About |
Hello and welcome to Fifth Avenue Souvenirs, the retail store for the wholesale company Fifth Avenue Manufacturers. We are thrilled you found us and excited to finally be able to offer our one of a kind, unique and eye catching souvenir products directly to you the buying public. Created in 1995, Fifth Avenue Manufacturers came into existence to fill the void for a better looking souvenir at a reasonable price. Since that time the company has consistently stood out from the competition due to a winning combination of a strong sales vehicle, an attractive product at a fair price, and the solid bond of family. You could say the winning formula for our success has been love. It all started when Mary met Kenny, and a powerful creative partnership in life was made, joining two giants of the gift industry.
Mary Ellis pioneered the concept of putting artwork on clothing back in the 70’s and 80’s with her design and manufacturing business, DesignPoint. Prior to that, she studied and graduated from the Pratt Art Institute, where she was taught by some of the great American artists of all time such as, Alex Katz and Mercedes Matter. In 1973, Mary opened Designpoint, a store on Christopher Street in the heart of NYC's famed Greenwich Village. In the begining, she created abstract paintings for needlepoint artists, but always savvy and fashion forward, Mary changed with the times and the business grew into a store front for her art on activeware company that flourished in the 80s. Kenny Bookbinder started Big Apple Enterprises in 1973 and it is still going strong. It is one of the largest gift repping companies in the country. In 1988, he met Mary in his booth at the New York Gift Show and lots of things happened. One is that they got married. Another is that they started Fifth Avenue in 1995. The company was born from humble beginings, selling out of Kenny's Fifth Avenue showroom that had a perfect unobstructed view of the Empire State Building. Now we have grown into our own warehouse in Ossining, a short distance away from the city that inspires us. At first, the products were geared only to New York and sold solely through Big Apple. But, over the last several years, the company has become national and its’ products are now sold in 25 states and hundreds of cities, and throughout the Caribbean. We are happy to welcome you to our virtual store.