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.

Last week, I kicked off #GoodNewsRetail, a means for sharing what's new and hopeful in the industry. Here are a handful of #GoodNewsRetail items shared on Twitter last week.

What’s new and interesting? What looks good? What’s unproven but sounds like a good idea we should keep an eye on? I’ll use #GoodNewsRetail to share these finds on Twitter and Instagram and I hope you will, too.

Nike is doubling down on the 12 markets that will provide 80% of the brand's growth over the next 2.5 years. To many companies, this would mean focusing ad dollars in those markets and maybe sprucing up some area stores. But for Nike, it means more. 

It's painfully easy to think of retailers who aren't doing well right now. Handy trackers even help us keep track of bankruptcies and store closures. But there also are bright spots I love watching. Here are some companies doing well right now and why I'm excited about them.

As company after company has filed for bankruptcy or announced mass store closures, I'm reminded both of my question about how retailers are measuring stores and my ideas for how retailers can use stores to enhance the customer experience. 

Regardless of whether retailers are thinking about either of these topics, there are obvious ways to leverage existing stores to drive sales in any or all channels.

I read many - probably too many - articles about retail. More than any I’ve seen recently, last week’s The New Yorker article, "Why J. Crew's Vision of Preppy America Failed", nails so much about retail today. 

A few weeks ago, I announced the pre-launch of my new retail business, Box The Party. As the landing page says, I want to help people eliminate Pinterest party fails and create Instagrammable everyday celebrations at home. Despite the chatbot hype, I believe there's an opportunity in human-to-human interaction. So it's no coincidence that Box The Party's minimally viable product - which launched last week - is all via SMS.

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. 

I'm not usually one to wallow in the doom and gloom angles of retail. But writing about an evergreen retail topic or recent store visit right now would seem to be ignoring the elephant in the dressing room. The 89,000 U.S. retail workers who have been laid off since October outnumber all of the people employed in the U.S. coal industry

Online merchandising and the ease of e-commerce filtering and sorting can make store visits comparably and increasingly frustrating.Amazon is bringing some of the best of online merchandising tactics to its stores.

Earlier this month, I got the chance to sit down with Robert D'Loren, Chairman & CEO of Xcel Brands. I'm so glad I took it because Bob isn't just another garment district leader and Xcel is anything but another apparel manufacturer. Below is what I learned and why I think Xcel and its brands are ones to watch -- if you can keep track of them as well as they keep track of global trends.

As the number of ways we can see and reach customers grows, seemingly at an exponential rate, retail organizations also become more complex. More sharing is needed. Meeting calendars are filling up faster than ever. When an initiative touches marketing, online/mobile, store visits, and tech, who owns it? Everyone? No one?

I packed about 17 experiences into my one day (Saturday, 3/11/17) in Austin, not including all the mind-expanding conversations I had along the way. The global, truly interdisciplinary nature of the crowd this event continues to draw is beyond impressive.

If there's no picture, did it even happen? For brands, it may as well not have. And for millennials, if there's no picture to be taken, the experience may not happen for them at all. But it better be an experience you're selling, and not just an item.

In making store closure decisions, retailers are, of course, looking at real estate terms and four-wall profitability and the prospect that customers of a closed location may decide to shop in another location nearby.

I hope these additional considerations are also part of the conversation and planning, if not the decision-making process itself.

Retailers can’t do “omnichannel” well without data that profile customers and their paths to purchase across channels. With in-store Wi-Fi log-ins and data collection powered by Euclid Connect, retailers gain illuminating visibility into how the store visit fits into a customer’s purchase journey

As social media took off, brands aspired to be our friends. And now they are. As with our other friends, we want to know what they think. And we hope they're on our side. It's awkward for companies to say they won't take a political stance for two reasons.

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.