binge-worthy store experiences: netflix house repurposing dead mall space into streaming irl. meowulf's immersive fantasy worlds. camp's magic door model. stores started competing on "would people pay just to be here?"

retail founder/ceo tell all retail books: a little nostalgia, mostly setting the story straight. julie wainwright on the realreal, the bag man, elyce arons on kate spade, chip wilson on lululemon, & lew frankfurt on coach

store openings treated like movie premieres: jacquemus took over instagram & shut down melrose for their la opening. more brands are treating the opening like the major marketing moment that IS. the store is where the story continues.

my 100 stores of summer series: profiling emerging brands. skims, good american, cult gaia, dôen, camp, kemo sabe & more. getting to dig into their strategies before they're everywhere was my favorite writing project of the year.

clerktok blowing up: retail employees becoming influencers. store tour content. "day in the life" videos. it’s fascinating to see the people behind the counter have bigger platforms than the brands they work for. while brands like skims explicitly state doesn’t want to be an influencer on job postings 🤔

y2k retail resurrections: most notably claire’s & toys”r”us. the brands of my millennial childhood are phoenixing and i’m here for it. oh & limited too in kohl’s!

stores substacking: y’all know i love newsletters so im thrilled to see more brands launching newsletters including american eagle, the realreal, tory burch, madewell, claire v. & nike. hoping for more on beehiiv soon too!

return fraud's overdue reckoning: yofi tackling return fraud so well they got acquired! alex’s behind the stores interview on this was eye-opening. retailers losing billions to fraud while trying to maintain "customer-first" policies.

warby parker coupling up: thrilled to see my alma mater open in target stores & announce a partnership with google! arch thing is cool to see too as a ut alum.

social currency podcast going deep on retail: loved their episodes on restoration hardware, the row, spirit halloween, & trader joe’s.

wellness retail doing very well: healthcare & wellness are now shopping too. brands like peachy, kindbody, one medical, solidcore, myo, restore, perspire, bond vet, & more are opening next to your neighborhood lululemon & j. crew.

the return of tory burch: she's back. she's better. she's proving that founders can reclaim their narrative after years away. hope this trend sticks.

shoppy shops surge: the term for fancy pantry grocery stores (erewhon, tiny grocer, & meadowlane ). bougie bodegas for people who need $18 apples.

blind box booming : pop mart being the best example of a "blind box" retail concept that creates dopamine-driven shopping through mystery & collectibility. kinda like happy meal toys, but for adults too & no fries.

aftercare: retailers taking repairs seriously. alternew helping brands build circular infrastructure. the "buy once, fix forever" movement is real and overdue.

rapid retail rollouts: edikted going from 0 to 10 stores in 2 years. skims going from 0 to 20 stores in 18 months. vuori going from 6 to 100 stores in 5 years. brands are deploying capital FAST. the "test and learn" phase is getting shorter.

supreme-ification everywhere: gap partnering with cult gaia & dôen. urban outfitters doing rotations with nike & levi's. mass brands borrowing indie cool through strategic collabs. it's working too well to stop.

smarter segmentation for stores: spatial ai reveals actual shopping behaviors vs guessing from demographics. helps site selection, trade area analysis, & marketing targeting. behavior beats age & income data. genius!

shopping secondhand first: thredup, the real real, & beni. making resale the default. detouer opening on melrose selling influencer closet cleanouts. the stigma is fully gone. secondhand is just... shopping now.

spreadsheet supremacy: google sheets. still. always. the most underrated retail tool is the one you already have. so many million dollar strategies are built on & operate here. long live well-designed sheets.

spirit animal holiday windows: in winter windows roundups i shared with y’all here, here, & here, i noticed santa was nowhere to be found. instead the displays were littered lions, panthers, mice, griffins, & unicorns. maybe all the brand execs had psychedelic experiences last year?

fyp-ification of stores: "as seen on tiktok" sections. #booktok tables. stores literally organizing by what's viral on our feeds. we've reached peak algorithm influence when physical retail is sorted by your for you page.

store’s founder story podcast episodes: how i built this coverage on retail specifically gymshark, faherty, madison reed, untuckit, & tecovas. honestly impressed how many brands they’ve captured in the very guy raz way.

the return of the mall rat: gen z discovered that analog is actually fun. they want to shop in stores, hang out at malls, touch things before buying them. the pendulum is swinging back and i'm very happy about it.

my clip money collaboration: working with their team to help readers & retailers modernize cash handling was a dream. this was my favorite. fyi i’m always looking for new merry partners so reply back if you’re interested 😁