brain candy

In partnership with

mornin merry makers! ✨

last week, i told you something very merry was in the making.

today, we crack open the first page.

a page in a story i didn’t even realize i was writing. back then, it wasn’t a mission — just a quiet curiosity. a nagging little question from an eager employee:

where do you go to truly learn the art & science of retail?

not the fleeting trends. not the algorithm-chasing playbooks that work for a quarter & then disappear. but the real stuff. the strategies that built empires. the secrets that transformed small stores into household names. the kind of knowledge that, if you could get your hands on it, would give you an undeniable edge.

i assumed the answers were out there.

i mean, retail is a trillion-dollar industry. surely, someone had written the playbook on how to scale a great retail business?

lost & found 

i feel like e-commerce advice is everywhere i look, but deep, practical knowledge about physical retail is shockingly hard to find.

no central collections. no neatly packaged playbooks. no series.

just fragments.

scattered across out-of-print books, niche biographies, obscure business memoirs, & essays buried in dusty corners of the internet.

so i did what any obsessed person would do:

i started hunting.

i went down rabbit holes, chasing one book reference to the next. i scoured my local library. i ordered used books that smelled like the 90s. i asked every retail expert i knew what had shaped their thinking.

without meaning to, i started buidling what i had been searching for…

a true retail library.

something that didn’t exist before, but should have. a collection of books packed with the kind of wisdom that doesn’t expire. so today after years of searching, reading, & curating…

it’s yours!

welcome to your retail reading room

this isn’t just a list of books. it’s a map.

one that leads straight to the best retail knowledge in the world.

inside, you’ll find 50+ carefully selected books that:

• reveal the playbooks of legendary retailers (it’s legal intellectual theft)

• save you from costly mistakes by showing you what not to do

• spark game-changing ideas when you’re creatively stuck

• connect the dots between seemingly unrelated concepts. sometimes the best lesson for a clothing brand is hidden in a book about restaurants or hotels.

the best part is that (most) of these books don’t go stale. unlike social media trends that expires faster than that avocado you forgot about, great retail strategy is timeless.

because retail is all about people.

stacked & sorted for you

because i’m a former finance girlie that’s obsessive about organization, i’ve made this in an easy to navigate, aesthetically pleasing, notion template.

i’ve organized these reads so you can find what serves you best.

the books are curated by:

• my top 10 must-reads: start here if you don’t want to overthink it

• by author type (bc building, doing, & reporting on retail aren’te the same)

  • 💡 owners

  • 🛠️ operators

  • 🔎 observers

• by retail category (only applicable for single brand books)

  • 🛒 big-box

  • 🎩 luxury

  • 👠 apparel

  • 💅 specialty

  • 🛎️ hospitality

• by publication year: because the ‘90s had some good retail ideas

clicking these links = supporting merry makery (no kickbacks, just appreciation).

now, without further ado, here’s the list !!!

check us out

i truly cannot wait to hear what you think about our library. if you check it out (& i really hope you do), i want to hear from you:

• 📚 what books need to be added?

• 📚 what other ways would you want this organized?

• 📚 what retail resources are you dying to get your hands on?

i want us to build this together because this isn’t just my library.

it’s ours. 

💘 

this library will keep on evolving so bookmark the link & check back often.

the best investment you can make in your business is an investment in knowledge. so get excited, this is just the beginning.

this retail library is just one example of what’s coming in the new era of merry makery. no more sifting through outdated advice or fluff-filled business books that don’t actually tell you how to improve your store.

• i’ll help you cut through the noise to find what actually works

• i’ll give you ready-to-use templates, tools, & insights that save you time

• i’ll make sure your retail strategy is sharper, smarter, & more sustainable

if you’ve ever wished someone would just give you the answers, that’s exactly what i’m building for you & with you.

be merry,

MacK

p.s. i highly recommend sippin this tea while you read all the retail tea👇️