Unique approach

The Younique Boutique may be hard to spell, but owner and CEO Brina Bujkovsky is betting her customers will remember the name.

The online boutique features "unique, custom-made gifts for special occasions."

The company has set up shop in a 2,500-square-foot industrial gallery space in

The boutique began eight years ago when Bujkovsky was between jobs. A graduate of San Diego State University with a degree in fine arts, she "has been making and selling crafts since the second grade."

With a background in building Web sites and creating e-commerce software, "I was naturally building up to starting my own company," Bujkovsky said.

The first product she offered on her online boutique was custom watercolor paintings. The idea came from Bujkovsky's mother, an artist. Friedman had created a watercolor painting for her daughter and son-in-law as a wedding present.

The idea of personalized gifts grew to include ceramic platters, hand-decorated in colors to match a bride's color scheme, a 50th anniversary in gold or a company's logo for a retirement party. The platters are sent out with a special marker that guests can use to sign their names.

"A traditional guest book would just end up in a closet," Bujkovsky said. "I thought it would be nice to have something you could display that was colorful and had a unique twist."

The platters are now one of the most popular items the boutique sells. British Petroleum is a regular client of The Younique Boutique, buying the platters for retirees.

"We've taken our 20,000th order," Bujkovsky said.

The online boutique also sells photo quilts and pillows, custom cake toppers, ring-bearer pillows and other custom wedding accessories. The gift selection includes suggestions for birthdays, anniversaries and holidays.

"Their business includes so many wonderful hand-painted items and memory treasures that they really have made a great selection available on their Web site," said customer Jennifer Mullane of Encinitas.

Mullane recently bought a photo quilt for her mother's birthday.

"It has 23 photos and is personalized with a message in the center with a larger picture of our boys," she said. "It is absolutely a treasure."

Over the past eight years, the boutique business has accumulated 45,000 customers who receive regular e-mails with discounts, promotions and reminders of upcoming holidays. Bujkovsky said they average 3,000 Internet hits daily.

Even with these numbers, Bujkovsky and her husband, Gus, who is director of operations, were caught off guard by the recession.

"The silver lining of the recession for us was to put our heads together to find new ways to promote ourselves, brand ourselves and market the products in a different way," she said.

One of their solutions was to hire a public-relations consultant who specializes in the gift and bridal industry. The consultant has secured two upcoming television appearances.

One will be "The Martha Stewart Show," with Bujkovsky demonstrating how she makes the guest-book platters. The other appearance will be on "Live! With Regis and Kelly," where Bujkovsky will discuss the custom wedding-cake toppers, hand-sculpted to look like the bride and groom.

Bujkovsky also wants to expand the site's product lines.

"I am always searching for new ideas and new products I haven't heard of," she said.

Artists are attracted to this opportunity because "we handle all the customer service on our end," Bujkovsky said. "All the vendor has to do is fulfill the order and do what they do best."

Wendy Vurik is a freelance writer in Oceanside.

Online: View The Younique Boutique's products at TheYouniqueBoutique.com.