Inspiration Magazine: Inspiration

Useful tips and resources prepared by business, industry and design experts to help retailers grow their businesses!

Inspire Your Customers Now to Create Sales in the Future

As a retailer, I want to live in a world where my existence contributes not only to the lives of my customers but to the greater good. I don’t want to live in a world where I am perceived as pushing “stuff” on customers who don’t need it. This most certainly should not be the case, but instead, inspire customers to create sales in the future. Decor that is more than skin…

Chicago’s Recipe for Culinary Icons – Passion+Inspiration=Today’s Top Chefs

In the culinary world, if you asked most people to name the leading trend-setting U.S. cities the answer would be easy – it follows a line across the United States from New York to Chicago to San Francisco. These cities are often the birthplace of hot new concepts that flow out in waves and trickle down to the masses. And as culinary diversity grows across the country, these…

Inspiring the Path to Purchase: Social Media Influencers

Meet Melissa Maker, the woman behind the Clean My Space YouTube channel, and Beth Le Manach, the woman at the helm of YouTube’s Entertaining with Beth. Millions of people view these clever cleaning and cooking queens online, making them some of today’s top social media influencers and YouTube stars. There is one obvious thing that Melissa Maker and Beth Le Manach have in…

Sweet Dreams Are Made of These

Baking makes a home feel cozy and safe, producing a caring atmosphere full of love and nurturing. Because baking makes those who bake happy and those around them grateful, Manuela Kjeilen started baking more. It was her life’s passion, although at first she didn’t know it. Manuela baked because she wanted to give something – everything – to her family. And when that family…

Inspiring the Industry – Rick Bayless

To most Americans, especially if they have a penchant for Mexican food, Rick Bayless needs no introduction. Most people know Bayless from winning the title of Bravo's Top Chef Master with his authentic Mexican cuisine offerings when he was up against French and Italian master chefs. He also has a hugely popular TV series called Mexico: One Plate at a Time, and is the author of…

Chicago – Inspiration by Culture

From the bottom of the sea to the tops of the stars, Chicago culture has it all on display. The Downtown Museum Campus is home to three great attractions: the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium. For art lovers, the Art Institute of Chicago offers masterpieces from ancient to ultra-modern, and the various other cultural institutions…

Chicago – Inspiration by Restaurants

by Michelle Hespe Celebrity chefs, world-renowned restaurants, ethnic dining from around the globe. Chicago's dining scene is unparalleled and interesting even from a design and architecture point of view. Appetite for Design is a fantastic initiative created by the Chicago Architecture Foundation, marrying great design and architecture with innovative dishes…

The Art and Heart of Branding – Adrienne Weiss

Adrienne Weiss and her team are legendary in branding in the U.S. and around the world. If you have eaten a burger or a donut, bought jeans or pumped your own gas, you have probably been up close and personal with brands they have helped create or energize. Weiss’s branding prowess started when she worked for Applause and helped build the “Smurfs” into a monster global brand in…

Inspiring the Industry – Adrienne Weiss

Adrienne Weiss is an inspiration to everyone she meets and especially those with whom she works. Her portfolio reads like a who’s who of the world’s top companies, and she’s worked with a huge diversity of industries such as food and beverage, retail, consumer products, convenience stores, real estate developments, sports stadiums and entertainment concepts. Her goal in…