Cindy’s Floral Design visit store
What it is: Silk flower arrangements, pre-designed as well as custom
Founder: Cindy Calvert
Date founded: 1992
Location: Fremont, CA
Types of products sold on Storenvy: Floral design and gifts

Storenvy: Give us some history on you and your business. How did you get into floral arranging?

Cindy Calvert: Flowers have always been my passion. Outdoors in the garden and indoors with silks.

5 Herb Pot Collection, $25

SE: What inspired you to start Cindy’s Floral Design?

CC: To make beautiful designs at very affordable prices.

SE: What makes your arrangements special?

CC: Top-of-the-line products and creativity.

SE: What is your favorite product from your store?

CC: Themed wreathes are my favorite products to create. You can use them for any occasion and they make wonderful gifts!

Cottage Wreath, $42

SE: What’s your favorite thing about Storenvy?

CC: Beautiful layout, quick setup and rapid deployment. It gives me the opportunity to expand the reach of my business and grow my customer base.

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Shake & Shout Shades visit store
What it is: Trendy sunglasses that don’t break the bank! $12-$14 a pair, plus free shipping
Founder: Robb Evancoe
Date founded: Early 2009
Location: Maryland is our home base but we operate all over the U.S.
Websites: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Ctl Alt Dream (sister brand)
Types of products sold on Storenvy: Sunglasses, pins and many more things to come!

Storenvy: “All we want to talk about is partying and fashion!” = Best store description ever! But what else is there to know about you? Give us the bio: Who are you, do you have a team, what is your background?

Robb Evancoe: There is a lot to know about me (Robb) and my team. The company was created based on a super positive and fun vibe. We absolutely LOVE making friends, whether that be a customer or not. We truly value every single sale and treat each one as if it were a million dollar purchase! That’s why we include fun little gifts, pictures and notes with every order and try to exceed all expectations that our customers may have. Yes, I have a team. I work with a lot of different people (sales reps, photographers, street teams) all over the U.S.!

Turbo Dance, $14

SE: Do you have a day job? If so, what?

RE: I used to have a gaggle of different jobs, but now I am 110% SHAKE AND SHOUT!

SE: What inspired you to start Shake & Shout?

RE: I really wanted to start something other than “just another clothing company” and I wanted to start something that was super fun and people were excited to be a part of. We literally have fun 24/7 and take pride in meeting all of our customers/fans/friends.

Snake Skins, $14

Promo code and more after the jump! Read more »

Polar Bear Nation
What it is: An apparel company dedicated to saving polar bears and fighting climate change
Founders: Connor, Emma and Hayley Gilbert (Editor’s note: They’re 17-year-old triplets!)
Date founded: October 2007
Location: Annapolis, MD
Websites: PolarBearNation.com, PolarBearNation.org, StandUpForEarth.com, Facebook, Twitter
Store: polarbearnation.storenvy.com
Types of products on Storenvy: T-shirts, sweatpants, fleece jackets

Storenvy: You and your sisters founded Polar Bear Nation when you were 15 — wow! What inspired you? What is the company all about?

Connor Gilbert: We’re young people, and we’re deeply concerned about what the future holds for our planet and our society. We were moved by reports from the Arctic that even polar bears — literally 1000+ lb animals, “kings” of their ecosystem — are dying, and are in fact now listed a Threatened species. In the next fifty years, it’s predicted that we could lose up to 2/3 of the current bear population due to the loss of Arctic sea ice, and the resulting shorter hunting season.

So, with that sort of situation, we knew that we couldn’t just sit back and let it happen; we wanted to raise public awareness of this dire problem, and we wanted to target a group often ignored by bigger organizations: teens and young adults. Thinking about that, we considered the ways to get attention among that type of people, and the first idea we came up with was through clothing. Who doesn’t like a great shirt that shows what they believe in? And, whenever someone buys a shirt or other item, we give them a card (printed on recycled paper of course!) directing them to our action site, PolarBearNation.org, helping them continue to get involved in the climate fight.

