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1 month ago | 
retailinginsight.com | Megy Karydes |Maryon Stewart |Carol Schroeder
Why Modern Spirituality is Reshaping Retail Modern spirituality centers on personal empowerment, holistic well-being, and personal relationship to the metaphysical, skipping the middle man of traditional organized religion. It often blends elements from various spiritual traditions, cultures, and ancient wisdom, allowing individuals to curate their belief systems. As our society navigates increasingly tricky social and political landscapes, the desire for spiritual connection has exploded.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Retailer Carol Schroeder suggests that you “proofread” your window regularly from the outside to make sure they remain fresh. (Photo by Dragon Images from Depositphotos.) Retailer Carol Schroeder gives some inexpensive ideas on how to keep your most loyal customers engaged with store refreshes.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Forget New Year’s resolutions, the Rose Bowl or black-eyed peas as New Year’s traditions. In our shop, New Year’s Day used to mean one thing: inventory. It’s an all-hand-on-deck event during which we physically count everything that is still around after the holidays. To avoid a mutiny, we now do inventory on the Sunday after New Year’s Day, which is also a good day for us to be closed. We adjust the inventory to account for the sales that took place during the few days since the first of the year.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Hopefully you haven’t had any contact with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) up to now. But starting at the beginning of 2024, certain types of corporations registered to do business in the U.S. – including many retail stores – are required to report the information about their “beneficial owners” to FinCEN by the end of the year. What is a beneficial owner?
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
The busiest shopping day of the year is traditionally said to be the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday in honor of stores “getting in the black” and making a profit starting that day. Those of us who love the origin of words and phrases will be interested to know that Black Friday actually started out as a reference to the day the U.S. gold market crashed in 1869. Today it has a more positive connotation, at least to bargain shoppers.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Whether you sell books or women’s clothing, you do not want your store to be just like the others in your category. One way of distinguishing your business – while pursuing your own passion – is to offer a narrow niche of merchandise. This can be a great idea, or a recipe for failure, depending on where you are located. What is a niche market?
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Spring cleaning may not be on your mind during November and December, but the Christmas season is an ideal time to go through your store’s back stock to get rid of odds and ends of merchandise. I have often quoted the line “don’t let inventory become family,” so here are some ways that you can help slow-selling items find a new home for the holidays. The traditional way to move merchandise is by putting it on sale, and of course most shoppers love a bargain.
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
homeaccentstoday.com | Carol Schroeder
Many independent retailers have a love/hate relationship with the B2B platform Faire. We love being able to find obscure, small lines that would never have been shown in a trade show. We hate what this direct ordering option is doing to the sales rep system. We love knowing exactly what is in stock when we write an order. We hate the fact that every store in our area can order exactly the same merchandise. I suspect that some of our vendors also have mixed feelings about Faire.
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Oct 28, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Many independent retailers have a love/hate relationship with the B2B platform Faire. We love being able to find obscure, small lines that would never have been shown in a trade show. We hate what this direct ordering option is doing to the sales rep system. We love knowing exactly what is in stock when we write an order. We hate the fact that every store in our area can order exactly the same merchandise. I suspect that some of our vendors also have mixed feelings about Faire.
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Oct 21, 2024 | 
giftsanddec.com | Carol Schroeder
Repetition is pleasing to the eye, and multiples of almost any item can make a great backdrop for a merchandise display. If you do not have enough of one product to hang dozens in the back of your window, take a trip to a “dollar store.” For slightly more than $24, now that most dollar store items are $1.25, you can get two dozen of just about anything — beach balls, buckets, colorful containers, pool noodles or gift bags. You may also discover other finds that will be useful in the store.
