• The New Age of Individuality - Accessorized!| Leave a Comment

    It’s no surprise that sales are down everywhere. People aren’t buying new clothes, but still want to update their wardrobe. In an article from Reuters, watches and sunglasses are “shopping’s bright spots.” Knowing this, and also knowing about the “upcycling” trend, we could be headed to a new era in personal style. As people shun [...]

  • Enter The Age of Hyper Hygiene| Leave a Comment

    I wrote about the Swine Flu hysteria a couple of weeks ago when it first broke out. Now that time has passed, I wanted to revisit it and share a couple of observations I made as a few trends have emerged in the wake of it all.
    For starters, “hyper hygiene” has become the rage. People [...]

  • Crunch Feels The Crunch| Leave a Comment

    We may be pointing the finger at obesity, but when the purse strings get tight, the first thing we tend to cut is the gym membership. Crunch, one of the first “lifestyle” gym brands has been hit hard and is filing Chapter 11. No worries, they seem to already have a suitor, but let’s take [...]

  • Indie Record Shops Put Up A Good Fight| Leave a Comment

    Over the past couple of years we have seen the decline of the mega music store. Tower Records’ decline a couple of years back was the wake up call that the digital revolution had come in full effect. If the writing on the wall was evident from Tower’s closing, Virgin Megastore’s demise has sealed the [...]

  • Brace Yourself - It’s the Coffee Wars!| Leave a Comment

    It’s been brewing for a while now, but it’s about to really explode. Not since the cola wars of the ’80s has there been such an aggressive push on a caffeinated beverage. The coffee wars are going into high gear and there really isn’t much we can do about it. Starbucks, the one time champion [...]

  • Bendel’s Streamlines - Cuts Apparel| Leave a Comment

    Luxury retail has understandably been taking a big hit - with Saks, Barneys, and Neiman Marcus streamlining operations, it’s not much of a surprise that the influential New York retailer, Henri Bendel is next in line to scale back. Limited Brands who owns Bendels just announced that they are stepping out of the apparel business [...]