clicks don't stick

mornin’ merry makers 🗽👟📚☕💖

i was in new york last week for the first time in two and a half years. i used to live there and walking around felt like stepping into a time capsule.

to be in those streets again was to scroll through my own history.

some of the stores i loved were gone, like old friends who had quietly moved away. others had transformed, grown sleeker, grander, more confident. at times it felt as if the city was holding up a mirror, showing me all the ways we both had grown up.

what struck me most was not the spectacle of new flagships or lavish activations, though there were plenty.

it was the way each store became a portal into memory.

i don’t remember the ad that convinced me to buy a serum in 2016. i do not remember the endless nights of scrolling through amazon reviews. those moments dissolve as soon as you no longer need them.

but i do remember the day i walked into warby parker soho before my first in person interview, tried on frames with a friend, and picked frames that became part of my identity. i remember per the advice of a friend, buying my first uniqlo heattech shirt for my first nyc winter. i remember a nike associate telling me, “you have great energy,” and the way that sentence carried me for days.

these are the stor(i)es that linger.

all of it got me spiraling on the state of retail in a very meta way (not zuck’s kind of meta). i’m sharing these thoughts with you because i’m curious to know if you feel this way too?

the strangers we trust

so much of our purchase decision-making has drifted online, into the hands of strangers, algorithms, bots, and marketers. we lean on reddit threads, amazon stars, tiktok hauls.

we trust really big choices to faceless usernames whose lives we know nothing about.

but the capital T truth is that word of mouth will always be king.

it’s your coworker insisting you go to this store. it’s your friend insisting you go to her dermatologist. it’s someone you love and trust pointing you toward the thing you didn’t know you needed (for me that was lasik, thanks brother dearest).

inside a store, that same principle reveals itself in another way.

sometimes it is not your friend but a thoughtful employee who steps into that role. someone who studies the product, who sees you standing there in real time, and shows you what really makes it magical. not in a salesy, i’m trying to make commission way, but in the genuine i think this is so incredible display,

and these are the things that make us remember.

it’s not anonymous. it’s intimate and personal even if only in passing.

stores are becoming

new york reminded me that stores are so much more than places of commerce. they are stages for memory. they are classrooms for wonder. they are where we go not just to buy, but to feel.

as algorithms and ai remove friction, the hunger for human encounters only grows.

• as we work from home, stores become our watercoolers. the associate who greets us by name. the barista who remembers our order. the stylist who adjusts a hem and tells us it’s perfect.

• as faith communities shrink, stores become our congregations. the run club that gathers every saturday. the skincare workshop where strangers trade tips. the book launch where you meet a friend for life.

• as third places disappear, stores become our living rooms. the couch where you sit and linger. the café tucked in the corner. the perfect mirror to capture your new, favorite outfit.

• as digital life grows noisier, stores become our confidants. the quiet compliment that shifts your mood. the serendipitous discovery no algorithm could have predicted.

• as screens dominate our attention, stores become our human connectors. the smile from a stranger. the warmth of small talk. the eye contact across a counter that says, i see you. i hear you. you belong here.

why it matters

when we shop only online and only for convenience, we give up more than we realize.

we lose the touch. we lose the try-on.

we lose the memory and the story and the human spark.

the more i see it, the more i feel it in my own life. i find myself wanting to go into stores again. not just for the purchase but for the stories i’ll carry. for the inspiration i’ll stumble into. for the small moments that shift the course of a day.

5 years from now, i won’t remember the cart i abandoned or the ad that followed me around for months. but i will remember the places i walked into.

the mirrors. the art. the conversations. the eye contact.
the rituals of being there in person.

y’all know i love studying and sharing retail. but now i’m starting to think that the best way i can serve retail is to pull us back into these spaces.

back into the stores.
back into the stories.
back into each other.

p.s. if y’all agree with this, please reply and lmk how i could help you do this more.