Business phone system for gift, novelty and souvenir stores

Gift, novelty and souvenir stores in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 18,896 gift, novelty and souvenir stores in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 453220, Gift, Novelty, and Souvenir Stores). They employed 127,699 people in mid-March and paid $3.3 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 6.8 employees. That is 5.6 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

California has the most (1,962), followed by Texas (1,390), New York (1,302), and Florida (1,299). Relative to population, Hawaii leads with 21.9 per 100,000 residents, and Maryland has the fewest at 4.0.

Why the phone matters for gift, novelty and souvenir stores

Gift shops take calls about stock, holds and gift wrapping, with seasonal peaks. Quick answers help capture holiday sales.

Calls gift, novelty and souvenir stores commonly handle:

• A customer calls to ask about a specific item.
• A customer calls to hold an item.
• A customer calls about shipping a gift.
• The store calls a customer about an order.
• A customer calls about holiday hours.

Texting and after-hours calls

Shops text hold and order-ready notices.

After-hours calls are mostly hours questions.

How big gift, novelty and souvenir stores are

55.8% of U.S. gift, novelty and souvenir stores with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 77.7% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Gift, novelty and souvenir stores by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for gift, novelty and souvenir stores

Census published gift shop counts for 602 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

What a phone system costs a gift shop in the U.S.

The average U.S. gift shop has 6.8 employees, so the comparison uses a 7-person team. Priced per seat, 7 users would run $210.00 a month on RingCentral RingEX Core and $174.65 on Ooma Office Pro (month-to-month list prices, checked September 28, 2026). On Callata the same 7 people cost $139.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $852. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

How Callata works for gift, novelty and souvenir stores

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Existing numbers can be ported at no charge, and team texting turns on after the one-time $49 carrier registration (10DLC) is approved.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.