On November 27th, 1924, New York City’s Macy’s Department Store holds its first Thanksgiving Day Parade.
(While Santa has always been part of the parade, The large balloons were added in 1927, replacing live animals borrowed from the Central Park Zoo.)
May all my fellow retailers and their customers enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving.
I hope you have a chance to relax and reenergize with friends and family as we head into Black Friday and the busy Holiday season ahead.
Switzerland is famous for watches, cheese and chocolate. While in Geneva, we saw all three but it was only the chocolate that really interested us. After all, chocolate is a very affordable luxury unlike swiss watches. We made a quick stop at Favorer’s shop which was near our hotel for a little indulgence.
Favarger, founded in 1826, is the last remaining Swiss chocolatier actually producing in Geneva. All we picked up were a couple of kilogram bars of milk chocolate. How could we resist, they were 2 for 1!
If you happen to be in the Marais in Paris, you should check out Uniqlo’s store at 39 Rue des Francs Bourgeois.
The building, the former Usine de la Société des Cendres, (translated Factory of the Society of Ashes) was a foundry that reclaimed the scrap from jewelers and metalsmith and was redeveloped into a three-story, 8800 sq. ft. showroom. The store is a new concept for Uniqlo. Along with a selection of its menswear and womenswear collections, the brand also displays books, furniture and accessories; all in an effort to make the store a fashion-forward destination.
This is the 5th location for the company in Paris along with their Comptoir Des Cotoniers locations.
Today, 11/11, is Singles Day or Guanggun Jie. The name derives from the four “1”s from the date that represent an individual that is alone.
Singles Day celebrates being single and is celebrated with other singles and is very popular with young Chinese.
Tracing its roots to 1993, the original celebrations were held at a number of universities in the Nanjing area of China. The students took this celebration with them when they finished at the universities and entering the workforce across the country. The day was further popularized by the expansion of the internet in China.
Seizing an opportunity, retails began to promote the idea of giving gifts to oneself as part of the festivities. Alibaba trademarked the term “double eleven” as part of their sales promotion. In 2015, Singles Day sales set a record for on-line sales at $14.32 billion.
By chance, our recent visit to Paris coincided with Fashion Week, the biggest week of the year for French designers.
We did not attend any events, but one night while walking back from a late dinner we found ourselves on Rue Montaigne where many designers have their shops. It was late at night but every shop was open for private showings.
This is where, when and how some of the 1% shop.
I guess it is that time. My next question is when did HGTV become the official sponsor of Christmas?
Saw this window display the other dat outside of my local Nordstrom store. What a great message to send to your customers. Unrelated but still a nice thing, Nordstrom is partnering with Shoes That Fit to donate up to 20,000 pairs of shoes for K-12 students in need. Shoes That Fit
On November 3rd, 2015, Amazon opens their first brick & mortar store selling books in the University Village Mall in Seattle.
Fabrique genevoise de crayons began over 101 years ago when the Ecridor Pencil Factory was purchased by Arnold Schweitzer in Geneva, Switzerland. Today, the company known as Caran d’Ache is the premium manufacturer of pens, pencils and art supplies in Switzerland with the brand known world-wide for its quality. I had the chance to visit the Boutique Caran d”Ache at Place du Bourg-de-Four on my visit to Geneva. A wonderful little shop from the manufacturer of 40,000,000 FSC-certified pencils a year.
The Observant Customer 