Top Stories » Expert Columns » All Categories

With Charlie, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne knocking down our doors, it is tough duty to focus on the specialty part of the housewares industry. Florida business has been punched in the gut and is still sucking air from the repeated blows.  »

I've written numerous articles and taught many classes about the benefits of virtual retailing on the Internet and I always ask my students or readers to imagine themselves frantically rushing to stave off incursions by virtual retailers who don't have the overhead of traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers during the prime Christmas gift-giving season.  »

Portuguese Designers and Manufacturers Team Up for Success In its second showing, the Portuguese design show IN¿NOVA ¿ Innovative Solutions for Table and Living proved it could lift its country¿s textile and tabletop manufacturers to new heights by providing them access to a world of marketing, design, and production resources to improve their production processes and profits.  »

We're in the midst of those harried holidays, but the post-holiday blues will be along before you know it. Get ready to pull your customers from the winter doldrums with new products and innovative ideas inspired by celebrity chefs, and national magazines, cookbooks, and television.  »

Fall is a great time to celebrate American blues. No, I'm not referring to Billie Holiday, Besse Smith, or Robert Johnson. Not even Eric Clapton. We're talking about cheese, and particularly blue cheese, a category for which the United States has not been particularly noted for until fairly recently.  »

It's not surprising that a country as closely identified with great cheese as Switzerland is would have as its national dish (at least for the French-speaking populace) a simmering pot of melted cheese in which to dip crusty pieces of bread. »

With the passing of Labor Day and the long days of summer behind us, the attention of all retailers now turns to the all-important Christmas selling season. After last year's blowout holiday season, what inquiring retailers and their suppliers want to know is -- How will we do this year? »