Earlier this evening, I posted an Instagram story showing which stores had lines to enter and which were seeing less traffic yesterday.

I also shared a photo of my pickup order from Gramercy Tavern At Home which, unsurprisingly, was the best takeout customer experience I’ve had. Daily Provisions, also from Union Square Hospitality Group, was a close second.

The multi-platform, multi-venue, multi-product program I’ve now seen over several weeks appears to be the result of the proven creativity of The Infatuation team and the risk-taking for which Nike has become admired.

Observations and analysis about Amazon‘s London pop-up from retail consultant Rebecca Smith and me.

On the way to visit the new Amazon 4-star store in Soho, I stumbled upon a Cartier pop-up at 120 Wooster (open until 11/4/18). Unexpectedly, I found both to be about discovery.

If more stores can capture people’s attention in similarly-immersive ways, then reserved and tour-guided retail could be part of the definition that I think today’s “retail as entertainment” hypotheses sorely need.

Hitting so many DNVB stores in quick succession reinforced for me a story. The story is that these brands - unlike retailers before them - are not opening stores for pure distribution strategy reasons.

While I’m all for the product-free pop-up, I’m looking for more of a tie between brand and experience than this one.

A number of companies are jumping in to build more distinct CPG brands and subscription programs and to prevent such categories from being forever solidified as commodities. Here are three I'm personally using and loving.

This is the first part in a series I’ll use to explore retail (likely offline, but could be online) that emphasizes product discovery over - or in ways equal to - immediate sales.

If you’ve followed Ron Johnson from Target to Apple to in-and-out of JC Penney, you know his latest effort is as Founder/CEO of Enjoy. All in all, I see Enjoy-type service being a competitive advantage for brands that use it. It’s hard to beat this level of - free - personal service that came at 1 PM on a Sunday following my order at 11 PM Saturday night.

On Friday, I visited the Dyson Demo store. I had read about it and, while I'm not in the market for a vacuum cleaner, what's the point of a retail store anymore if it's not a helpful experience with some form of product trial?*

Someone visiting town for the holidays asked me what retail to see while in New York. I could go on and on (and on) but here's what came to mind first. Please comment or tweet and tell me what you'd add! 

The best thing about Amazon making shopping boring is that stores - at the least the good ones - are being reborn as shopping experiences. And not just shopping, but education and community, as shown at ADAY in the thumbnail image.

Personally and professionally, I love stores. But in the past three days alone, I've observed too many of them failing on the basics.

I've been out and about in New York over the past three days and, without intentionally embarking on a channel checking tour, I've found myself making a lot of mental notes about the experiences I've had.

I'm really impressed with how this retailer - a legacy department store in an age when their demise is predicted daily, no less - has evolved its product, presentation, and positioning. Plenty of retailers should be able to take a lesson from what they've done. 

For an increasing number of purchases, consumers don’t need to enter a physical retail store. It's why foot traffic is down: When consumers know they want to buy something, they often can do it online. 

Consumers need reasons to enter stores even when they don't intend to buy. Here's what I've seen drawing traffic recently and keeping visitors inside.

Late last year, Adidas opened a new "brand store" on 5th Ave. and 46th St. in NY. While I kept my eyes open for the technology I know is there, it didn't jump out at me (which isn't a bad thing). But five other aspects of the experience did.