Page 26 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2018

COASTNOTES
MARDI GRAS SUPPLIES
Serving the community for 40 Years
story by Lynn Lofton photos by Donn Hupp
Mardi Gras celebrations are important events in South Mississippi and when it comes to supplies, no one does it better than Mardi Gras Supplies in Gulfport. Owner Manny Peixoto and his employees have been serving the area for 40 years.
“I would like to emphasize buying local and supporting our community because small businesses are important,” Peixoto said. “Plus, we encourage everyone to compare prices and sales tax percentages if considering going out of state.”
At the height of the season, Mardi Gras Supplies will have 48 employees in the front and back of the huge facility. The public part of the building offers everything anyone could possibly want for Mardi Gras, including decorations, beads, toys and other throws, along with krewe
packages. The back employees-only area has five packing stations and three shipping stations. “When it gets closer to Mardi Gras, we’ll ship 300 boxes per day,” Peixoto said. “We ship all over the world, including Germany, France and to the troops in Afghanistan.”
The company gets 40-foot containers of merchandize twice a month year round and orders and ships year round. That’s because a lot of schools and businesses buy items and use them as give-aways. Mardi Gras Supplies can also provide customized beads and novelties such as footballs and specialty souvenirs for carnival kings, queens, dukes and maids. “The minimum
order is 225 pieces, and we can do the design,” Peixoto said. “We’ve done them for the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl and numerous local businesses.”
In the spirit of community, Mardi Gras
Supplies was one of the first businesses up and running after Hurricane Katrina; even designing and producing Katrina beads.
When this Italy native started Mardi Gras Supplies, all ordering and sales were done by hand. “Now we have more than 50 computers with multiple screens and things have greatly changed; it’s all automated, thank goodness,” he said.
Other holidays and celebrations are not forgotten. There are items for St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Fourth of July, luaus, football teams and much more.
Mardi Gras Supplies
2001 E. Pass Rd., Gulfport 800.437.2412 www.mardigrassupplies.com
26 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • January 2018
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