Hats off to our Retail Stars | Allison Zisko
It is a pleasure every year to highlight and celebrate our Retail Stars, the independent retailers across the country that are the backbone and heart of the home accents community. Congratulations to all!
In addition, three of our 50 Retail Stars have been nominated for a Retail Excellence Award, bestowed by our sister publication, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, in the home décor category. The REA gala takes place in Dallas later this month; please keep an eye on homeaccentstoday.com to find out who won and for more coverage of that event.
This year’s 50 Retail Stars — a significantly expanded list — were chosen by Home Accents Today‘s editors based on recommendations from other retailers, industry observers and our own research and knowledge. They represent a wide variety of merchants with different backgrounds, experiences and points of view.
Meet 50 Retail Stars of home decor
Some of them are seasoned veterans and repeat Retail Stars who continue to reinvent themselves. Others are relatively new to retail, bringing a fresh perspective to home furnishings from an ancillary category such as gift, apparel or jewelry. Many of our stars are interior designers who have made the leap to become store owners to capitalize on the synergies between retail and interior design. This is a growing segment of home accents retailing.
One of the greatest strengths of the independent retail community is its willingness to trade information, resources and experiences — both good and bad — with one another. Teddie and Courtney Garrigan, the mother-daughter duo behind Coco & Dash, hosted in Dallas this past January a series of retail conversations in which panelists discussed issues ranging from rising retail rents to the advantages and disadvantages of carrying Christmas merchandise. They advised audience members about everything from how to best display decorative pillows to making assortment decisions for a brand-new retail store in a resort community.
At April’s High Point Market, I moderated a panel with owners from Coco & Dash, Eclectic Home in New Orleans and K + Co. Living in New Jersey about the realities of running a retail store, and how to adapt, evolve and thrive in today’s challenging economic environment. We had so many topics on the agenda: What new technology makes the most sense for your business? How do you adjust your merchandise assortment from year to year? Does it make sense to bring in non-home categories? If so, which ones? How long do you keep a product on the shelf before giving up on it? How do you satisfy core customers while attracting new ones?
We did not get through everything because the audience was eager to ask questions and delve deeper into topics. The generous, energized give and take between retailers in forums such as these is what will buoy business in these turbulent uncertain times. Hats off to all of them!
