~Miracle At Material Girl~

This year the Material Girl family has adopted a family in need through the Salvation Army to make their holiday a lot brighter. In an effort to give the Sanchez family the best possible Christmas and to put smiles on their 5 children's faces, we're asking all of the Material Girl family to participate. As the owners, our incentive to you is for every item you bring in from the below list or anything else you come up with, we'll give you a 25% off discount on one regular price item. We know you are already buying holiday gifts this year, so this is our way to help you maximize your purchases and benefit a family in need, without spending any more money. Please email me personally with any questions about this worthwhile project. Thank you in advance and happy holidays!



With appreciation,

Scott & Erica Moller, Owners platinum@materialgirlinc.com



• 3 tickets to a Creighton basketball game, including food and drink

• iPod Nano

• Nintendo DS games - appropriate for ages 8-14 both male and female

• Groovy Girls dolls and accessories

• Barbies and accessories

• Young girl’s clothing - sizes 12-16 (the girls ages are 12 & 14)

• Winter hats and gloves for girls and boys - ages 8-14

• Kid’s Winter pajamas/Winter clothing - Girl’s size 12-16 (m-l), Boy’s size Medium

• Shirts for young adult male - size large

• Oklahoma Sooners football winter jacket for 8 year old boy

• Family board games

• Family DVD’s

• JC Penney gift cards - The family enjoys shopping at JC Penney’s

• Movie theatre gift card for the family to attend a movie

• Meal gift certificates - Anything from McDonalds to Applebees

• Household items including: toilet paper, paper towels, kleenex, laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent, multi-surface cleaner, toilet cleaner

**Everything must be new and in original packaging or with tags on and unwrapped**



Material Girl is also accepting monetary donations to go toward a grocery gift card and gas gift card.

Learning and Un-Learning

So. . .many times in life, there is not a book that tells you how to deal with a situation - your first kiss, what to tell a cop the first time you get pulled over, the first time your first child pees on the carpet because you thought it was cute and hilarious to run around without a diaper, or when you lose a friend your age unexpectedly.

This past week, unfortunately, the latter happened to me and naturally you take time to reflect and at times, your life truly passes before your eyes. You are reminded about what is important in life, well, what is important to you personally, not necessarily what is important to others. That is what you aren't taught - that what means the most to you doesn't necessarily translate to everyone else. This leaves you to deal with your loss in your way. Through the tears, reminiscing over past stories, laughing with friends, I realized a lot of the things I have learned in life but also what I need to un-learn...so often we get into a mode of I have to do this and I have to do that without realizing what is passing before us. I'll do it tomorrow, right?

One of those things that I've always valued but have gotten away from as of late is to do more for others, protect those who can't protect themselves. There is a tattoo on my back shoulder that means, "strength protecting innocence", it's of a lion holding a rose. Translation - help those who are more fragile, help those who truly need it...protect them when they need it most.

This holiday season, the Material Girl family has adopted a family who has come upon troubled times this year and it has given me great joy to know that the sacrifices we'll make for this to happen will bring significant more value to the family we are helping -a family with 5 kids and a dad who just lost his job - hoping to give them a Christmas that will put smiles on their faces. With the hard work of our staff and additional generosity of our customers, this will be a special holiday for all of us and for those involved and more importantly for the Sanchez family.

I dedicate this post to my friend Neal because I can tell you he would definitely say it's okay for my son to pee on the carpet and run around naked - partly because Neal would want to run around naked too but that noone would want to see that so he has to live the moment through my son but mainly because the joy of a baby running around naked is one of the little joys in life that makes everyone smile and laugh and we never know when those times will run out. Please un-learn one thing in honor of Neal that you wish you would have done but keep telling yourself you will do it tomorrow...and please enjoy your loved ones just a little bit more this holiday season.

All Things Kate: Paper or Plastic?

Hello all! We have been a bit MIA as of lately, but there are lots of exciting things going on at Material Girl!

Our second location is now open! It is located at 3309 Oakview Drive, which is just East of Oakview Mall between Jimmy John's and Verizon Wireless. We are happy to now have two convenient locations for our customers to shop. To celebrate our grand opening we are offering 25% off all regular price items, plus lots of other great deals! The celebration lasts until Sunday Nov. 15th. Of course, our second location would not be possible without you, our wonderful customers. Thank you for supporting Material Girl!

Now, I will let you know about my new favorite item at Material Girl. The Envirosax. These are the perfect companion for those of you who want to use reusable sacks, but always end up leaving them at home, like me! These convenient little bags just roll up and fit perfectly in your purse. Then when you get to the store you have your bags with you and no longer do you have to deal with the 18 plastic bags you end up with in one visit to the store!

