Social Sadness
I am continually shocked at the level of vitriol expressed on social media. I can’t imagine people would verbalize what is so freely posted. When these types of postings appear on my timelines, I “hide” them. Sometimes any response seems to just fuel the fire. — Laura Sipe, J.C. Sipe, Indianapolis, IN
Accentuate the Positive
Can someone please, please, please stop harping on the negative and instead write a piece on what some stores are doing right?
At every show, designers like me are asked repeatedly, “What’s new?” “What’s different?” “Let’s focus on the newness …” I’m so frustrated by it. I want to respond with, “Wait — What’s new with you? What are you doing differently this year? What are your new marketing/promotional initiatives?” Stores are so quick to blame designers for not doing enough to support them, the internet for taking their market share, millennials for choosing to spend their money on life experience rather than things, etc. It’s exhausting.
I’m quite sure that plenty of examples exist of stores that are putting on their creative hats and changing with the times instead of choosing to moan about the death of retail all the time. Can we highlight some of the stores that “get it?” — Suzy Landa, designer, New York, NY
Where Are the Role Models?
We should ask the question: why is the love for jewelry on the decline in modern society? I would love to hear opinions. I believe one reason is the lack of celebrity jewelry-role-models like Liz Taylor or the Duchess of Windsor. The tattoos that the celebs like to show off don’t sell jewelry, unfortunately. — Klaus Kutter, A Jour Inc., Bristol, RI
Compliment Complaint
I am tired of telling you that INSTORE is my favorite mag. — Cliff Yankovich, Chimera Design, Lowell, MI
This article originally appeared in the April 2017 edition of INSTORE.