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Immediate Release

Contact:
Gene Williams
Natasha's Café & Boutique Ltd.
888 -- 901 8412

http://www.natashascafe.com

Offbeat Shopping: Best of the Web by LookSmart
Global Shopping best picks: London Sunday Times Nov 11, 2001

Buy a pair of earrings from Moscow.
Open your own Café …They’ll tell you how!
Ask the dishwasher the Meaning of Life.

Lexington, Kentucky -- Jan 1, 2001 -- The shopping that people remember and talk about the most in real time are the "finds" and surprises that occur "off the beaten path". The Williams family brings to the web a commercial site with a mixture of quirkiness, style,and information while offering an eclectic array of artifacts, jewelry and coffee from around the world. Modeled after a real life cafe and import boutique in Kentucky, it's a place where Natasha might still answer the phone.

Definitely too weird to franchise.

What Three Customers Said

Your site is simply the best site I've seen. Character, offbeat sense of humor, and style really come through. This is how more sites should be! I especially loved Natasha's singing!
Lisa, San Diego, Ca.

Surfing the web used to be a constant hooray! With so many boring homepages and flat commercial sites, your site is a real gem. Loved the silent chat room and the recipe for a black hole. Thanks for keeping the spirit of the "old web" alive...just a little harder to find these days.
David Spath, Washington D.C.

What an eloquent way to showcase the art and mythology and, well, humanity of so many different cultures! I have thoroughly enjoyed the very well written descriptions about each of these lovely objects, especially the asides concerning the reactions of customers in your store. You really make it apparent that there's more to this web site than selling imports-you're sharing with interested browsers your enthusiasm for beautiful and thoughtful things as well as a solid respect for the crafts people and artists who have created them. Good Luck with everything!
Michael, Gainesville, Fl.

Facts and Details

Growth in Web Sales 1999-2001: 175%
Unique Visitors in December 2001: 60,078
Percent of returned merchandise from web sales: 3% (mail order industry average is 6%)
Natasha’s Café and Boutique LTD. is a Kentucky corporation recently renamed Balagula Ltd.
Address: Natasha’s Café, 112 Esplanade, Lexington, Ky. 40507
Number of employees: 25 including family members
Years in Business: 10
Web site: 6 years old,  270 products
Web site ranking searching Turkish Coffee: Hot Bot #2, Excite #1, Lycos #1, Yahoo #4, Google #1, AltaVista #1

The Williams Family:

Gene, age 51, advertising, web, makes ice tea, mail order fulfillment, makes salads, sweeps.
Natasha, age 45, copywriter, store sales, buyer, accounting, makes bortsch, sweeps.
Gene A, son, age 24, webmaster
Balin-Knut, son, age 19, dishwasher, waiter, takes out the trash, makes salads.

Yesterday’s Special in the Café: Mushroom Stew.
Tables in the Café: 26
Most expensive item in Store: Ben, $12,000, 9-foot ebony fertility statue from Tanzania.
Least expensive item in the Store: Evil eye protectors $1.50, from Brazil.

The customer is not always right.

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