Last month the broader retail world applauded two of the nation's largest drugstore chains when they moved women into senior management roles. The gender divide rooted in the tradition of the male pharmacist's early 20th century small-town location was finally overcome. Up to now, male leadership of beauty, OTC and first aid products was skewed and often curiously inept. The drugstore has made huge strides and taken major steps forward in the interest of female empowerment. One could argue that female management has more empathy and …
Reflections from an Ex-Urban
Suburban Stories In our post-pan world, the choices of where and how we spend our money have changed. The inequities of our American culture are stark. In spite of Covid, the stock market is up. Some Americans are doing just fine. Any of us with Fortune 50 stock holdings are richer today than we were a year ago. We may not be buying fashion or going on vacations, but we are revisiting our homes and our kitchens. Suburban contractors are busy; Home Depot, Tractor Supply (a personal favorite) and Ace Hardware are all booming. The wait time for …
An Evolutionary Reinvention of Retail
PrePan…Pan…Not-Yet-PostPan. What does the world of retail look like now? What did we learn? What did we let go of …and what changed us? Here's a retrospective look forward. 1. Shopping Safely You'd have to living in a cave not to know that digital sales have exploded in our Pan world. Just between March and April of this year, the first month of our shared Pandemic, the number of customers buying online increased in the U.S. by more than 30 percent. The dollar volume was even higher as everyday shopping was reinvented. On Black Friday, the …
There Is Trouble Down in Texas and Her Name Is Lulu
There have always been turf wars in the fashion retail world. Competition is the backbone of our free market economy, but in the fashion industry, drama often trumps pragmatism. The most recent example, accelerated by Covid-19 is the news that Lululemon, from their secure base camp in Vancouver, has been in a clandestine war with Levi's, Wranglers, and Calvin Klein. The Pants Battle Jeans -- high end and low end - are pitted against the yoga pant as the CV-19 world perceives comfort and fashion. The net result of Covid-19 is that the war Lulu …
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Musings: Post-Pan Beauty and Culture
As a high school junior, I got invited to a Spring Prom at a fancy private school in Wellesley, Massachusetts by a girl I barely knew. I rented a tuxedo with a Spring-white dinner jacket. It was a hot May night, and there were lots of slow dances. At the end of the evening I had lipstick on my cheek and a dark brown stain on the right side of my white dinner jacket where her makeup had rubbed off. The Tuxedo rental place charged me $25 to remove the stain when I tried to return the outfit. It was my first introduction to makeup and its …
Farmers Markets During the Time of Coronavirus
In the sea of the coronavirus, I've made my bi-weekly pilgrimage to the Union Square farmers market in New York for fresh food. Whatever the many other negative aspects to the pandemic lockdown - I'm am the lightest weight I've been in 30 years. Yes, it's the stress, but eating only at home, the fresh foods at the farmer's market and daily exercise have made a difference. In various other parts of the country farmers markets have been closed responding to the government requirements for social distancing. In LA the mayor shut down his city's …
PostPan Generational Reflections
At 10:00 in the evening as I sit in my West Village garden, the city is remarkably quiet. There is a dusting of white pear tree blossom petals everywhere. No jets passing over, the sirens are a distant wail in my deserted neighborhood. It is as if 150 years has disappeared. It hasn't. Next Gen Angst For my GenZ 19-year-old this is a cataclysmic time. It is the first time in her adult memory the broader world has intruded on her life, uninvited. Her college sent her home. Her physical isolation is profound. And while Zoom gatherings are a …
Cash or Credit?
New York City recently voted to ban retail businesses from credit card-only operations. City Government has stated that it is discrimination against New Yorkers who either don't have credit cards, or who simply want to pay in cash. Tender Greens and Sweetgreen's -- both millennial-focused food service operations - have been credit card-only businesses and they have been given nine months to change; reports are that the store managers are livid. They are not alone. The trend to cashless retail is growing. Across many cities in Europe and Asia, …