Charlie sheen calling Denise Richards the N word is the only time that word has ever been used comically.
Also wondering if the people without color who are so focused on affirmative action will ever shift their lens to why the white male mental health crisis is so high in the United States when they benefit more than anyone else.
Obsessed with NWA and also the Walmart trajectory. Grew up in NYC but my dads family is five generations Ozarks—the 12th ever Walmart opened up in his town and my grandad put a strict embargo on us shopping there growing up, because my grandad felt like Walmart killed the downtown and ultimately the development of the city. I don’t think that experience is unique…a lot of small towns in America were changed (not for the better) by Walmart in the 1960s BUT what has been so interesting to me is how Walmart has had a complete 180 and is doing things like Open Call now.
i'm from a small midwestern town with a charming downtown, and nobody wanted walmart to come in the mid-2000s. there were protests and and an active facebook group against the change. it finally came, and it wasn't allowed to remove the trees between the highway and the store, so it was basically invisible from the main road. this was unlike other big retail giants on the main corridor: home depot and meijer.
i didn't shop at walmart for years. now, i'll go there if it's convenient. it's weird, like it's not an amazing company imo, but it seems charming compared to amazon. it's like how i think of george bush in 2025: harmless and cute (?) lol compared to what we have now
Agree, I actually love Walmart (but I think it’s like the same reason I love malls and stuff, I just didn’t have it growing up in the city).
The downtown in my grandads town is completely dead though. It’s this beautiful block with these super intricate 1800s buildings and about half the buildings are vacant. The town itself is really about a 5 mile stretch of a highway now with fast food and chain stores, which is much different than how it was when my dad grew up there. And the way my family tells it, that shift began with Walmart.
It was interesting, we went for Easter this year and flew into bentonville and did that drive (we usually drive from Memphis) and we drove through this really nice town on the border of Arkansas and Missouri and my dad mentioned how it used to be their rival town, both seen as potential economic forces in the area, and that town has completely flourished while West Plains is totally dead now.
Books: winter’s bone is the most popular work of fiction to come out of the Ozarks. It’s based on the town my family is from: West Plains Missouri IRL, West Table Missouri in the book. It was JLaw’s first big movie. My grandad wrote a strongly worded letter to Daniel Woodall (the author) about how some of the towns people were perceived and my dad had to have a talk with him about how fiction works, haha. Anthony Bourdain came to west plains for a no reservation episode and taped with Daniel Woodrell.
Ozarks fiction is great for the tragic, crime stories a la true detective. Laura McHugh is a great mystery writer with all her books taking place in SE Missouri.
cannot wait for the jane pratt tell-all. i was too young for sassy, but was an xojane stan in college. anyone know what happened to her new media company she was supposed to launch?
Thanks so much for appreciating my overlooked stepchild XOJane! Sassy gets all the glory. I think what you're talking about is this site which I launched last year AnotherJanePrattThing.com but I'm not here to promote it. I'm here because I love Emily's work and love that you get mine. Thank you!
The liberal arts are not dead at Penn and going to Wharton as I did is not a sentence of moral doom.
I was in Philly this week co-moderating a discussion with the author Adelle Waldman about her excellent book, Help Wanted. Adelle was given a prize for best business writing, and it is fitting that it is for a novel as great fiction can convey reality better than non-fiction.
Might not be my best financial move but I just invested in a consumer good company because I saw it in a newsletter I like.
In all seriousness though while the SEC filing isn't the most bullish I don't necessarily hate the direct consumer crowdfunding approach to raising capital. It's a little more degenerate but a lot of crypto/AI companies have been raising a lot of money, very quickly via platforms like echo.xyz, a lot less DD vs the typical VC model and direct buy in (and potential free marketing) from consumers
Crowdfunding approach from loyal customers can be executed effectively w/o much dilution of their stake IMO. A few years ago, LMNT did one although I’m unsure whether that entailed equity issuance. In hindsight, I wish I pulled the trigger as I’ve been using LMNT increasingly more and have had a number of friends hooked on it since then. I didn’t foresee LMNT becoming a dominant player in the market. Understandable if a brand hits an inflection point before being able to ride the momentum for further growth.
