A New Retail Landscape

Let's face it: everything is weird now. Major League Baseball's "Boys of Summer," who Don Henley alludes to in that old soft rock hit, didn't even start their season. The…

A Tale of Two Generations

States have been slowly reopening after the coronavirus pandemic saw stores, schools, work, and life in general shutdown months ago. For Gen Z and Millennials, COVID-19 marked yet another crisis…

New Merchandising Plans

The coronavirus pandemic saw spending drop 6.6 percent in March and 12.6 percent in April, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. It did increase 8.8 percent in May, according to…

Back-to-School 2020

After the COVID-19 pandemic that in March led to the swift shutdown of life as we knew it, school systems were left trying to educate students from kindergarten through college…

Meeting New Demands

In casual conversations with folks who don't work in the apparel industry, many seem surprised to hear that apparel retailers didn't fare well during the COVID-19 shutdowns since they could…

Carving Out Loyalty

It's kind of funny/not funny how retail and personal relationships can seem so similar. This past year has been more than tough for both. Some managed to survive, even thrive,…

Consumer Shopping

Now that we're firmly enmeshed in the New Year, it would be nice if 2020 were a distant memory. But COVID-19 is still incredibly overbearing, not least of which for…

Self-Care & Wellness

Looking back on 2020, did it really only last one year? It started with unsettling murmurs of a strange new virus. That was followed by the first impeachment of President…

How Consumers Have Changed & Stayed the Same

If 2020 could have a title, it might be "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Who knew so much could change in a year that seemed more like half…

Next Level of “Business Casual”

Now that about one-third of Americans are fully vaccinated, businesses are considering when to bring office employees back to the workplace. But after more than a year that saw COVID-19…