design:retail - November/December 2015 - (Page 12)

editor's note 012 Embracing Setbacks ALISON EMBREY MEDINA EXECUTIVE EDITOR alison.medina@emeraldexpo.com @dretaileditor I AM WRITING THIS today entirely with my left hand. This is problematic to say the least, because I am 1) right-handed, and 2) a moment-of-thought type of writer. Meaning the pace of typing out my thoughts in one-handed slow motion is causing me to lose the thought before I reach the end of the sentence. It is a mental uphill battle, and I am losing. Thank goodness for my team of editors who will make sense of this before you read it! A pumpkin-carving mishap two days before Halloween landed me with an ER visit, an appointment with a hand specialist and ultimately a full-anesthesia surgery to repair the two severed tendons in my right pinky finger. This entire incident has been annoying at best and excruciating at worst, as I work my way through the expected therapy and rehab pain while simultaneously juggling the roadblocks that come with simply not being able to do the routine, ordinary things that typically have no weight or merit in the value of your life. But all of those priorities are suddenly forced to be re-evaluated when you can't, for instance, open a jar, tie your shoes or change a diaper (oh lord) without assistance. I'm not looking for a pity party here. I'm fully aware that Olympians have scaled mountains and rowed upstream one-handed for centuries. It's actually incredibly funny to me how much time/ energy/money I am currently attributing to literally one of the smallest tissues in my body! (Her pinky?!! What a whiner!) I am trying to remain NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2015 DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM (i.e. don't pick up the knife after you've just covered your hand in slippery, slimy pumpkin seed guts!). That's my plan at least, although I know that some days the setbacks will outnumber the learnings. And the dirty diapers will outnumber the hand(s) available to change them (eek!). Target (among other retailers) had to deal with the credit card fiasco. Once beloved lululemon offended the yogi. Subway had to distance itself from a spokesperson revealed to be a real sicko. And let's not forget Starbucks' super inflammatory "red cup" (insert extreme sarcasm here!). Companies file bankruptcy, and retail stores close every day. Setbacks are simply part of the retail way of life. It's how we learn from those mistakes and ensure they don't happen again that transforms a setback into a learning experience. As the year comes to an end, it would do us all good to reflect on the hurdles, pitfalls and other setbacks we encountered this year, and what we can do in 2016 to right them and not repeat our mistakes. Raise your metaphorical retail glasses (and pinkies!), and let's toast to overcoming our setbacks in the New Year! focused on the positives-like knowing the splint on my hand is only temporarily life-changing, and being grateful that I still have a finger there to mend at all. I am choosing to look at the next 8-12 weeks as a learning experience, and hoping that it will at the very least, serve as an effective cautionary tale on the dangers of carving pumpkins P.S. If you have any ideas on bedazzling my splint for the PAVE Gala, feel free to send them my way! Illustration by DANIEL DOWNEY http://www.DESIGNRETAILONLINE.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of design:retail - November/December 2015

design:retail - November/December 2015
Contents
Editor’s Note
Show Talk
On Trend
We Love This!
Designer Picks
Clicks & Mortar
How’d They Do That?
Have You Heard?
Perspectives
Mingle
Shopper Insights
Shopping with Paco
New York Retail
Buyers’ Guide
Company Listing
Product Category Index
Product Category Listing
Backstory

design:retail - November/December 2015