An update of a popular blog post from June 2, 2014 Most of us look to importers and manufacturers for readymade goods for our stores, perhaps also occasionally buying from a local maker who sells goods at wholesale.  But it can be fun to be in on the ground floor, helping someone take an idea… Read More

Your days in the shop may pass slowly, but the months fly by – before you know it, the next holiday, the next season, the next year is here. Maybe you meant to have your window displays planned in advance, or to increase your presence on social media, or to hire extra sales staff in… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from November, 2010 A lot has changed since I first noticed text alerts, or mobile offers, while shopping in a Copenhagen department store many years ago. The sign said that shoppers could find a special SMS offer on glassware using their mobile phone.  I didn’t even know at… Read More

At the end of August, 2025, the U.S. ended the de minimis exemption. That would appear to be a good thing for independent retailers, but there are of course two sides to every issue. The de minimis exemption allowed most goods to enter the U.S. without tariffs, duties, or full customs formalities if the shipment… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from December, 2010 When I first wrote about stores gift wrapping customers’ purchases, it was a service commonly offered by department stores. But by 2016, as an article in Marketplace stated, “Free department store gift wrapping services are a thing of the past as stores compete with each… Read More

Porch pirates. Employee shortages. Tariff worries.  These are not uniquely American problems, I learned on a recent trip to visit friends in Scandinavia.  The shops of Copenhagen were a big inspiration to me before I opened my store 50 years ago, so it saddened me to see the way that issues such as online shopping… Read More

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that 7.2 million Americans aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s disease, which is the most common form of dementia.This means it’s very likely that some of your customers have some degree of dementia, or are accompanied by a friend or family member suffering from this condition. I’ve noticed signs in several… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from October, 2017 The manager at our neighboring Trader Joe’s was firing up the grill one Saturday to treat his staff to brats (it’s a Wisconsin thing).  I asked what the occasion was, and he said they had just gone 90 days without an injury.  We don’t think… Read More

“Hire Stella for $3 a day,” the message in my inbox said. “The first robotic retail worker.” I was of course intrigued, and turned to Stella’s website to find out more. My first discovery is that Stellabots did not invent the name – Stella AI is apparently a broad term used to refer to various… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from May, 2014 Summer is here, and vacation time means that almost every area of the country will be receiving visitors.  Whether they are nearby residents who now have time to explore, people visiting family in the area, or international travelers who have come from afar, tourists bring… Read More