When I walked by this place on the street I thought it would be a cool loungy place for lunch, and was surprised once inside that it was actually a retail store! It even has an indoor-outdoor garden.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the experience of walking all around a store looking for things you need and rummaging through a pile of jeans or khakis or shirts trying to find your size.

Why are stores not segmented by size – rather than by style?

Imagine going to the section with your size and everything in that section fits?  And, I think it would increase store efficiency (often measured in sales per square foot) , because you can easily see an assortment of styles without having to walk around, which would inevitably result in missing things you may have otherwise bought.

And, it would free up sales people to help you rather than spend more than half their time re-folding clothes for display after people have rummaged through piles trying to find their size!

Also, in this scenario, why would mens’ sections need to be staffed – what do sales people do besides helping you find your size? (I’m assuming women probably shop differently).

In Hollywood, most bars and clubs typically have a run of 2-3 years and then they shut down, remodel, and reopen under a new name (often with the same owner), and with a big, hyped opening. The bar literally stays fresh, and continues to maintain relevance and buzz.

What if a retail brand were to adopt this model?

Every three years, the company would launch with a new, fresh brand, and remodel the look and feel of its space, and would have a huge, hyped grand opening?

I have a new puppy, and was impressed with Pet Smart. I thought it was particularly interesting that they asked if I wanted to give an extra $1 for the Humane Society.  I bet they have high conversions on that – a $1 contribution won’t break the bank, and the cumulative impact can be huge.

McDonald’s has for years had a coin collector for the Ronald McDonald House, but why don’t more retail companies offer the opportunity for micro-giving at the point of sale via automatic charge? Stores could even give you a menu of say 5 charities from which you choose. This could also work well for online retailers.

this was without question the largest crowd pleaser yesterday at TC50. The specifics of how it works are vague, but “use your imagination!”

Imagine taking a picture with your mobile phone of a product and then having comparison prices and other data (reviews, store locations to buy it etc.) shown on its screen.

that future is near – check out Check Out Smart Shop.

I am also loving Evernote, a digital file cabinet application. Its new iphone app is particularly good – you can take pictures (white board, signs, scans etc) and word recognition software allows the text within images to be indexed and searchable. Also, it has a voice memo function, which is something I’ve missed on the iphone prior to this point.

Evernote would be the ultimate killer app if it also integrated with Amazon’s Kindle, so my notes and highlights on the kindle are also indexed and searchable. Amazon should acquire Evernote simply for this functionality.

Today, while we Americans pushed our broken down van to the American border (in Mexico)…

I realized the Mexicans have pioneered an innovative shopping experience… drive-through shopping!

(we were only out of the car because we had to push it…)

an interesting experiment in creating captivating advertisements that engage customers beyond passive visuals.

[thanks, adpunch]

check out this display with moving parts. [hyposurface]

In a twist related to my previous post about PrevYou here (link), a social shopping platform, an Austin, Texas-based site ShangBy (link) has an unconventional way for you to shop in Shanghai, where prices for luxury goods can be significantly cheaper than in the U.S., by allowing you to shop virtually via a camera following a Swedish guide in Shanghai! As a ShangBuyer, you tell them what items to zoom in on, which products Nina should try on, what questions to ask the merchants, and which products you’d like to buy. Now here’s actually a potential reason for justin.tv’s technology!

[thanks, VentureBeat]