Mark Faithfull of The Robin Report tells his readers how an Iconic Parisian Café is planning to conquer the retail world. He writes: Perhaps if you started business in 1885 and have a formidable literary and artist legacy going back nearly two centuries with the same family running the show — and have created an institution over all those years in an achingly desirable and historic corner in Paris — then taking things slowly comes naturally. But now the restaurant and grande dame café, Les Deux Magots, has worldwide ambitions and has begun to spread its international wings. The plan is to … [Read more...]
UPS Results Show Pandemic Easing is Bringing Back Small Business
Small businesses showed that they're still in the game in the first quarter, pushing UPS to surging revenues. The growth in average daily volume for small and midsized U.S. businesses reached an all-time high. Dave Sebastian reports for the Wall Street Journal: United Parcel Service Inc. said its revenue rose in the latest quarter, a period that saw mounting supply-chain woes world-wide, as small and midsize businesses drove gains in the U.S. Businesses faced disruptions in the first three months of the year as the extreme Texas freeze and port backlogs compounded pandemic-driven problems. … [Read more...]
Business Isn’t the Enemy, It’s the Answer
You may remember when Ronald Reagan said, “The best social program is a productive job for anyone who’s willing to work.” He was right. If there is anything America has learned from governors going wild and shutting down their states' economies, there's no bailout or stimulus that can provide for Americans as well as their own entrepreneurial spirit can. One place in America where you can see the difference in the performance between government and the private sector is Newark, NJ. For years then-Mayor Cory Booker and other politicians tried to engineer resuscitation efforts for the … [Read more...]
Tucker Explains: Families are being Crushed by Market Forces
Anyone driving through rural New England knows this part of America is not open for business. Take a drive up route 16N in New Hampshire up to North Conway and you’ll see what I mean. And yet upon visiting Boston, New York City, and Washington D.C., it’s hard to miss the cranes dotting the skyscape. These cities and others are the islands of opportunity out of sight to much of America. The America that I grew up in is gone. Gone are towns like mine where my dad was a realtor and my mom was a teacher and my sister and I had dinner with them at night and we believed in the American … [Read more...]
Your Retirement Life: The Vineyard Vines Story
When Shep and Ian Murray quit their jobs in New York City back in 1998 to sell ties in parking lots on Martha’s Vineyard, their business plan was simple: “Twenty years ago, as Silicon Valley casual wear spread east, the timing for a necktie business seemed awful. But the Murrays settled on a contrarian thesis: Yes, guys were wearing ties less often, but when they did, they wanted to make a statement. And neckwear had high margins and no sizing issues,” writes Steven Bertoni in Forbes. Every summer, when my family visits their flagship store in Edgartown, Vineyard Vines is packed. The brothers … [Read more...]
Where to Live to Make a Living? Try this Southern Gem
If you’re looking for a place to live and work it’s hard to beat Charleston-North Charleston, South Carolina, ranking 4th for mid-sized cities in the report by Joel Kotkin of newgeography.com and Dr. Michael Shires: 2017 Best Cities for Growth. A huge bonus for South Carolina is that it's a right to work state. Workers can’t be forced to join a union as a condition of their employment. It's the reason Charleston-North Charleston has welcomed Boeing's 787 Dreamliner assembly plant, Mercedes-Benz’s $500 million plant, and Volvo’s first North American manufacturing plant—another $500 million … [Read more...]
A Physical Store’s Best Defense Against Amazon
Originally posted October 18, 2016. The Wall Street Journal outlines the fresh produce strategies brick and mortar stores like Wal-Mart and local grocers can utilize against Amazon to compete. While Wal-Mart and other retailers, including Ahold USA and Meijer Inc., are pouring money into ramping up online sales, the grocers are also buckling down on the basics of the produce department. That’s because high-quality fruits, vegetables and other fresh foods are emerging as a physical store’s best defense against growing competition from Amazon.com Inc. Many customers decide where to shop … [Read more...]
Thank You Julia Child
You never know the power of a hand-written thank you note. I was reminded of this yesterday reading about a thank you note Julia Child wrote before her death. She thanked Roger Berkowitz, president of Legal Sea Foods, for a clambake he had sent to her. It was a special note for Mr. Berkowitz. Julia Child was a loyal customer and a family friend. Their relationship went back to the days when his family ran the fish counter in Cambridge, MA. "We were her fish store," recalls Berkowitz. The note is framed and hangs in his office. I'm sure it reminds Mr. Berkowitz every day. It's a … [Read more...]
Big Ass Fans
Great story about a small company making big fans. Forbes' Karsten Strauss writes: Within a year of launching the HVLS Fan Co. back in 1999, Carey Smith began the process of changing the company’s name to Big Ass Fans . Why? Because that’s what his customers were calling it. “We would answer the phone and say, ‘This is the HVLS Fan Company,’ ” remembers Smith, smiling behind his neatly trimmed beard. “ They would inevitably pause and say, ‘Are you those guys that make the big-ass fans?’ ” They do indeed make big-ass fans – their largest is 24 feet in diameter and starts at $4,850 – and … [Read more...]