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.

To recap, trends hit:

• Instagrammable

• New CPG sales channel

• Small format

• Self-checkout

• Shift in ad dollars from digital to stores

And those missed:

• Experience

• Service

• Product education

• Brand immersion

• The “chat” in chat commerce

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.

I’m headed to SF for a quick trip to NRFtech to emcee tomorrow morning’s session. Much of this year’s discussion will center on “why tech matters” in retail.

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.

New and established brands are focusing on tighter assortments.

A new Barneys beauty brand gives customers an effective takeaway.

Earlier this month, I visited Amazon Go and Starbucks Roastery. They’re at opposite ends of the technology/human spectrum.

“The living room is the new dressing room.” - Miki Berardelli, Kidbox CEO

I heard this shortly after telling someone that home is a shopping channel. If a fashion retailer doesn’t have a home strategy, it may be multichannel but I don't think I can say it’s omnichannel.

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?*

In the past week, I read two articles that left me thinking about the purpose of physical retail stores

With links to inspiration and #GoodNewsRetail I like.

Based on personal experience, I recommend GiftNow for consumers and retailers alike.

Four brands took an Instagram marketing tactic that’s become stale and created a cross-brand customer experience in Soho

How big a role does brand play in people’s decisions about where to work out? Regardless of its significance now, I think its importance will increase as fitness companies continue to define and amplify their brands.

Looking at stores I’ve visited recently (here and here) and what’s next on my list (future visits coming via Instagram Stories) and paying close attention to my daily inclinations, I have two main thoughts.