We donate 50% of our profits to Polar Bears International, but what we don’t donate goes to building up the Polar Bear Nation.

Watch Connor and Hayley on CNN’s “Young People Who Rock”

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Cavashawn
Albums: Cavashawn EP (Black) (March 2008)
Cavashawn EP (White) (Released today! June 2009)
Genre: Rock/Pop
Location: Chicago, IL
Websites: Cavashawn.com, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Blog
Store: cavashawn.storenvy.com
Products sold at Storenvy: CDs, posters, tees, hoodies, totes
Products printed by Storenvy: All of the above

Storenvy: You’re releasing your second EP today, congratulations! Tell us a little about the band. What is your background? What led you to where you are today?

Jesse Feister: We met in high school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and have been playing together in various forms ever since. We went to school together at Miami University of Ohio. We moved from our college town of Oxford, Ohio, to Chicago two years ago and started Cavashawn. We share a common love of the Beatles, Mario Kart for game cube and the Midwest. I think the combination of the three has been what keeps us together.

I play drums, Scott Salmon sings and writes, Chris Hellmann plays guitar and Benton Kubicki plays bass.

SE: Could you give us a taste of the new EP?

JF: How about our music video? It was recently a MySpace music video of the day.

Cavashawn - Keep The Light On

SE: You’ve become a pretty big deal in your hometown of Chicago, and you’ve been selected as an “Emerging Artist” by Summerfest and a Top Unsigned Artist by MySpace. Tell us about your fans, and how you got so popular!

JF: After we moved to Chicago we recorded our first EP with a local producer and hit the streets, really focusing on trying to reach out to people who were already die-hard music fans. We focused on four cities in the Midwest –- Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee. We put up a ton of posters and handed out fliers at almost every local show, practiced our butts off and put a lot of time building a fan-base on the Internet. Eventually the word just kind of got out. We started drawing more and more people at our shows, and the local press and scene started to pay attention.

A fan-uploaded pic from the band’s Facebook page

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Obviously, we have a lot of excellent stores at Storenvy. But none combine saving money, social networking and lots of pink as awesomely as SmartyPig does.

In the past week, both Forbes.com and NewsDay.com have featured SmartyPig as an example of successful online money management in a tough economy. “SmartyPig was formed on the hunch people want a way to save cash for purchases they may have previously put on a credit card,” the Forbes article says.

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, SmartyPig is an “online piggy bank” that allows you to set savings goals — you list what you’re saving for, how much it costs and by when you want to be able to pay for it. The system then suggests a monthly deposit amount from your checking or savings account, which it administers automatically. Friends and family can also contribute to your fund online. Before you know it, you’re packing your bags for the Bahamas!

I first used my SmartyPig account to save for a MacBook — at Christmastime, I asked friends and family to contribute to the fund online — and I’m now saving for a vacation. (No specifics… just A vacation!)

We’re honored to be SmartyPig’s choice for custom apparel printing and an online store. They sell men’s, women’s and kid’s tees, unisex long-sleeved tees and onesies for babies, all printed on American Apparel.

And did we mention that your SmartPig accounts earn 3.25% interest?! Keep in mind as you’re setting up your account that it is a bona fide savings account, so for security reasons they require lots of personal information, online signature equivalents, etc.

Join the SmartyPig community on the SmartyPig blog, Twitter and Facebook.

A week and a day before the big inauguration, the Obama-Self store’s two tee designs are 65% off!

And how did I, a completely average online shopper (ha) figure that out? As I was browsing the Storenvy Store Directory page, there it was. AVATAR ADVERTISING.

Those sassy Obama-Self store owners know how to catch a shopper’s eye. Like Scott said, choosing an avatar that’s right for your store can help make the sale.

About the store: “Whether you voted for OBAMA or MCCAIN, we can all agree this has been one of the most entertaining Presidential Elections of recent memory. And what better time to commemorate this historic election? With what, you ask? Commemorative Porcelain Plates or Presidential Gold Coins? MERE RUBBISH! Nothing quite captures the Luxury and Sophistication of American History better than a ‘classy’ T-SHIRT!”