Olive Juice Gifts: A Kaleidoscope of Sorority Colors

Erin Briscoe is one of many young entrepreneurs throughout Oxford who clearly understands her clientele. The owner of Olive Juice Gifts located on South Lamar (just off the Square) offers a wide variety of merchandise, including specialized products for Ole Miss’ growing colony of sororities. In an interview with HottyToddy.com’s Steve Vassallo, Briscoe shares about her “Kaleidoscope of Sorority Colors” gift shop and her busiest seasons of the year. 

HottyToddy.com: Erin, I was pleasantly surprised walking into your store and learning of your 30 percent discount. Does this happen often?

Briscoe: We offer special discounts on our Greek merchandise toward the end of the fall semester… before the students head home for the holidays!

HottyToddy.com: Tell us about the origin of the name….Olive Juice.

Briscoe: When you say “Olive Juice” across the room to someone, it looks like you are saying “I love you” and so, my mother and I have always said “Olive Juice” to one another. We decided it would be a fun name for the gift shop!

HottyToddy.com: You entered the world of retailing at a rather youthful stage. Was this a passion of yours while you were a member of Chi Omega?

Briscoe: Retail, gifts and creativity have always been a passion of mine. I have been involved with several store openings and retail projects since I was about 15. Certainly, going to Ole Miss and majoring in marketing promoted my dream. The opportunity to open a store became available while I was a senior at Ole Miss, living in the Chi Omega house.

HottyToddy.com: I happened to be in Olive Juice to purchase a Christmas gift for a Chi O alum in Memphis. I was taken back when you asked if I wanted this wrapped in the sorority colors.

Briscoe: Yes, we love to gift wrap and want to make sure we wrap your gift in the colors associated with the occasion for giving!

HottyToddy.com: While we’re on this subject, I was fascinated to learn that you can wrap gifts utilizing the ribbon (colors) of each sorority and ship these to parents.

Briscoe: Yes, we want to cater to our parents and students of the university, and one way we do this is by stocking all colors of ribbon and including all 11 of our Ole Miss sororities. We ship nation-wide. We have shipped to almost every single state in the past six years!

HottyToddy.com: For those of us, like me, who are ignorant about the colors associated with the sororities, would you mind tabulating these below?

Briscoe: Chi Omega (red/gold), Tri Delta (royal blue/gold), KKG (dark blue/ light blue), Kappa Delta (Green/white), Alpha Delta Pi (azure blue/white), Phi Mu (PINK!), Delta Gamma (light pink/ light blue), AOPi (red/white), KappaAlphaTheta (Black/gold), PiPhi (wine/light blue). Alpha Phi is the newest Sorority on campus and their colors are (Maroon/Bordeaux and white) – we now stock each and every color to gift wrap all of these gifts accordingly.

HottyToddy.com: Tell our readers a little about your diverse inventory.

Briscoe: We try to have a little bit of everything. From jewelry and art to collegiate and Greek, we want our customers to be able to find the perfect gift that they can enjoy giving to their favorite people!

HottyToddy.com: December apparently is the number one sales month for most retailers. Because Olive Juice is so closely connected to sororities, does this hold true for your business?

Briscoe: While “Rush WEEK” and Bid Day are so much fun and GREAT sales days, our number one month is December! We have our loyal customers, community support and our out-of-town guests to thank for this! When our guests come to town for football season, we have a good amount of them calling back in December to have their Christmas gifts shipped to them!

HottyToddy.com: Do you always gift wrap for free?

Briscoe: Absolutely! This is our gift to our customers year after year!

HottyToddy.com: What are some of the more sought out products during rush week?

Briscoe: Of course, all of the new sorority girls must have everything with their new letters attached to it; therefore, our wide selection of Greek items fly through our the door on Bid Day! We also offer “Good Luck” happies during the week and deliver these to the dorms daily! These gifts include, jewelry, dorm decor, gourmet items and collegiate items.

HottyToddy.com: Describe what it’s like owning and operating your business in the town you graduated from.

Briscoe: Dream come true! Because I was already familiar with Oxford, it helped in knowing our customer base and really lead the way for starting the venture! We will celebrate six full years in April; however, I continue to learn something new every day..!

Steve Vassallo is a HottyToddy.com contributor. Steve writes on Ole Miss athletics, Oxford business, politics and other subjects. He is an Ole Miss grad and former radio announcer for the basketball team. Currently, Steve is a highly successful leader in the real estate business who lives in Oxford with his wife Rosie. You can contact Steve at sovassallo@gmail.com or call him at 985-852-7745.

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