Time. It's a concept that permeates every aspect of our lives, either consciously or not. From the small moments of our daily routines to the grandest, long-term plans, time shapes every facet of our lives.
“Yesterday is gone…”
It's weighed heavily on me recently, consuming my brain space in a desire to understand it in its entirety. To share, here is a short (but not at all complete) example of the train of thought from a night this week surrounding the idea of "time...
Read More
In the next few months, each one of us will be stepping away from our desk or retail store to go do something very important. One of us will drive over to the local library, one of us to the town hall, and one of us to an elementary school in the area. But the common denominator is that we will all be waiting in a long line somewhere, maybe even outside in the cold, while the chilly wind brushes against our cheeks. We will all leave the comfort of our homes and warmth and put ourselves into this...
Read More
I recently saw a car with the license plate: WHYWRK. I had a sad feeling for the driver, who perhaps wasn’t as lucky as I to have the best job in the world – getting paid to shop for the most beautiful goods in the world – which I am now retiring from. After 40+ years as a buyer of tabletop and gifts in Buffalo, I have the opportunity to put the dishes away, polish the flatware, and store the stemware. As a small specialty store, we’ve been through our share of ups and ...
Read More
How online calendars can help retailers manage and save time.
October 4, 2023
One of the main problems that businesses have is efficient use of time. A retailer (or brand or sales rep) seeks on a daily basis to manage their time and optimize results. (I was reminded of this while reading a The Wall St. Journal article about time management for the family.) Businesses use a variety of tools to manage and save time, including email, texting, and Zoom.
Shop Local helps businesses in their quest to save time. We offer businesses a variety of services to help ...
Read More
Noma, the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant, is closing to concentrate on e-commerce. Excerpt from the Times:
“Noma will become a full-time food laboratory, developing new dishes and products for its e-commerce operation, Noma Projects, and the dining rooms will be open only for periodic pop-ups.”
This change supports the breath and power of e-commerce, and portends coming changes for our retail industry. It’s not that one can’t eke out a ...
Read More
In the movie Glengarry Glen Ross, a motivational speaker played by Alec Baldwin addresses a group of salesmen. He writes three letters vertically on the chalkboard, “A B C.” He explains that the acronym means "Always Be Closing."
The way that Baldwin's character thinks about sales, I may think about reading. I think of: "ABR,” Always Be Reading. Whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, I try to get in a page or two of the Times, Wall St. ...
Read More
The EU has passed a law that will affect Amazon and other big tech companies. The law will likely make it harder for Amazon to promote its own private label products on its website at the expense of others.
While this is welcome news to many, this is a small victory as Amazon’s ambitions are grand as well as its ability to outpace laws. For the first 25 years of the Internet, Amazon, founded in 1994, rode on the rails of the government being too slow to enforce online tax ...
Read More
In the movie Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon, who plays a handsome MIT janitor moonlighting as a math savant (can one say, “Hollywood career vehicle”?), woos a young lady (played by the actress Minnie Driver) by outmaneuvering a few competing, obnoxious cads. When Damon’s character gets the girl's telephone number, he proudly shows it to the other guys and boasts, with his South Boston access, “How 'bout ‘dem apples?” I imagine Tim Cook imitating this...
Read More
The factory that supplies the rim-shaped plates to Anna Weatherley is closing due to Covid protocols. Therefore, the following patterns are now discontinued:
•Butterfly Collection
•Garland
•Peony Pink
•Summer Garden
•Woodland Collection
The limited stock that we do have available in these patterns has moved to the Specials Page on the website.
The Pine Needle will be closing at 2:00pm on Friday, December 24th and closed on Monday, December 27th. We will also close at 2:00 pm on Friday, December 31st and closed on Monday, January 3rd.
View Post
While we’re hiring, some of our customers are still struggling within the retail environment. One client, Cathy Hulgan Designs, is closing because the new landlord wanted to double the rent and asked for a long-term lease. Cathy was a big proponent of ours. I am saddened by her store's closing. I’ll miss her.
I’ll note that her situation did bring to mind the merit of offering digital services and Bridge’s business model. Unlike a rental retail space in a strip mall, ...
Read More
"Nearly 200 department stores have shuttered in the past year, and another 800 — roughly half the country’s remaining mall-based locations — are expected to fold within five years."
Reports suggest that 50% of purchases start on Amazon.com, and Amazon wants to keep it this way. Yet, businesses and merchants increasingly want to sell their products via their own DTC (direct to consumer) site, retailers' websites, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Due to this, Shopify, which powers many DTC and retailer websites, is a growing thorn in Amazon's dominance of retail. Shopify reportedly helps power more than 30% of online U.S. retail sales.
On a daily basis, Bridge helps retailers, brands, and reps: stay in business. We help them more easily and cost effectively run their businesses. Most of our merchants are receiving a record number of online orders. The result: our clients have more money to keep going and even prosper.
This is important because we're not out of the woods yet. In 2021, more store closings are predicted, shares Coresight. Note: these are just estimates, and much like the failed prediction of a ...
Read More
Fragile will be closing at 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve December 24th, and re-opening Monday December 28th at 10:00 AM. We will close at 4:00 PM New Years Eve December 31st, and re-open Monday January 4th at 10:00AM.
Have a wonderful and safe Holiday Season!!
Covid-19 has changed how people are shopping. Many states have banned stores from being open. Most shoppers can ONLY shop online. Let's update your Bridge account for this new era.
You're invited to a new, free webinar:
Website Preparation in Response to Covid-19
Three quarters of 2017 high-school seniors said they expected to get married—almost the same as in 1976, but just 50% of these Americans will likely be married, shares today’s WSJ. In marriage’s place, cohabitating is growing.
A corollary to marriage is employment, and research shows that closing manufacturing plants shrinks marriage rates, whereas jobs with standard schedules and fringe benefits increase marriage.
View Post
I visited the New York’s Post website--to get my fill of New York gossip--and I was shown a massive advertisement from a leading tabletop brand. (I have covered the brand's logo with yellow rectangles for the privacy of the brand.) Before visiting the Post's site, I had visited this brand's website. The ads appear because the brand has hired some advertising platform to track me around the web, show me ads, and direct me back to its DTC (direct to consumer) site.