They make great gifts and are available in lots of fun prints and colors! Say goodbye to plastic bags forever!

Hope everyone is enjoying their week!

All Things Kate :Hey Good Lookin'

I don't know if any of you are like me, but when I head out to Target on a Saturday or Sunday morning the last thing I am worried about (usually) is whether or not my hair looks good or my make-up is on or if my outfit even matches. Sometimes it just seems like a lot of work on a weekend! Stay with me, I will be making a point....


So, the other day one of our wonderful customers was in the store and made a statement that I definitely agreed with. She told me, even if you are totally scrubbed out in sweats, hat and no make-up a great looking handbag is totally going to make up for it! At this point I wanted to yell out an "AMEN SISTER" and give her a high five, but I controlled myself. All day long I kept thinking about how right she was and vowed to hold my head high with my sweats on, messy hair and make-upless face because I am carrying a good lookin' handbag! :)


I don't think this philosophy only applies to handbags either. It could be a certain necklace, a pair of earrings or maybe your favorite scarf that makes you feel good even if you aren't dressed to the nines. So tell me, do you feel better when you are wearing your favorite accessory??

P.S. It's October and the only month I love more than September is October! Happy Fall everyone....stay tuned for exciting things happening around Material Girl!

Choosing a handbag or getting married??

So. . .I was away from the office last week in Las Vegas to celebrate my wife's grandpa's 80th birthday. While there, a couple of family members witnessed a classic Vegas wedding that was actually a drive thru wedding. Yes, two people drove up as if they were going to order a cheeseburger and fries, instead they said "I do". Keep in mind, this was the same chapel that Brittney Spears said her infamous I Do. In the matter of 5 minutes, they were married and driving to their reception/honeymoon/hotel/late night breakfast at Denny's. I immediately thought (of course) that some of our customers spend over an hour in our store trying to choose the right purse and here are two people who, probably on their way to an early breakfast, decided to get a fast food wedding to go, and I think they even chose to upsize it.

5 minutes to get married versus 1 hour to select a handbag, what an amazing contradiction of what life deals out.

Now, if you ask me, it's much more sensible to take the hour to select the handbag. I guarantee there is less buyer's remorse on that option.

All Things Kate: Treat Yourself!

First, Happy September everyone! (just a few days late) I absolutely love everything about Fall, so I am a very happy girl with the Fall like days we have been experiencing lately. :)


Now onto the business of the day. Unless you have been living under a giant boulder lately, you know that times are tough for some right now. People have to decide what they can live with and what they can't live without. I am a big believer in always treating yourself to something nice every now and then. Whether it is a new purse, a piece of jewelry, shoes or a pedicure....ummm hello you most likely deserve it!


So, onto my question for you. Is there one special treat that you will absolutely not give up? For me it's jewelry, handbags and nail polish. (I know it's not ONE thing, but I like to have options) First of all, work would be torture everyday if I quit buying these things for myself :) But also, when I don't want to spend the money on a whole new outfit, a piece of jewelry might spice up an old one. Or as the seasons change, it's fun to change my handbag because it is something I carry everyday!



So do tell....what special things do you treat yourself to?

Also, I hope everyone has a safe and happy Labor Day weekend!

Having a son growing up in a purse shop

So...my 19 month old son was in the store today and within 5 minutes, he was wearing a kid's monkey watch, put a breast cancer awareness hat on his head, and got his fingers into some lip gloss that proceeded to end up all over his face. I wonder at what point will it no longer be cool for him to do those things or at what point I will no longer want my son to wear a woman's hat and lip gloss all over his face? It will be safe to say the former will probably happen first as I'm comfortable with whatever route he goes in life. But for today, I found it a great joy to see him dancing in the middle of the store (Sting was playing on the radio), the breast cancer hat on sideways like a little rapper, and he couldn't have cared less who was watching. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all do that a little more?

All Things Kate: What's your "go-to" color?

Hello blogging world! I am so excited to be making my first official blog post. As Scott said I will be writing about all of the fun things going on around Material Girl, fashion, new products and more!

So onto my first topic! As I was packing boxes last night (moving might be my least favorite thing) I came across my purse collection. Now, when people ask me "Wow, do you have a ton of purses?!", I tend to reply with "no not really" as my voice fades and I quickly change the subject. In my opinion, I don't. My sister would disagree:) As I was sorting through my small collection I realized that I seemed to have more yellow handbags than any other color. So I wondered, why is that?

