The Beginning

The concept originated by Daneen and her unique name. As a child she was not able to find personalized item with her name on it. She had been in stores similar to Details Personalized Gifts in larger metro areas. She felt that the Great Grand Forks area needed such a store.

After the Flood of 1997, the entire downtown areas of East Grand Forks (EGF) and Grand Forks were remodeled and marketed as prime retail business areas.

Cabela’s opened as an anchor in downtown EGF just across the river from Grand Forks . They would definitely draw the men to the downtown area, but where would the women go? Daneen’s idea was to offer these women some place to shop while their men were in Cabela’s.

Since 1999, Details has enjoyed its home in EGF, but will soon be making a permanent move to the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks . The current EGF location is the second one. We had to move to make room for all of our gift items. We have about 1300 sq ft with a small office/storage room. The basement is full of piggy banks and ornaments!

I-29 Connection

In 2001 Details spread its wings and opened  cart in the Empire Mall in Sioux Falls , SD (315 miles south on I-29). Personalized Christmas ornaments and slippers were the main items. This was a Christmas season location. Then in 2003 Details expanded into a retail store location at the Empire Mall for the Christmas Season. We expanded our product line to include wooden toys, Personalized music CDs, ornaments and of course piggy banks. 2004 saw the return to a personalized Christmas ornament cart in Sioux Falls and focusing on one item. Then 2005 saw an expansion again. Kevin, Daneen’s husband (Mr. Details) began helping full time with Details. For Christmas we added 2 more sites: Columbia Mall in Grand Forks and Southern Hill Mall in Sioux City , Ia. Details was in 4 states!  The success of the malls has lead us to move to one permanently.

Slow Summers

The Greater Grand Forks area is traditionally slow for retail in the summer months. Not only are the college students ( University of North Dakota ) on break, but everyone else goes to their lake cabins on the weekends. Daneen decided to take the product where the people are. This has developed into a rigorous Arts and Craft Show schedule. Details can be seen in shows anywhere from Northern Minnesota to Southern South Dakota to West Central and Eastern North Dakota. At shows we sell the piggy banks, s’more sticks, ornaments, lap trays and wooden letters primarily. Desiring to be near the people and a lake, Daneen and a partner opened a store in Battle Lake , MN for the summer of 2003. What a learning experience! (Maybe we’ll try it again someday, stay tuned!)

Details in the News

Read the recent news article about Details Personalized Gifts!