I went on a downtown retail adventure.

Stores.

GOOD MORNING.

Quick news:

• TikTok is hiring a DTC consumer lead. Sounds painful.

• The New York Times changed their nav bar. There are now fewer categories at the top, with dropdown menus to get more specific (WSJ already uses this method). I am not a fan, this gives me decision paralysis and makes it feel a little junky and over-crowded. But who am I but a paying subscriber…

  

  

• But I do like the user experience of this restaurant reservation story on the Times. It feels like you’re playing a video game.

• Are you ready to watch a scripted show about Glossier? Amazon MGM Studios has acquired the rights to adapt “Glossy,” about the beauty brand and its founder Emily Weiss, into a television series. I saw a few former employees posting on their personal pages that this is a bad idea. By the way, former Glossier executive and Boybrow inspiration Annie Kreighbaum is also working on a movie project.

• And while we’re talking about the G-word, it looks like they’re about to launch Cookie Butter balm dotcom (they already had hot cocoa last year)

• An alarming rise in overdose deaths among children and teenagers is colliding with an inadequate pediatric mental health system — including a lack of addiction treatment. Median monthly overdose deaths among adolescents ages 10-19 increased by 109% between the second half of 2019 and the second half of 2021. Deaths involving illicitly manufactured fentanyl increased by 182%. The national drug overdose crisis has also worsened since the beginning of the pandemic, with more than 100,000 Americans dying each year. Aside from this Axios report, I suggest you read this piece in The Assembly about a UNC student who recently died on the Duke campus from an overdose.

• Some people are sealing business deals with ice baths. Do not ever suggest this to me, be normal and take me for an Old Fashioned.

• Tip from a friend: “apparently this company imploded 2 weeks ago and laid off almost everyone.” You hate to see it.

• I didn’t expect to see Taeyong and Maggie Smith in the same sentence this morning either. But Loewe’s new campaign has both of them AND Dakota Fanning, Greta Lee, and Mike Faist. Really spectacular stuff.

  

As we approach the season of pop-ups and takeovers and holiday shops, I figured I’d get a head start and take a look at how some of New York’s new specialty shops are merchandising their stuff.

Yesterday (Monday) I took the train to East Broadway and embarked on a walking tour of some downtown stores. I also don’t want to brag but….. my friend Lailee and I ran into Leonardo DiCaprio on Orchard Street around 1:30pm EASTERN STANDARD TIME. He was gorgeous and looked like a lot of fun.

If you just want the TLDR of what I think a good retail/pop-up experience is, here you go:

• Hire staff that gives a shit about being there. It makes a huge difference, especially for people who just stumble in and might not understand your brand universe.

• When a store smells good (candles or scent machines) it immediately transports customers. I noticed a few of these stores went hard on the scents, and I liked it.

• Give out free cookies.

• I don’t like stores that feel bare. The holidays are about coziness, generosity, and filling a hypothetical basket. I understand why some go for more of the gallery method, but I’d rather see a lot of stuff, organized neatly.

• Consider Instagrammable moments for more foot traffic (gorgeous wallpaper, a really good mirror, some kind of cool matches that people walk away with, something FUN)

• Have nice gift wrap.

• Steam your clothes, keep your windows clean, dust and sweep, restock shelves when they’re emptying.