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Meet the Press

By Peter Giannetti What a difference a couple of months can make. There was still uncertainty in mid-April about whether the International Housewares Association would be allowed to hold its summer press preview planned for mid-June in New York City. However, with New York State’s slight easing of gathering restrictions at the time, the decision was made to move ahead…

Don’t Let Supply Chain Pressure Delay Progress

By Peter Giannetti Skyrocketing freight rates, container shortages, port backlogs and myriad other supply chain snags are all severe symptoms of a prolonged period of high pandemic-era demand for home and housewares, among other products. Suppliers feel helpless, but this is now an unavoidable extra cost of doing business that shows little sign of easing until…

Levi’s And Gap: A Classic Fit For The Home

By Peter Giannetti In case you weren’t paying attention, classic is cool again. The pandemic provided an unexpected opportunity for long-established, and sometimes sagging, brands to reset their relevance to a broad consumer base seeking basic, stable comforts in a refreshed package and presentation fitted to modern sensibilities. It explains why Target and Walmart,…

Container Space Has Reached Crisis Stage

Experts predicted that finding space on containerships was going to be a challenge for shippers during the 2021-22 contract period. However, no one predicated the severity that the space crisis is currently having on supply chains across the US. To make matters worse, the lack of container space has not peaked yet. The space problem is going to get a lot worse before it gets…

Supply Chain Issues Add to Economic Concerns

As the United States looks to sustain its economic recovery to pre-pandemic levels and beyond, there are potential warning signs that this might not go as smoothly as hoped. For example, though job openings climbed to a record 8.1 million in March, pointing to a surging labor demand as the economy reopens, many companies are struggling to fill those positions. Some…

The Party Is On Again

By Peter Giannetti My wife and I, like everyone, had to forgo many things the past 15 months. One thing our family and friends seemed to miss even more than we did was our annual holiday party. I’m sure it’s not extraordinary as holiday parties go, but it had become an automatic entry on our early December schedule. Its cancelation confirmed just how profoundly upended…

Off-Price Rethinks Its E-Commerce Resistance

by Peter Giannetti Off-price retailing for years has been an immovable brick-and-mortar object against the irresistible force of e-commerce. Such physical store reliance, though, was put to the test when most off-price stores had to close—without a meaningful digital commerce fallback—during the early months of the pandemic. Burlington Stores announced suspension of…

Food52 Cooks Up a Surprise

By Peter Giannetti Recent news that Food52 was acquiring Dansk probably caught more than few industry observers by surprise. Perhaps it was no surprise that Centre Lane Partners, the new private-equity owner of a Lenox business in transition, spun off a Dansk cookware and tableware brand that still holds solid brand equity despite a clear need for a revival. What may…

U.S. Retail Intelligence – April

April 30 – Target works toward goal of opening 40 stores this yearTarget appears to be on track to reach its goal of opening 30 to 40 stores this year with 12 new locations already operating, including a site along Hollywood's Walk of Fame in Los Angeles and a small-format store near the University of Georgia campus. This slide show offers a look at the retailer's newest…