If you want to understand how we got here on trade and need tariffs to bring back all of the manufacturing we lost (and what a bad actor China has been for the last couple of decades), I recommend “No Trade is Free” by Robert Lighthizer. Next on my list is “Trade Wars are Class Wars” (love that title), ie Wall Street profits vs Blue Collar labor.
Bentonville native here! 👋 Hope you made it to Bar Cleeta for dinner and The Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista for a visit (designed by E Fay Jones)
the summer i worked at walmart in 2019 was one of the best ever. i have never seen loyalty like walmart customers have loyalty. I think it's because they really don't stray from EDLP. consumer brands i think overlook their power not in scale but in belovedness. it's cool they have such a focus on made in US - my 20 year old self didn't realize that part. btw shannon wanted me to tell you she is now reading 1929 in hardback after reading ur post this week
I've heard from emerging founders that have launched at Walmart they make a good partner, dissappointed that they haven't announced any help with SNAP cuts... re: KIN euphorics I have heard they laid off most of their team and they weren't able to close their round so yeah they are strapped for cash, I think it's not the best picture of health for a company to go from blowing through VC money to going after consumer's as investors, specially when you have a celebrity as a "co-founder".... at a point it would make more sense to start finding a way to unwind, if they cant make it work in the almost decade they've been around.
I wonder what Luigi thinks about that column in the daily Pennsylvanian
I wonder what Luigi thinks PERIOD
Charlie sheen calling Denise Richards the N word is the only time that word has ever been used comically.
Also wondering if the people without color who are so focused on affirmative action will ever shift their lens to why the white male mental health crisis is so high in the United States when they benefit more than anyone else.
Obsessed with NWA and also the Walmart trajectory. Grew up in NYC but my dads family is five generations Ozarks—the 12th ever Walmart opened up in his town and my grandad put a strict embargo on us shopping there growing up, because my grandad felt like Walmart killed the downtown and ultimately the development of the city. I don’t think that experience is unique…a lot of small towns in America were changed (not for the better) by Walmart in the 1960s BUT what has been so interesting to me is how Walmart has had a complete 180 and is doing things like Open Call now.
i'm from a small midwestern town with a charming downtown, and nobody wanted walmart to come in the mid-2000s. there were protests and and an active facebook group against the change. it finally came, and it wasn't allowed to remove the trees between the highway and the store, so it was basically invisible from the main road. this was unlike other big retail giants on the main corridor: home depot and meijer.
i didn't shop at walmart for years. now, i'll go there if it's convenient. it's weird, like it's not an amazing company imo, but it seems charming compared to amazon. it's like how i think of george bush in 2025: harmless and cute (?) lol compared to what we have now
Agree, I actually love Walmart (but I think it’s like the same reason I love malls and stuff, I just didn’t have it growing up in the city).
The downtown in my grandads town is completely dead though. It’s this beautiful block with these super intricate 1800s buildings and about half the buildings are vacant. The town itself is really about a 5 mile stretch of a highway now with fast food and chain stores, which is much different than how it was when my dad grew up there. And the way my family tells it, that shift began with Walmart.
It was interesting, we went for Easter this year and flew into bentonville and did that drive (we usually drive from Memphis) and we drove through this really nice town on the border of Arkansas and Missouri and my dad mentioned how it used to be their rival town, both seen as potential economic forces in the area, and that town has completely flourished while West Plains is totally dead now.
Do you have any required reading recs on NWA?
For reading: this article from the NYT was incredible. I usually hate their “small town America” beat but I love the interactive parts here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/travel/mountain-view-ozarks-arkansas-music.html
Books: winter’s bone is the most popular work of fiction to come out of the Ozarks. It’s based on the town my family is from: West Plains Missouri IRL, West Table Missouri in the book. It was JLaw’s first big movie. My grandad wrote a strongly worded letter to Daniel Woodall (the author) about how some of the towns people were perceived and my dad had to have a talk with him about how fiction works, haha. Anthony Bourdain came to west plains for a no reservation episode and taped with Daniel Woodrell.
Ozarks fiction is great for the tragic, crime stories a la true detective. Laura McHugh is a great mystery writer with all her books taking place in SE Missouri.
Ok so your grandad is the man...
