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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. All right, shop listener, 2022 is on. Debra in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Debra.

Debra Seidman: Hi, good morning.

Brian Lehrer: You have a business?

Debra Seidman: Yes, I do. I have a massage therapy business, Art of Massage. We're located in East Harlem. We are focusing on massage events in offices and event spaces, and particularly right now, we're focusing on holiday parties, and that's why I'm calling in.

Brian Lehrer: That's really interesting. You mean you take your massage skills on the road, and you go to offices, you go to events, so you have like a team of masseurs, masseuses?

Debra Seidman: No, it's like as massage therapists, allow me to correct you.

Brian Lehrer: Please.

Debra Seidman: We no longer use those terms, but yes, we're all New York State Licensed Massage Therapists. We're all COVID vaccinated. I have only the finest massage therapists and the lowest prices. I particularly cater to nonprofits, and I've been actually raising funds since the pandemic to provide either very low-cost or free massage for frontline workers, particularly healthcare, heroes, and teachers.

Brian Lehrer: What's the name of your company and how do people get in touch?

Debra Seidman: It's Art of Massage, and I have a website, artofmassage.nyc.

Brian Lehrer: There you go.

Debra Seidman: There's all the information on there, but it's (845) 616-4488. Again, artofmassage.nyc. Definitely, we have reduced rates for all nonprofits and for all WNYC listeners.

Brian Lehrer: That is great to hear. Now I know the proper terminology, massage therapist. Thanks, Debra. Good luck with it.

Debra Seidman: Yes, Licensed Massage Therapist. Thank you so much. Have a great day and a wonderful holiday.

Brian Lehrer: You too. How about Mera? Am I saying your name right, in Tribeca, you're on WNYC? Hello.

Mera McGrew: Hi, it's Mera. Thank you for having me on. I'm the Founder of Soapply. Soapply is more than soap. Our bottle boldly states that. We make the best soap for you, your skin, and our planet and we use every sale to save lives with every ounce tied to a direct donation from water sanitation and hygiene initiatives around the globe.

Brian Lehrer: Neat. What makes a great soap, in your opinion?

Mera McGrew: Oh, my God, I'm so glad you asked. If there's one thing I love talking about is soap quantification and the global importance of hand washing. In terms of a great soap, I would say the number one thing to look for is an actual true soap, not a drying detergent, and a lot of soap that's actually on store shelves in the US that is called soap does so, it's actually a detergent and it will strip your skin. It's the winter, you might look down, the pandemic, you might have looked down and thought, "Oh, my gosh, is that my skin or is that snakeskin?" Dry, cracked, nail-bed and skin, that can often be the cause of the wrong soap you're using.

If you're using a true soap, a hydrating soap like Soapply, you're going to notice that it locks in moisture. That would be the number one thing I would look for, is the true soap that's going to hydrate your skin and leave your skin healthy and clean. This year as we are talking with our community of hand washers, we're hoping that everyone will get clean, they will gift the generosity of help with a gift that other people actually need, that other people will actually use and that will keep on giving.

Before calling in, I guess, as I was dialing in, I created a discount code for all WNYC listeners to get 25% off plus free shipping when they shop at Soapplybox.com, and that's S-O-A-P-P-L-Y-B-O-X.com. Please use the code stock up for Yourself. Stock up for all of the folks on your list, who doesn't need soap, hopefully, everyone you know washes their hands. We hope that the soap they're using is the best for them and our planet does some good.

Brian Lehrer: I feel cleaner all ready. Mera, thank you very much. Good luck with it. Tyshawn in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hello, Tyshawn.

Tyshawn Henry: Hi, Brian. My name is Tyshawn. I'm calling about my business record studio. I make art and use it on printed textiles and pottery, but this is very timely because I want to plug a pop-up event that's taking place tomorrow on the Upper West Side. There will be five New York City makers. We have granola, we have ceramics, we have kids, and clothing for adults that's handmade, and then we also have an artist who will have a retrospective upstairs.

The information can be found at my website, which is it's a mouthful, so bear with me. It's shopredbridgestudio.com. I'll repeat that. It's going to be on the front page of my website information, more information about the pop-up. You can find it at shopredbridgestudio.com. The five makers and the artists we are collaborating with, the Arts for Peace Gallery, which is also a Hustle Space. Again, it's going to be on the website but I will also give the address of the Art for Peace Gallery, which is at 38 West 88th Street. That's 38 West 88th street and we will be open. The pop-up event will be open from five o'clock to 8:30 PM tomorrow December.

