STORES Magazine - December 2008 - (Page 8)

CONSIDER THIS / EXECUTIVE EDITOR’S PAGE Predictions? Not From Me BY SUSAN REDA ’ve learned that making predictions is not for the faint of heart: Once they appear in print, people tend to hold me to them. Occasionally someone will call up several months into the New Year with a verbal pat on the back. “You nailed it,” they’ll say as I breathe an inaudible (I hope) sigh of relief that the gods of intuition and knowledge somehow smiled on me. More often, I get a call from someone who takes great delight in pointing out just how wrong I got it. It’s humbling indeed, and downright embarrassing sometimes, but it comes with the territory. And, to be honest, after the pint of Ben & Jerry’s I’ll consume to mitigate my misery, I’m usually just fine. I’ve always thought that it would be much easier to predict things that are not likely in the coming year. With that in mind, I doubt we’ll see the following: • Having grown fond of her new wardrobe, Sarah Palin decides to leave the Alaska governor’s mansion and become a fashion designer. Look for her Caribou Barbie collection to debut at Cabela’s in time for spring turkey hunting season. • Larry David, the co-creator of “Seinfeld” and star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” will become a sought-after speaker on the retail conference circuit opining on topics like employee motivation and social networking. • PC Guy will nominate Mac Guy for a makeover by “What Not to Wear” hosts Stacey London and Clinton Kelly. Lo and behold, Mac Guy loses the jeans, the hoodie and the hipster attitude and realizes that geeky is the new cool. • An inspiration to pint-sized fashionistas around the world, Suri Cruise will use her daddy’s big bucks to open a shop selling gently worn designer children’s wear. With togs donated by the Pitt-Jolie gang, Sunday Rose, Harlow, Apple and the rest of the celebabies, it won’t be long before little Suri is shopping for an inventory management app. • Rachel Ray will set a new standard for quick-serve restaurant chains. The doyenne of 30-minute meals will shatter her own records in the kitchen, promising to turn out healthy meals cooked with E.V.O.O. and lots of garlic in 15 minutes or less. Yum-O. • The New York Mets will hire Jeffrey Ma, the card-counting subject of the movie “21” and the author of “Bringing the House Down.” Ma and his team will apply complex regression analysis to myriad player statistics in an attempt to figure out how a team with so much talent can consistently implode during the month of September. They’ll come up with a solution, but team management will choose instead to “trust their gut” and the Mets will end up watching the playoffs on TV . . . again. I STORES Magazine STORES Digital Edition STORES.org STORES Knowledge Series® STORES First Edition STORES Retail Deals 325 7th St. NW, Suite 1100 Washington, D.C. 20004 202/626-8101 RICK GALLAGHER Publisher Vice President 202/626-8103 FAX: 866/640-8136 E-mail: publisher@nrf.com SUSAN PATTERSON Assistant Publisher 202/626-8102 FAX: 202/661-3042 E-mail: pattersons@nrf.com EDITORIAL SUSAN REDA Executive Editor 516/437-1245 FAX: 866/640-8138 E-mail: editor@nrf.com HARRY LISTER Managing Editor 202/626-8199 FAX: 866/640-8137 E-mail: listerh@nrf.com EMINE BEHNAM Production Manager 202/661-3047 FAX: 866/235-1939 E-mail: behname@nrf.com MARY ALICE ELMER Copy Editor LUCY D. REDDAWAY Creative Director ADVERTISING & MARKETING MIKE GRIBBIN Advertising Director 410/893-8003 Kim Daniele Molly Deise Therese Draddy Chris Hodges Dan McClure Tim O’Connell Executive Publishing Inc. 900A Main St., Suite 103 Bel Air, MD 21014 410/893-8003 FAX: 410/893-8004 E-mail: advertising@stores.org CIRCULATION ELENA CAIOLA Senior Director, Circulation and Information Management 202/626-8146 FAX: 866/640-8139 E-mail: circulation@nrf.com DORIS MASON Circulation Assistant 202/626-8172 FAX: 866/640-8140 For article reprints, including e-prints, please contact our Reprint Coordinator at Wright's Reprints 877-652-5295 or STORESreprints@wrightsreprints.com. editor@nrf.com At STORES, we appreciate hearing our readers’ thoughts and comments. Please address your correspondence to editor@nrf.com, or contact me at (516) 437-1245. 8 STORES / DECEMBER 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG http://WWW.STORES.ORG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of STORES Magazine - December 2008

STORES Magazine - December 2008 Contents Executive Editor's Page President's Page Wrap Rage Unraveled What Shoppers Think Courting a Comeback 10 Things You May Have Missed Numbers Worth Counting Full Price/Markdown Retail People Cover Story: Navigating the Road Ahead Website Strategy Concept2Watch Online Customer Service International Marketing Green Retailing Online Merchandising Signage Operations Online Strategies Pricing Strategy Kiosks RFID Human Resources Loeb Retail Letter ARTS Update Point of View NRF News Retail Crossword Retail Industry Calendar Last Laugh

STORES Magazine - December 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.