River Vale residents Sharon Aach and Linda DelSanto came together in September of 2009 to open their own invitation store in Westwood.

“We were both in the business,” DelSanto explained.

“We were doing things that were complimentary and put our two expertises together,” Aach added.

DelSanto worked on calligraphy since she was in high school, and went to college for art, while Aach worked in the invitation business and retail. They combined their talents and created You’re So Invited!

“I like to sell invitations,” Aach said.

“And I like to create them,” DelSanto said.

They do calligraphy and party planning. The store also sells invitations, stationary, retail cards, gifts and an assortment of Vera Bradley.

“There was a niche and there really wasn’t anybody in the area who was carrying it,” Aach said of the Vera Bradley line. “It’s a line that gives you exclusivity. They won’t have another vendor within a certain distance.”

DelSanto said it’s a gift for all ages, from children to adults.

“There philosophy fits our philosophy. They have pride in the products that they produce and they are looking for customer loyalty, and those are the things that are important to us,” Aach said.

You’re So Invited! has a strong customer following, but they also welcome new faces.

“We’ve now started doing baby shower invitations for people we had done wedding invitations for when we opened,” Aach said. “We see the same people all the time, over and over again but we also have a lot of people who are just walking around and see the store. Or they come in because they were told about it by somebody else who said, 'Oh there’s this great store in Westwood, you have to go in there.'”

She said they aim to bring unique invitations and gifts to the people of Westwood.

“People come in and they say they see the same things in every store they walk into,” Aach said. “There are the same stores in every mall and they’re looking for things that are a little bit different that they aren’t seeing everywhere else, so we look for those kinds of things.”

DelSanto said they do a lot of personalized invitations for customers as well. They make different invitations for different customers’ tastes.

The invitation business turns in a decent profit, but invitations are sold more frequently during certain seasons.

“We used to think that it was just March and April because of the spring wedding season, but the last couple of weeks we’ve just been very very busy with weddings – fall weddings,” Aach said.

“It goes through its cycles. We have wedding season, graduation season, barbeque and outdoor party season, you know it goes through cycles,” DelSanto explained.

When invitations are not in season, the two focus on selling gifts. November and December are more gift-oriented because of the holiday season, Aach said.

You’re So Invited! also sells invitations online. Their website has links to all of their invitation books, including pictures of everything they’ve created. Customers can choose calligraphy for their invitations online. The website also has a link to Vera Bradley.

Since the two live in the area, they found an opening on Center Ave. in Westwood to start their store.

“Its close proximity and Westwood’s always been a strong retail downtown, so we felt like this would be the right place for the kind of shop we wanted to open,” Aach said.

Because of their success in the invitation industry, they plan to move to a bigger, better location on Westwood Ave. this August.

“There’s a little bit more exposure down the main street,” DelSant said.

Aach said they have the goal of growing as a business. The two strive to provide high quality customer service and see the same people coming back to their store.

“We don’t have the kind of goals of opening multiple stores. I think wed just like to expand what we’re doing, and that’s why were moving,” Aach said. “Because in order to have more cards, more Vera Bradley, we need to move there.”

Come into You’re So Invited! at 288 Center Ave. or at its new location in August: 260 Westwood Ave.