He’s a beast. Turns 101 in November (and yes his 100th birthday was front page, above the fold news in the local paper, haha)
Love when worlds collide (fellow Walmart associate)
No way! Where do you live?
cannot wait for the jane pratt tell-all. i was too young for sassy, but was an xojane stan in college. anyone know what happened to her new media company she was supposed to launch?
I'll tell her to get in this comment section today, she knows she has fans here
I love you and the way you operate, Emily. No one else calls me at 10:30 PM to get the story right. Thanks for that!
I NEEDED IT TO BE PERFECT.
IMPERATIVE ALWAYS!
Thanks so much for appreciating my overlooked stepchild XOJane! Sassy gets all the glory. I think what you're talking about is this site which I launched last year AnotherJanePrattThing.com but I'm not here to promote it. I'm here because I love Emily's work and love that you get mine. Thank you!
Ahhh got it :) I'll check that out as well, love your content always!
Super appreciate it - and now you have me thinking of launching another new media company...
The liberal arts are not dead at Penn and going to Wharton as I did is not a sentence of moral doom.
I was in Philly this week co-moderating a discussion with the author Adelle Waldman about her excellent book, Help Wanted. Adelle was given a prize for best business writing, and it is fitting that it is for a novel as great fiction can convey reality better than non-fiction.
Article below.
https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/10/penn-adelle-waldman-conversation-novel-kelly-writers-house
We should set up a conversation with you and the writer who penned that piece yesterday
I’m game.
“Shinola coffee shop” gives me mustache, red wing boots, lPA vibes
the tribeca dads deserve a treat
Might not be my best financial move but I just invested in a consumer good company because I saw it in a newsletter I like.
In all seriousness though while the SEC filing isn't the most bullish I don't necessarily hate the direct consumer crowdfunding approach to raising capital. It's a little more degenerate but a lot of crypto/AI companies have been raising a lot of money, very quickly via platforms like echo.xyz, a lot less DD vs the typical VC model and direct buy in (and potential free marketing) from consumers
I want to know what you invested in, or at least the newsletter you saw it in
Kin + Feed Me 👀
Whoa
Crowdfunding approach from loyal customers can be executed effectively w/o much dilution of their stake IMO. A few years ago, LMNT did one although I’m unsure whether that entailed equity issuance. In hindsight, I wish I pulled the trigger as I’ve been using LMNT increasingly more and have had a number of friends hooked on it since then. I didn’t foresee LMNT becoming a dominant player in the market. Understandable if a brand hits an inflection point before being able to ride the momentum for further growth.
I'm addicted to LMNT and also wish i invested.
If you want to understand how we got here on trade and need tariffs to bring back all of the manufacturing we lost (and what a bad actor China has been for the last couple of decades), I recommend “No Trade is Free” by Robert Lighthizer. Next on my list is “Trade Wars are Class Wars” (love that title), ie Wall Street profits vs Blue Collar labor.
Thank you CS
That school of hard knockz interview stood out to me as something odd in terms of the information he was revealing
Bentonville native here! 👋 Hope you made it to Bar Cleeta for dinner and The Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista for a visit (designed by E Fay Jones)
i loved this post so much
Ellie ❤️
the summer i worked at walmart in 2019 was one of the best ever. i have never seen loyalty like walmart customers have loyalty. I think it's because they really don't stray from EDLP. consumer brands i think overlook their power not in scale but in belovedness. it's cool they have such a focus on made in US - my 20 year old self didn't realize that part. btw shannon wanted me to tell you she is now reading 1929 in hardback after reading ur post this week
Fantastic letter today. Gave me all the buzzy Friday vibes I needed. Felt like I was at a great, impromptu cocktail party. Zing!
Wow thanks Cindy!!!
Top tier letter today Emily!
Grazie Maggie
I've heard from emerging founders that have launched at Walmart they make a good partner, dissappointed that they haven't announced any help with SNAP cuts... re: KIN euphorics I have heard they laid off most of their team and they weren't able to close their round so yeah they are strapped for cash, I think it's not the best picture of health for a company to go from blowing through VC money to going after consumer's as investors, specially when you have a celebrity as a "co-founder".... at a point it would make more sense to start finding a way to unwind, if they cant make it work in the almost decade they've been around.