Artisans Boutique Gains Assistance from Yale School of Management in Increasing Its Awareness and Visibility in New Haven Area

Non-Profit Store-Front Program Employs People with Visual Impairments

WOODBRIDGE, CT - Artisans Boutique, a non-profit program of Marrakech Inc., which celebrated the grand opening of its new store front location in West Haven this past November, has teamed up with the Yale School of Management (Yale SOM) to further its marketing efforts in the local community. The goal of this four month relationship is to have MBA students from Yale SOM Outreach, a student group that provides pro-bono management advice to New Haven area organizations, develop and implement strategic marketing plans and analysis for the boutique which will assist in improving visibility, increase traffic to the store, and increase the awareness within the local artist community.

In addition to increasing public awareness and visibility, Yale SOM students will develop a pricing strategy for Artisans Boutique to compete in the current market and provide analysis of the current marketing efforts that are already in place for the store.

Artisans Boutique, a year-round boutique, which currently employs 11 workers who are blind or visually impaired to create artisan goods, specializes in hand made jewelry, hand loomed woven scarves, baskets and party favors for all occasions. Each month a local New Haven area artist's work is featured at the store. Sales proceeds from the Artisans Boutique will be reinvested back into the program.

Designed to provide employment opportunity while having employees learn a craft, Artisans Boutique offers instruction on how to hand loom scarves on 5 in-store looms, a process which can take up to several days to complete. The public is invited to watch the hand looming process in action during store hours. Artisans Boutique employees, all of whom have a wide range of visual impairments, use a cash register with voice to complete sales transactions.

"Having students from the Yale School of Management involved with the Artisans Boutique is a unique opportunity for them to gain 'real world' marketing experience in a newly established, non-profit business setting," said Frank McCarthy, Executive Director, Marrakech, Inc. "With additional marketing strategies and business analysis developed by Yale SOM, we are confident that the Artisans program will gain greater visibility and awareness in the local community we serve. We are pleased to be working with Yale SOM in this exciting venture."

"We are extremely excited to get the chance to work with Marrakech to help in the success of this important project for the community," stated Giovanna Masci, Yale School of Management team member involved in the Artisans Boutique Project. "The Yale SOM team involved in the Artisans project looks forward to making a significant contribution in furthering the goals of the program."

Artisans Boutique Location & Store Hours:

250 Captain Thomas Boulevard in West Haven, located in the Savin Rock Plaza.

Monday - Friday from 7:00 am - 3:30 pm. Additional evening hours will be added beginning in February.

About Marrakech:

Marrakech, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that provides a wide range of human services to children & adults throughout Connecticut. Founded in 1971, Marrakech established the first halfway house in Connecticut for women with mental retardation. They have continued developing programs and services which are located throughout the State of Connecticut encompassing support to people with a wide range of disabilities, families with complex needs, youth who are at risk, and people without disabilities who are economically disadvantaged.