Last month, Maya Sheinberg completed her first year in business with her Pleasantville-based online retail business Beneboon. The company, which offers high-end gift boxes, was the culmination of a lifelong goal for its creator.
“I wanted to start something of my own,” Sheinberg said. “It was kind of a childhood dream to open a gift shop. But with the trends in retail and the kind of flexibility that I wanted, I decided not to go for a brick and mortar and to open an e-commerce shop. And it”™s been a fun experience.”
Before launching Beneboon, Sheinberg was in the floral industry for eight years. Before that, she was a stay-at-home mother and had previously worked in her family”™s jewelry business in Scarsdale before focusing full-time on raising her family.
With Beneboon, Sheinberg seeks to offer what she dubbed a “modern-day gift basket.” Her offerings range from “A Sweet Start” (a breakfast presentation with buttermilk pancake mix, organic maple syrup, organic whole bean coffee and vanilla shortbread cookies) to “The Club” (an offering of infused ice cube cocktail mixers, playing cards and cocktail tumblers for the shaken-not-stirred gamblers), the “Girl Power” (consisting of a sherpa blanket, hardcover sketchbook, shower cream soaps and a cosmetic case), and the “Clean Shaven” (featuring Lovett Sundries”™ line of pre-shave oil, shaving puck, aftershave tonic, aftershave balm and charcoal soap).
“We have different components and we try to come up with a theme or a general idea and bring different pieces together to make one thoughtful, unified package,” Sheinberg said.
Sheinberg”™s product line ranges in price from $47 to $140, and she is very particular on the items in her line.
“Everything we have is top notch,” she stated. “I have a thing against junk. I don”™t like landfill and I don”™t want to just put things in just for the sake of making something seem complete. We look for items that are made responsibly and are organic or natural, made in small batches by small makers.”
Sheinberg identified her consumer audience as “mostly women, ages 35 to 55.” She recently launched a corporate aspect to Beneboon for business clients who seek to either raise morale internally or enhance external bonds with existing or potential partners.
In her first year of operations, Sheinberg acknowledged “we”™re still building ”” people are getting to know us more, we”™re doing more social media, outreach and advertising, and just trying to get our name out there more.” While much of her clientele base is based in the Westchester and Connecticut markets, she is getting orders from as far away as California.
Looking back on her first year in business, Sheinberg insisted “we”™ve really come a long way from where we started,” and is eager to push forward.
“I always love getting orders from people I know, but it”™s a little more rewarding when you get orders from people you don”™t know,” she said. “I”™m growing a business that started from nothing and there”™s a lot a lot of work to do. There are parts of business that I didn”™t expect would be as challenging as they
are for me. But I”™m just passionate about making it.”
