Earnshaw's

One of the interesting things about this industry is the relationships behind the companies. Whether it's parent and child, siblings, best friends or husbands and wives, lots of businesses on both the retail and manufacturing side are run by people who have long histories together.

While an arrangement like this might be scary for some, in most cases it seems to work. One thing I've noticed lately is there's typically a good cop and a bad copy.

Recently I polled a few exec teams I know to find out which role they play. It's funny to find out how they see themselves..

Too often after hearing that sales are slow in a particular shop, I'll get a curious answer when I ask what new tactics the shop owner plans to employ: "None." Um, excuse me. Let me get this straight, the result of conducting business as usual has been declining sales and the plan is to...

wait it out? Well, maybe these retailers are finding it difficult to come up with new ideas for driving traffic and sales. But what about some old ideas? Recently I conducted a phone consultation for a retailer who has seen her traffic dwindle and was looking for some help..

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I know Walmart is a bad word to anyone servicing better tiers, but guess what, they’re the ones benefiting from the economy. Moreover, they just might maintain much of that market share post recovery.

Everyone keeps wondering if people will ever return to pre-recession level spending. While I think Americans have extremely short memories and will return to shopping, I don’t think it’ll be with the same abandon as before.

(And that’s a good thing—look where it got us.) Stores like Walmart seem to have the same theory.. .

What to do when times are tough? Print your own money, of course. That’s what some cities and towns are doing.

http://tinyurl.com/qkb4wr Apparently it’s legal, and local currency helps encourage residents to spend locally. With stores and restaurants closing with a scary frequency lately, many people have devised ways to help their city economy.

Here in New York, some consumers have opted to pick a few shops they love and patronize them regularly.. .

I always complain. Hey, it’s not my fault.

Growing up, my parents were big letter writers. If they felt they weren’t being treated fairly, they put pen to paper.

These days, my upbringing has combined with my professional curiosity. Everyone always claims to offer great customer service, so I often test it.

My conclusion: I wonder if stores and vendors know what customers really want. For example, recently Revlon discontinued my favorite nail shade, which I wore every day.

I sent them an email begging them to reconsider.. .

So Stella McCartney is doing a kids’ collection with the Gap (http://tinyurl.com/n4q3wa). Marketing sure makes strange bedfellows.

Though I think her Adidas collection is relatable with broad appeal, I’m not sure those would be the first words I’d use for her main collection. I’ll be interested to see what this line looks like.

It also begs the question of how well some of these other high/low collabs fair at retail (as opposed to in the press). Is a celebrity venture what Gap needs?.