The Feeling They Carry Out the Door — Weekly Retail Tidbits #256
The Feeling They Carry Out the Door
“They may forget what you said — but they will never forget how you made them feel.”
— Carl W. Buehner
Big successful events happen when what feels like a bazillion pre-planned details come together just right.
Our youngest son’s wedding weekend was just that — packed with a thousand little details, and by all accounts a huge success. The venue owner told us he’d never seen his dance floor that packed, for that long, with that much energy. To say it was fun is an understatement.
My newest precious daughter-in-law surprised me with a beautiful beaded handbag while we got our hair and makeup done. And that sweet surprise hid another — under the flap, a printed photo of me holding my son, her now husband, at two years old.
I’ll enjoy using that pretty handbag, just like I enjoyed dancing with my family and friends — but what I’ll remember is the feeling. Pure joy, fun, and love. My heart will not forget.
That’s how it is with experiences. As a retailer, you create that same kind of experience every day — every time someone walks through your door.
Sometimes the big picture is hard to hold onto, because the details are relentless — needed every single day, not just for one big event.
We may not remember every detail — the flowers, the songs, the food. But we remember how we felt.
Our country is celebrating 250 years this weekend. I hope you take some time off. Recharge. You are the most important fixture in your store, as is your team, and we all need time to recharge.
And that feeling your customers carry out the door — the one they’ll remember long after they’ve forgotten what they bought — it comes from you. From your team. From people with enough left in the tank to make someone feel at home.
So this weekend, hoping you are closing for a bit if you can. Light the sparklers, hug your people, let the store sit quiet for a day. You’ll be better for the rest.
Happy Fourth, friends. Here’s to 250 years — and to making the kind of memories your heart won’t forget.
xoxo,
❤️ AmyFay
Technology Tip — More Taste, Less Typing
Writing an order has always had two parts. The first is the brain part — knowing what’s good for your store. Getting one going takes real thought: what will fit, what your customer will reach for, what earns its place on the floor. That part is, and always will be, human. Data can help you decide, but in the end it’s your taste that defines what works.
The second part is the typing — the data entry, the reorder, the reorder after that. All the little places a fat-fingered number can throw the whole thing off.
What I love about technology right now is that it lets us spend more and more on the taste, and less and less on the fingers. Fewer mistakes, faster turnarounds, and a whole lot more time for the good part — the details that make a store special. Things like how to merchandise a display, or which of our Tango lines cross-merchandise beautifully together (and with a roster this good, so many of them do). The machine can take the data entry; you keep the part only you can do.
3 Tango Tidbits — The Detail Is the Point
Speaking of details — the little ones you don’t notice at first are usually the whole reason something feels special. Three lines that prove it:
ORI London — The Detail Is in What It Does
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Pick one up and you feel where the thought went: the signature V-Factor straps that actually sit right, chunky zips built to last, a hidden pocket that keeps your phone secure, side pockets sized for a water bottle. Weather-resistant, vegan, made from recycled bottles, and B Corp certified. Fall ships in August.
Bunnies by the Bay — Forty Years, Never a Trend Chased
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Four decades in, they still won’t make anything that misses their bar. Eyes hand-embroidered, cheeks hand-blushed, every piece newborn-safe — the kind of quality that turns a baby gift into a keepsake, treasured long after the crib is gone.
LINNEA — Poured by Hand, Tended by Hand
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Every LINNEA candle is hand-poured in small batches, double-wicked to burn clean and even to the bottom. Since 2013, LINNEA has partnered with Janus, an Indiana nonprofit that creates meaningful work for people with disabilities — their team hand-tends every glass vessel. And Laura, at the helm, has impeccable taste; her eye for fragrance is in every burn.
Each of these has a July special running now.
See all the specials or promotions →
“Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.”
— Ovid
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Here’s to the feeling they carry out the door — xoxo, |
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June Market Fun
With our star eyes on — because Tango is exploding with great stuff! 🌟
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Happy 250th Birthday, USA! 🇺🇸
AmyFay Chandler
She reads all of this so you don’t have to. Based in Knoxville, TN, AmyFay is a wholesale sales rep for the brands she represents across Tennessee and Kentucky, and she oversees the D2C side for Sweet Tree Jewelry and Caroline B Cook — two of those brands — making sure brick-and-mortar retailers always come first. She writes Weekly Retail Tidbits (now in its 256th issue) because she’s living the same questions her retail customers are living, and figures things out alongside them. Her whole project: helping independent retailers stay human while the rest of the industry tries to automate them away.
Also from AmyFay
Two of the brands I represent run their D2C side through me, with brick-and-mortar partners prioritized at every step:
- Sweet Tree Jewelry — school-spirit polymer-clay earrings
- Caroline B Cook — children’s books (the Virtue Series, Church Kitty)
Wholesale questions? [email protected]
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