Happy New Year! The holiday season has come and gone and we are looking forward to a big year. Recently, I’ve been working closely with a fixture manufacturing team as we expand our brands, particularly Bella Taylor handbags. My wife, Julie, and I took a trip a couple of weeks ago to spend a day or so with the team working out a lot of details and we are excited to launch this new phase of our business.

We also had lengthy talks to free-associate a lot of ideas about store sets, merchandising and the selling environment in general. Below are a few thoughts from those discussions, in no special order.

• Behind every great store environment is a person or team committed to excellence in the physical store environment. Lighting, fronting displays, arranging merchandise for strong visual focus are all daily, indeed hourly, endeavors and tasks.

• Plan for ...

First, let me give a nod of support to Country Business as it transforms to Smart Retailer.  I know the magazine team is working hard to make sure the transition is smooth and successful.  From VHC, Inc. our team wishes you the best in 2012.

Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of working with the Country Business/Smart Retailer team, and talking frequently with editor Susan Wagner about industry happenings and the general state of things. One of our favorite activities is to get together over dinner and exchange a lot of ideas, and see if anything sticks. We have an unspoken rule, which I will now speak (sorry Susan!): there is no dumb or ridiculous idea, and the worst thing you can do is not put it out there. We usually exchange 20-30 ideas a session. Some are big, some are easy, some are ideas that don’t have enough ...

Putting your signature on the way you live is the definition of your “home.” So when it comes to trends for 2012, Americans will want cozy and romantic. No one can afford to take risks, so we will see more creativity with new twists on the tried-and-true. We’ll see more accessories and furniture that “play well with others,” pieces that easily complement or integrate with existing elements in a home, both in color, design and pattern creating our own style.

Upcoming Trends

Ode to Mother Nature
She is honest, constant, classic, and creative in color and color combinations. Ever popular are the three Bs (birds, bees and butterflies) plus dragonflies. Taking center stage will be songbirds, often pen and ink rendered in sepia tones or purples. Each of them represents flight, symbolizing escape from the frenetic travails of our daily-ness. Organic materials and natural forms include shells in all shapes ...

In this questioning time of retail, economy, and how the country is going; we all have one thing in common. We love a NEW YEAR. It brings with it all sorts of new promises, new ideas, new outlooks, things that just are going to make a change. We make resolutions, watch the old year out and welcome in the new, and somehow we just know that the fresh start will be exciting. The past is behind us start of a new year will somehow be different.

In most households we settle in to enjoy the memories of the past holiday, take a break from the busy schedules, watch the snow coming down in the mountains, eat left over’s, and head for all the sales in the stores. Isn’t it fun to just mosey through the aisles of tousled left over’s to find that box of cards that says YOU and ...

Is it really a month or time of year you are born that makes you want to be an entrepreneur? Everything I read about my birth sign (LEO) seems to be that it is a mind that wants to create, an inquisitive mind that wants to know how things tick, aims to please, workaholic, energy that needs to be shared, and on goes the list. When I read about my sign WOW it is so me. Starting a new business is challenging no matter what the economical times are. Right now I agree it is going to take something special to create a business that will be a success. Ah-ha, that is it, I love a challenge and what better time than now to hit it head on. Here are some simple suggestions that have led me into a successful business and if you can pull some of my energy ...