Local Business Wraps Up Fourteenth Year on Main Street in Matawan

When Neelam Khanna, an Aberdeen resident, started going to the flea market in Englishtown with her father as an 11-year-old girl, she had no idea that she would still be working with small gifts today.

At 19, Khanna attended Parsons at The New School for Design and even though she didn't finish there, she began working at a small gift basket business in Red Bank.

"I liked what I was doing there. You get to be creative when you are coordinating the basket and the wrapping; it's sort of girly," Khanna said with a smile.

In 1997, Khanna opened her own gift basket business, called , at 120 Main Street. Her shop specializes in arranged gift baskets but also sells picture frames, cards, figurines and stuffed animals in addition to seasonal items, such as holiday ornaments. The merchandise also changes in sync with the local businesses on Main Street.

Prior to the opening of , Wrapture sold a wider variety of balloons and cards, Khanna said. With up the street, Wrapture has a limited amount of stained glass items. And when a shop that sold crystals was around, Khanna stopped carrying items such as geo crystal bookends.

The ebb and flow of different store fronts on Main Street has effected more than Wrapture's inventory. The closing of stores that were once staples in town, Khanna noted, has decreased the number of customers that walk in while taking care of other errands on Main Street.

"The hardware store used to bring people around and you can definitely tell there's a difference," Khanna said. "It closed in 2005 or 2006. Around the same time, restaurants changed over, that affected business."

"We don't get a lot of foot traffic here in Matawan and we really need more. It has always been an issue, but in the last few years there is less," Khanna said, adding that she wonders if that has to do with the fact that there are so many empty store fronts.

But the trend that is perhaps the saddest, Khanna notes, are the customers who can no longer purchase her baskets because they lost their jobs or have less money to spend on gifts.

"We've been trying to do the [baskets] that are a little less money-wise for people who can't spend as much," Khanna said.

The ups and downs of the economy have been a challenge, with the recent recession slowing business in this family-owned shop. She believes Wrapture has survived the test of time, however, because she provides an uncommon service.

Shoppers know what they will find, and even if the same customer does not come back often, they loyally return for the same holidays, according to Khanna. And whether the customer is new or well-known, she loves hearing the stories behind the baskets.

"I have a lot of really nice customers. When people come in they share stories about why they are sending baskets and the good ones make you feel happy," Khanna said.