Lien Murray has been adding to her circle of friends with every customer served since 2004, the year she took over ownership of Donna’s Gifts and Home Decor.

Before that, Lien and her husband, Richard, both worked in the compact computer industry. Lien has always had a passion for decorating, though.

“She’s just always had an artistic flair, whether it was arranging flowers or decorating for us or her friends,” Richard said.

Not much has changed for Lien, who counts her customers as some of her closest friends.

“I become very attached to them,” Lien said. “They build a trust with me. Someone once gave me their house key so I could go in and decorate when they were not home.”

It is this kind of trust that has kept the business going for more than 12 years, Richard said. He said Donna’s Gifts runs mainly with the support of its repeat customers, which in turn drives the way they operate their shop.

“When we’re searching for new products, Lien is always looking for things that customers have mentioned they want,” Richard said. “Then when they come in again, we have it.”

Lien and Richard find these products on their trips to the Dallas Market, which is home to more than 1,000 vendors.

The store’s stock features 50 percent gifts and 50 percent home decor items, Lien said.

In addition, Lien rotates products in and out of her in-store stock of more than 12,000 items. Items on rotation include scarves, purses and jewelry.

Lien said she looks for the trendy items made for the fashionable shopper.

The store is mainly geared toward women, Richard said.

“Lien happens to pick out items that a grandmother would come in and pick out for her granddaughter [and] that the granddaughter would then turn around and pick out for her grandmother,” he said.