A Friday note from someone who’s been where you are.
Retail can be a lonely business. You don’t always know what other stores are trying, or what’s moving in the industry, or whether the week you just had was normal.
That’s what this is. Every Friday morning I tell a story and tie it back to the shop floor — the slow stretch and what to make of the quiet, the pile of boxes in the back, whatever’s real that week. Less a newsletter, more like hearing from a girlfriend who has been there too.
I write it as a former retailer, a former buyer, and a former maker. It’s meant to be a good read. It also always has a point — you should walk away with something you can use.
260 issues so far, going out to more than 3,800 independent retailers. Over 60% open it every Friday — about three times the industry average.
Every once in a while you’ll hear from me in between. Not on a schedule, just when something can’t wait. Those stay rare on purpose.
I don’t sell my list, I don’t share it with my brands, and I don’t send more than I promised. If it stops being useful to you, unsubscribe with my full blessing — I’d rather have a hundred readers who want me in their inbox than a thousand who don’t.