It’s not news that everyone is busy: I constantly see emails hit my inbox after hours and even on Sunday night as people prep for the coming week. But despite the constant communication, I’m a firm believer in having it all. tell me more

I’ve worked in all kinds of environments, from small non-profit and for-profit companies all the way up to a Fortune 100. During these experiences, I’ve noticed that productivity appears to be directly tied to employee happiness, and it turns out there’s scientific data to back up my observation. tell me more

Earlier this month, Kate Spade Saturday launched a pop-up shop right below our Manhattan office on 18th Street just off Fifth Avenue. And it has all the right ingredients to make New Yorkers smile: newness, instant gratification, and technology.

We watched the team renovate the storefront space with alacrity the instant the previous tenant vacated. Overnight, the freshly painted bright yellow windows served tell me more

Recently, J.C. Penney (JCP) CEO Ron Johnson asked brands across the country to present proposals for creating boutique shops inside his stores. The ultimate vision is to create a Main Street of shops throughout JCP locations nationwide.

But on a walk-through of the first shops to launch at the retailer’s Manhattan Mall location, there was little of the magic on display that Johnson is so famous for creating in Apple’s retail stores. The first new shops to launch include Levi’s, Arizona, Liz Claiborne and Izod, and sales of these shop brands have been touted as 20 percent higher than the sluggish sales in the rest of the store. It remains to be seen whether customers are trading purchases from other brands or if the shops are actually driving new customers to JCP. tell me more

Amazon, many people’s favorite online shopping destination, is about to extend its brand to brick-and-mortar stores. According to news reports, the company plans to open a test store in Seattle later this year with an eye toward growing a chain. Here’s why the online company has a leg up on traditional retailers:

1.) There’s no shortage of financial capital.

It takes a lot of money to build an amazing retail experience, from design to fixtures to inventory. Target invests about $10 to $20 million to open one new location, according to a source tell me more