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Selling From the Sidewalk

Just as consumers throw yard sales to rid their homes of unwanted clutter, so retailers throw sidewalk sales to rid their stores of merchandise that, for various reasons, is cluttering up shelves. It is an annual process especially embraced by independent retailers who don’t have to deal with corporate policies regarding pricing and discounting. Which is good, because most…

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…

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…

Stats: Meal Kits Still Out at Home

Despite aggressive social media campaigns, meal delivery services are not coming close to replacing home-cooked meals. Yet. According to research from The NPD Group, the buzz around meal kit delivery services like Blue Apron and HelloFresh, “may be greater than those who currently use the kits.” NPD says only about 3 percent of the U.S. adult population (18 and older) tried…

Trends: Organic Goes Mainstream

If you’ve thought you have heard more about organic this year, you have. Sales of organic everything, from produce to prepared foods to clothes are spiking. Organic is not just a category for hippies anymore. The numbers show it is likely your customers are shopping organic as well. Organic sales in the U.S. for 2016 totaled $47 billion, up nearly $4 billion from the…

What’s Trending Now?

Despite vast differences in geography, climate and clientele, retailers across the country point to similar consumer trends they say are helping drive business this summer. For instance, from the Deep South to the Far West, products that inspire healthier cooking are a hit with shoppers; the market for grilling tools continues to flourish year round in all sorts of weather…