Impulsive purchases might be one reason, but I have decided that yellow is my "go-to" color. Some people choose black, others choose brown, but mine is yellow! Yellow adds a pop of color to any outfit, no matter what shade it is. Lemon, sunshine, mustard....I'll take one in every shade please!

So what's your "go-to" color? Do you stick with the basic black or brown? Or do you opt for the bright colors or crazy patterns?Leave us a comment...we love hearing from our Material Girl's! If you're stuck in a color rut, don't be afraid to try something new!

P.S. Is there a specific topic you would like to hear more about? Send us an email at info@materialgirlinc.com or leave a comment here!

Material Girl's First Limited Edition Handbag

So. . .it doesn't happen very often, but I'm going to have a short and sweet blog entry this week. We are excited to announce the unveiling of the Limited Edition Harvey's Original Seatbelt Bag made exclusively for Material Girl as a fundraiser for TeamMates Mentoring Program (although that could be one of the longest sentences in blog history). See the full information on the project at www.materialgirlinc.com/teammates.htm . Have a great day!

Very Bradley now in stock!

So. . .a little welcome back to work on the Monday after the 4th of July! I hope everyone made it through safely, with family and/or friends, and was able to celebrate what was important to each of you. I'm sure you were excited to get back to work or the daily schedule you had before last Thursday. I'm going to simply make a couple of exciting announcements from our end. Material Girl now carries Vera Bradley and just received the brand new fall line. Also, we just added the amazing new addition to the Matt & Nat family, SamSara by Matt & Nat. SamSara is the sister line to Matt & Nat. It's the same great handbag quality in slightly different silhouettes at a great pricepoint with clutches and handbags starting at $80 and wallets starting at $40. You can pre-order SamSara now at www.materialgirlinc.com/samsara.htm with the first shipment arriving in stock July 15th!!! Have a great week!

Living in a Material Blog . . .

So. . .It seems every article written about our business contains at least one reference to Madonna. I thought I'd get it out of the way immediately as I enter Material Girl (Omaha's Premier Handbag Boutique) into the blog world. This will be the only reference, sorry ;-).

With that behind us, I'd like to use my first blog entry to introduce who you'll be hearing from and to thank some people.

The Blog
In our blog, you'll hear from a few cast of characters:

Scott (that's me) - I'm the owner and fondly known as the Material Guy. If you call, I'm the only guy around here. I'm available at all times to our customers and am asked for my opinion more often than you might think. I'll be writing about everything from the retail world to the real world. All my blog entries will start with "So. . ."

Erica - Some would say she is the real owner, but she is also my wife, the original idea behind the company, and the brilliance behind selecting our products. She too asks for my opinion. When you hear from Erica, she'll be giving you straight fashion advice and what you need to have NOW. You may even get a little tip or some humor on being a mom and how our son Braden is doing. Erica's blog entries will start with "Material Girl checking in".

Kate - She is one of our full time employees and brings the wonderful perspective of the youth today. When I say youth, she is in her 20's, but a wonderful talent who has fresh ideas, a good heart, and a positive attitude. Kate will be dishing on all the fun stuff, products, fashion, etc. Her blog entries will begin with "All Things Kate".

Thank you

Let me thank all our customers in the most sincere way possible. This fall will mark our 7th year in business. Looking back, the beginning makes me think of the bad hair of the 80's and how did we possibly make it through. That feeling comes from learning and experience, and in our case, a large amount of dedicated customers. We appreciate you regardless of the amount you spend or how often you come in to visit.

Next, I would like to thank our employees. A job is a job is a job, right? Well, we've always tried to take care of our employees the best that we can and our employees have always reciprocated in ways they will never know how much we appreciate. We've done our best to ensure the work here doesn't feel like a job. Without their efforts, we wouldn't be celebrating our 7th year as happily or at all.

Lastly, let me thank my wife. After all, who else do I have to thank for becoming one of the only guys in the Midwest with a passion for handbags? Seriously, she is a wonderful mother to our 17 month old son and still manages to find time to do paid work as well here at Material Girl. Without her efforts on both sides of our life, well, fortunately, I don't have to wonder where I'd be.

Finally, after finishing a large sale this month to clean out some inventory, I heard a few rumblings of "I wonder if they are closing their doors?". Let me be the first to tell you, all is alive and well in the Material World. We have no plans to close our doors as business is doing well. We simply wanted to take some of our old inventory and turn it into new inventory. And, who doesn't like a good sale now and then.

P.S. Do you have a topic you wanted touch upon or have a question you want answered? Send us an email at info@materialgirlinc.com .