Brian Lehrer: Tomorrow evening.

Tyshawn Henry: I think that's all of it, but it's all on my website, shopredbridgestudio.com.

Brian Lehrer: That is great. They're on West 88th Street, that will be between Central Park West and Columbus there, right?

Tyshawn Henry: Exactly.

Brian Lehrer: Tyshawn, thank you very much. Good luck with it. Pascal in Harlem, you're on WNYC. Hi, Pascal.

Pascal: Hi, Brian. Thank you for giving us all as small business owners the opportunity to plug our business. Harlem Wine Gallery is a small artisanal wine shop located in the heart of Harlem. We are minority-owned and family-run, we carry a large selection of classic wines, Bayonette, dynamic wines, organic wines, natural wines. We also have the largest selection of minority-owned winemakers. We're running a special this year, this season. If you buy $99 in wine, we'll give you a much admired Harlem Wine Gallery tote bag. If you've mentioned The Brian Lehrer Show, we're also going to throw in a secret little gift for all of those individuals.

As we are a very community-oriented business, we are also doing a toy drive this holiday season. If individuals would like to drop off a new unwrapped toy, those toys will be collected and then brought to the Harlem Hospital pediatrics. If you want to know where we are, you can find us at harlemwinegallery.com. Follow us at Harlem Wine, and you can experience by coming Friday nights to our wine tastings that are held between 5:30 and 7:30.

Brian Lehrer: Neat. I know this is your third year in a row calling into shop listener, and I don't mind saying I've shopped Harlem Wine Gallery and I always find quality and good service too because as you know, I've had you deliver some stuff for me. Okay, good luck. Thanks for those perks for Brian Lehrer Show listeners and the other good community-minded stuff that it sounds like you're doing. Thank you very much. Let's go north. Sharon in Croton, you're on WNYC. Hi, Sharon.

Sharon: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having us on your show. I'm part of a 10-member Artists Co-Op Gallery, just opened in Croton last April. We have lots of great things for the holidays. We have charcuterie boards and beautiful furniture, and we have jewelry and ceramics and table runners and guards and paintings. I don't know, we're having a special event on the 15th Thursday, from 6:00 to 8:00, meet the artists, but we would love to have you come visit. I don't know if there's anything else. Crotonriverartisansgallery.com. You can find us on the internet and if you wanted to visit the dam in Croton, you can then come visit us and then go to Tap Smith and have a beer. [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: That is neat. An outing for some nature and the Croton River Artisans Gallery. Very cool. Okay, we've gone north. Let's go East Jordan in Bethpage, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jordan.

Jordan Silver: Hey, Brian. How are you? Long-time listener. First time calling.

Brian Lehrer: What's you got? What's you're selling?

Jordan Silver: We are a T-shirt company. We are called Mondo Monster Wear. We are at mondomonsterwear.com. We are a geeky t-shirt. In fact, our catchphrase is t-shirts that feed the geeky mind. We are parody pop culture so we go back to things like the Odd Couple and the Twilight Zone and the Honeymooners, and even things like we supported the Wakanda team in the recent World Cup, even though they, of course, didn't feel the team.

They're not real. We parody all of those things. Whether it's on our main website, which again is MondoMonsterWear.com, Or on eBay, a portion of all of our sales goes to charities, causes, events there and it's very obvious if you take a look at our page and our site what causes we are supporting, a lot of things go towards diseases and cures for diseases or civic or social causes as well.

Brian Lehrer: By the way, I think the Wakanda team would've boycotted this year's World Cup, but maybe you'll find a--

Jordan Silver: They would've absolutely boycotted given where it was located but we also supported several of the other countries that were invented in the Marvel cinematic universe as well and so all of those. Pretty much if you're one of those people who likes the inside joke and a lot of times, we've walked down the street right past the Hard Rock Cafe, and were wearing Alice's restaurant as a t-shirt, and it looks just like the logo. The people do a little bit of a double take, and they realize that the catchphrase, you can get anything you want at Alice's restaurant so it's a cool thing. People love our shirt.

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Brian Lehrer: Mondo Monster Wear, is that the name?

Jordan Silver: Mondomonsterwear.com. Yes, it is.

Brian Lehrer: Jordan, thank you very much. That's all the time we have for today, but this is so much fun that we've decided to do a series of shop listener call-ins. The next one will be tomorrow. We're going to do some special categories in the subsequent ones, so that's tomorrow. In the meantime, you can post your business to wnyc.org/shop-listener-entry.

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