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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.

Recycling and Display Props

By Martin M. Pegler Props, I would imagine, is short for “properties” and “properties” can be anything that adds something to a scene, a setting, a display. If we were to look around us, we would see we are standing in the center of a field of display props: from the furniture in the room, the plants, the unused rolls of wallpaper, the tableware, the collection of pots and…

2017 gia Global Honoree – Green with Envy

Michelle Hespe speaks to Nicole Ward, Founder and Owner of the New Zealand gia Global Honoree award winning retailer, Green with Envy. When people visit New Zealand, or meet New Zealanders, many comment that the country and the people are so warm and welcoming. That the place and its people are down-to-earth. There’s a true sense of caring and connectedness in this small…

EuroDev – Outsourced Sales Solutions in Europe

EuroDev is a business development company with headquarters in the Netherlands and a secondary office in France. EuroDev’s business model is built around being the outsourced sales force for U.S. companies which are looking for boots on the ground. With a team of dedicated, experienced and multilingual business developers and subject-matter experts, EuroDev have successfully…

Trade Facilitation Agreement: Implications for U.S. Exporters

Bureaucratic delays and “red tape” pose a burden for moving goods across borders for traders. Trade facilitation – the simplification, modernization and harmonization of export and import processes – has therefore emerged as an important issue for the world trading system. On February 22, the WTO announced that the historic Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) negotiated at…

A Cut Above

The Chopping Block is Chicago's largest recreational cooking school and gourmet retail store, and yet so much more to so many people. From cooking demonstrations for newbies flexing their cooking wings to hands-on cooking classes where good home cooks can advance from their comfort zone, The Chopping Block is out to get everyone cooking confidently. And for those who love…

2017 gia Global Honoree – Loft

Michelle Hespe speaks to Mr. Satoru Iimura, Executive Director of Loft — a chain of retail stores in Japan that became one of the five Global Honorees at this year’s IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) at Chicago’s International Home + Housewares Show. Loft was celebrating more than its gia win in Chicago this year. “2017 marks 30 years since the first Loft store opened in…

2017 gia Global Honoree – Rustan’s

Mr. Donnie Tantoco, President of the Philippines luxury retailer, Rustan’s, speaks to Michelle Hespe about becoming one of five Global Honorees at the 2016-2017 IHA Global Innovation Awards (gia) in Chicago. It’s the second time that this leading business has been the recipient of a gia in the past decade. With passion, forward thinking and dedicated drive, in 1952, the…

And The Melody Lingers On

By: Martin M. Pegler Imagine it is almost Christmas and the store is filled with happy holiday shoppers. Do I hear music playing? YES!! And probably the music in retail stores is music of the season—like “White Christmas”—or “I’ll be Home For Christmas” or maybe even some Christmas carols. Why the music and why these familiar melodies? Because music “soothes the soul,” is…

Global Retail Intelligence – May

To follow is a brief review of retail news from around the world: May 19 – Alibaba Delivers Yet Another Year of Powerful Growth China’s vast ranks of consumers are finding ways to spend more money online — and that’s good news for Alibaba. The Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-commerce giant that a few years ago led the biggest share listing in the history of the American stock…