Christmas is everywhere at this time of year.  And while many of us try to be more inclusive by saying “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays,” few stores carry much merchandise for Hanukkah.  There are of course good reasons for this – Hanukkah is not a major holiday in the Jewish year, and some areas don’t… Read More

A Google search for promotional ideas for business district reveals the fact that a large number of the most active communities have one thing in common: they are past or present participants in Main Street America. This program was started in 1980 as part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and focuses on older… Read More

Gratitude is on everyone’s mind this week as we head towards Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season. Despite concerns about inflation, recession, employee shortages and supply chain issues, we have much to be thankful for in 2022. I realized this recently when someone reminded me that only two years ago our shop was… Read More

Have you ever seen a product on TikTok and clicked through to buy it? If so, you are not alone. The so-called social commerce industry is expected to grow three times faster than traditional ecommerce in the coming years. This means that more and more consumers will be seeing a product, deciding to buy it,… Read More

Like most retailers, large and small, we’ve found our attempts to find part-time employees this fall have met with little success. My next move is to try to focus on retirees to see if that helps us find the help we need – we already have a number of excellent staff members who are in… Read More

We all want our businesses to operate in the black (i.e. to be profitable).  According to tradition, the Friday after Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday because that is the day when most retailers’ bottom line went from red to black, thanks to the frenzied start of the holiday shopping season.  This turns out, however,… Read More

As a general rule, according to Business News Daily, 80% of your profits come from 20% of your stock. With much of your business investment tied up in inventory, it makes sense to make sure you’re making the best use of your money by managing your inventory well. Start by determining what merchandise makes up… Read More

We can’t say that COVID is in the past yet (our shop still requires employees to be masked), but hopefully the worst of it is behind us. Now seems like a good time to look back on the past 2 ½ years to see what we’ve learned. When a government official recently asked my fellow… Read More

There are not many American main streets, shopping centers or commercial districts without empty storefronts today. The economy and pandemic have been hard on existing retail businesses, and high rents are often prohibitive for those wanting to start a new store. In addition, some residential developments are required by mixed-use zoning to include ground-floor retail.… Read More

Amazon, the largest online retailer in the world, now accounts for some 37.8% of all e-commerce sales. The U.S. has antitrust laws on the books intended to encourage healthy competition between companies, and to help keep the free market working by preventing monopolies.  It’s hard to believe that Amazon has not been taken to task… Read More