New Season, New Features
There's springtime renewal in the pages of Gifts & Decorative Accessories
By Maria Weiskott, Editor -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 4/1/2006
Ah, spring! Don't you just love it? Flower buds, baseball's opening day, baby birds and other newborn critters, grass turning green again, seedlings for summer vegetable gardens, “springing forward” and maybe best of all, longer, brighter days.
We all love more light. For months, we've been getting up in the dark and going home from work in the dark. But when spring arrives, we get to come and go in daylight — that's another sign of springtime renewal.
We've had a bit of renewal ourselves this spring at Gifts & Decorative Accessories, most notably in the first section of the magazine, where we've significantly expanded our Business Forum “topic,” into an entire department of information geared to help storeowners operate in the current retail environment.
Meredith Schwartz, newly appointed business editor, will have oversight of the “Forum.” New coverage will include statistics on economics, demographics, and trends; at length reporting on hot industry topics; and “What's Selling” reports gathered from in-store visits across the country, with product information including price and manufacturer.
While your favorite columnists like Carol Schroeder and Linda Cahan are still featured in the Business Forum, we're introducing a new industry expert and a new topic. “Rep Rapport,” written this month by business development and sales consultant Richard Gottlieb, offers some humorous but essential advice on salesmanship.
Of course, our own industry experts, Editor Bessie Nestoras and Executive Editor Caroline Kennedy, will continue to provide the trend feature stories and new product discoveries that make G&DA your essential business resource.
We all know that the retail landscape has changed dramatically over the past several years. We've watched it become fiercely competitive in the face of rising dominance by mass marketers. We've confronted the challenge posed to brick-and-mortars by the emergence of continuous, convenient 24/7 e-tailing. And we've seen the country's demographics change remarkably — a heads-up that our customers' needs will be changing, probably sooner rather than later.
Indeed, spring or no spring, we're in a constant state of “renewal.” But as this spring unfolds, we're taking the opportunity to renew our pledge to keep you prepared, informed and on the cutting edge of business as our industry continues to redefine itself.
