Home Alone 3
Warren Shoulberg, editorial director for HTT, always seems to have something to say about things.
Homeland Insecurities
There was this absolutely spectacular TV commercial on a few nights ago for home furnishings. Maybe you saw it.It focused on the role of the dining room table in the lives of ordinary Americans. It showed a husband and wife making a major decision at the table, followed by a son telling his parents he was taking the new job he had just been offered. Another scene showed one family member announcin... Read More
Comments (1)Homeland Insecurities
There was this absolutely spectacular TV commercial on a few nights ago for home furnishings. Maybe you saw it.It focused on the role of the dining room table in the lives of ordinary Americans. It showed a husband and wife making a major decision at the table, followed by a son telling his parents he was taking the new job he had just been offered. Another scene showed one family member announcin... Read More
Comments (2)Losses
This month we lost two legendary figures in the retailing industry, one a person and one a company. And in an ironic twist that only reality could produce, the two crossed paths once in an ill-fated connection that did little to tarnish the reputation of either.But they say losses comes in threes and in fact that's true in this case as well because we lost something else this month, something much... Read More
Comments (4)Grand Opening 1962
Doctor Emmett Brown, the Delorean-driving time traveler in the Back to the Future series, upon learning that a particular date in time is playing a crucial role in history, tells young Marty McFly: "It could mean that, that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance. Almost as if it were the junction point for the entire space-time continuum. On the other hand, it co... Read More
Comments (4)Plano-Gram
So the situation in beautiful downtown Plano, Texas continues to get ever more interesting, the recent departure of Mike Francis being only the latest chapter in the soap opera that J.C. Penney has very quickly become.Penney patron Ron Johnson, in only subtlely throwing his former president under the number 42 Plano cross-town bus, told the press that Penney's marketing efforts were not resonating... Read More
Comments (1)Of Slices and Sheets
If you've been to New York City recently and weren't eating all of your meals on an expense account, you are probably aware of the single biggest dining and eating controversy going on in the history of this town.We're talking about the $1 Pizza Wars.It's certainly the most dramatic development in pizzadom since the 1970s, when it seemed like every single slice joint in town was vying to see which... Read More
Comments (5)Right Guess ... Wrong Industry
At the risk of getting all nostalgic and caught up in the past, the celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of the Guess fashion brand have taken me back to the company's ill-fated attempt to get into the bed and bath business in the mid-1990s.Guess certainly made its mark in the denim and juniors market, becoming one of the iconic labels in those fields and helping to invent the entire "de... Read More
Comments (3)S'hrooming
You've got to love the English language. A few months ago if you said the word "showrooming" to somebody in the industry they would look at you like you had a speech impediment. Now the word is all over the retailspeak world to describe the process of shoppers hitting up a real store to scope out a product and then buying said product elsewhere online.Target has taken the lead on this is... Read More
Comments (2)Walgate
I'm shocked," as Inspector Renault in Casablanca would say. "Shocked to learn there is bribery going on in international business."The big New York Times story last week about Walmart routinely bribing Mexican officials as it rapidly expanded its store base in that country - and then covering up its own internal investigation into the matter - can't come as any great shock to anyone... Read More
Comments (2)In The Clearing Stands a Big Boxer*
While its customers generally give it high marks as a good place to shop, the vendors who sell Bed Bath & Beyond for the most part have a love/hate relationship with the retailer.On the one hand, they love that BBB is a very large base of customers who need copious amounts of product and that it is financially stable and continues to expand at an aggressive pace. On the other, they hate the cutthr... Read More
Comments (5)Gen Why
Home textiles industry, let me introduce you to the Millennials, aka Generation Y. I don't believe you've ever been formally introduced.With the recent news that retailers like Macy's and Kohl's are launching specific efforts to go after this cohort - generally recognized as those from age 20 to those in their early 30s - it appears that the people who sell stuff are finally realizing that this ge... Read More
Comments (3)Merchant in the Middle
How absolutely fascinating that as American society gets ever more divided to the extremes - financially, politically and morally - it is the retail businesses that appeal most to the middle of the marketplace that are the most interesting to watch these days.While the stores at both ends of the spectrum no doubt attract their share of customers from up and down the shopping food chain, it is the... Read More
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