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(Right) Moon Mippy employee Annie Haralson (left) helps customer Denise Bowden select a card style at the boutique.

Shoppers won't find a MoonPie at Moon Mippy. But if the need is to get a shout-out for a party, that's a can-do for Moon Mippy, aka Missy rindler.

For nine years, Rindler has been selling customized greeting cards on the Northwest Side. Announcing happy events of all kinds is her specialty.

Some events are just an excuse to party — an invite to a stadium box at a ballgame, a Las Vegas night happening, or a house-warming get-together at the Joneses' new domicile.

Then there are the traditional occasions — birthdays and anniversaries, bar and bat mitzvahs, graduations and weddings.

Most of Rindler's customers find the place by word of mouth, but Kishone Carr looked up "stationery" in the phone book. An evacuee from New Orleans, Carr needed to order invitations for her wedding.

"It's nice here," Carr said of the shop, adding that she found the ordering process simple and the goods reasona- bly priced.

Moon Mippy's boutique at Huebner Oaks Shopping center approached $1 million in sales for 2005 and is projected to surpass that this year. The shop had a banner holiday season, and Rindler will be launching an online store this spring.

Selling greeting cards is big-time competitive. The Greeting Card Association estimates that 7 billion cards are sold each year through about 100,000 retail outlets nation-wide. It's a $7.5 billion-a-year industry in this country and is divided among more than 3,000 publishers.

The majority of card publishers are small businesses that claim annual sales of less than $1 million, said Mila Albertson, an association spokeswoman. But they rarely run their own retail shop.

"Most are selling through representatives in lots of stores," Albertson said.

Rindler picked Huebner Oaks for its upscale walk-by traffic. Many of the early clients were from her home business; they got her through the first year in retail.

Rindler tries to give the store a cozy feel. It's filled with warm-colored items,leather handbags, bright red candy, flower-shaped greeting cards.

"I try to pick up items you wouldn't find just anywhere," said Rindler, who travels to wholesale markets three times a year.

"It's my favorite place for gifts," said Charissa Franz, a pharmaceutical saleswoman who has been dropping in since Moon Mippy opened. "Stationery makeup bags, monogrammed everything. What keeps me coming back is the variety and the service."

Rindler said her sales grew at an annual rate of about 20 percent the past three years, which she credits to good location, smart staffing and great customer service.

"When you're competing with the big boxes, with their power buying and advertising budgets, what sets you apart is old-fashioned service," Rindler said."It's not unusual for our customers to be greeted on a first-name basis."

The entire shop, including the back room, is barely 1,000 square feet. Yet Rindler keeps a staff of six because she insists clients get one-on-one service. And it's available for a woman who is buying one box or a secretary buying 6,000 cards for her company's Christmas season.

Rindler, 39, wasn't formally schooled in business. She left the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in special education and a weird nickname.

"A friend of my husband used to call me that," Rindler said, explaining the origin of a mis-pronunciation of "Missy" with
"Moon" added for alliterative effect. "It's a great conversation starter."

There was a 4/2-year interlude between college and Moon Mippy the shop, when Rindler did teach. She quit to stay home with her children.

Customizing cards started as a home-based hobby and that's where it stayed for five years. She held holiday shows once a year, showing and selling her creations to friends and family

Bekah Pettijohn, the store manager, said she joined Rindler thinking this "was just a job." Pettijohn, 23, is finishing her education degree but has surprised herself. She doesn't intend to teach anytime soon.

Pettijohn fell in love with the atmosphere. She is a part of her clients' special occasions. In a way every day is a party

"We have a lot of customers that just wander in on their way to La Madeleine," Pettijohn said, referring to the comer bistro.
Mimicking one, she exhales the words of the hurried: "I'm meeting a friend for lunch in 15 minutes and I need a gift!"

"At this point," Pettijohn said, "this is where I want to be."

apesquera@express-news.net

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