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IHA’s blog features informative posts written to keep the housewares industry educated and informed about key strategic issues and IHA member services.

IHA Trade Mission Explores Southeast Asia Markets

Western-branded products continue to increase in popularity with consumers in Indonesia and the Philippines as people continue to be more cognizant of western cooking styles, lifestyles and home décor. Housewares suppliers interested in the home and housewares markets in Southeast Asia can meet with key retailers and learn more about the business climate during a trade mission…

Retail Profile: Cooks’Wares

It’s a family affair over at Cooks’Wares, in Cincinnati. Founded by Paul Fricke and his wife, Mary, in 1992, and now run by Mary, along with their son Steve and daughter Sharon, the store has been the go-to place for cooking classes in northern Cincinnati since the day it opened 25 years ago. Steve Fricke, the store’s current buyer, says his late dad (Paul Fricke died in…

Stats: Back-to-School All Year Long

Every day is back-to-school shopping day. Almost. Back to school shopping, (which includes household items like kitchenware, tableware and home decor among those college-aged folks) has become hard to pin down, according to a new study from The NPD Group. While U.S. students usually go back to school around Labor Day and traditional back-to-school shopping also had a…

Trends: Here Comes the Registry

As the wedding season peaks for retailers over the summer and fall months, a new survey finds that registries aren’t going out of style: wedding guests continue to choose wedding registries for selecting gifts over other gifting options. According to The Knot’s 2016 Wedding Guest Survey, guests prefer registries, with 37 percent of wedding guests and attendants (bridesmaids…

Location! Location?

When Money magazine named Sioux Falls, S.D., on its list of the top 50 places to live last year, it caught some retailers living in Sioux Falls by surprise. Not that they didn’t enjoy the city, but the honorific came along after they had sweated out building a retail business. There was a time Sioux Falls wasn’t close to being on that list. Many independent retailers start…

Ocean Carriers Return to Profitability

The average operating margins for the top 13 ocean carriers finally returned to the black for the first half of 2017. This is first time since the second quarter of 2015 where the average operating margin is positive. These results have eased some, but not all, of the concern shippers have regarding the financial stability of the containership industry. Out of the 13…

2017 Global Forum Recap: Shoppers Stop, India

As the Business Head of the Home Division at Shoppers Stop, Mr. Vikram Chitnis is responsible for merchandising and buying for the company’s HomeStop division. Mr. Chitnis is one of the team that started the importation of home products for Shoppers Stop, and he has been involved in merchandise planning and sourcing since the beginning of the HomeStop concept. Under his…

Retail Profile: The Gourmet Warehouse

If Caren McSherry wasn’t the owner of a popular, successful gourmet store, she could be a candidate for the job of Energizer Bunny. When not traveling the world on buying trips for her Vancouver, BC store, The Gourmet Warehouse, McSherry is teaching cooking school, making weekly radio and television appearances, writing cookbooks (her seventh is due out this fall), raising…

2017 Global Forum Recap: Tendencias y Conceptos

Mr. Meir Mareyna is the CEO of Mexican distributor Tendencias y Conceptos SA de CV and the founding director of Marketing Olfativo SA de CV. Much of his success with these two companies is attributed to his belief in the philosophies: “Make it great… constantly!”, “Service, service, service” and “flip thinking”. In addition, Mr. Mareyna incorporates finding the strengths of his…