Monthly Archives: November 2016

Not Black Thursday

~
Today is the day before Thanksgiving, a day which once was a national holiday. It still is, you say? Well, you do not have to venture far into the retail world to know that, well, that is just not true. More and more stores over the last few years have been allowing their Black Friday hours to encroach into Thanksgiving hours to become what many have dubbed “Black Thursday”. This year, though, there has been a movement away from this practice and back toward allowing employees to spend the holiday with their families. These retailers should not be applauded for doing what they were supposed to do in the first place. None the less, they deserve at least a little recognition if for no other reason than the fact that they belong on your list of places where you can shop with a somewhat clear conscience. Go check out The Black Friday to see which retailers are going to be getting presents from Santa Claus instead of coal.
 
-The Retail Explorer
 
P.S. The regular comic will be up in a couple of hours on here, so fret not.

Throwback Thursday: Black Friday

~

throwback-thursday-black-friday-completed

Here is another early retail comic sketch that I did a couple of years ago, before I fleshed out the characters and the store dynamic. At a small shop like Aviation Supply Company, they would probably not participate in the Day Which Shall Not Be Named. There is not much reason for it, since it is a small shop, and most Shoppers abandon the smaller stores in favor of big box retailers offering ridiculous special pricing. It just would not fit the current dynamic in the webcomic as it currently sits. But, since we are nearly to the Day Which Shall Not Be Named, I figured I would share this with all of you. Note that the only character who has remained the same is Poe. I went ahead and framed it up for y’all to give you a better idea of how it was supposed to look. Enjoy, comrades!

-The Retail Explorer

The SKU Interview and The Retail Rant Podcast

~

tim-with-headphones-and-mp3

It has been a big week in America (and we shall discuss that no further). Here at Observations in Retail, we have had a big week as well. Sean William Brown, one of the great minds behind The SKU and author of Dear Customer: Inside the World of Baristas, Upselling, and the Rules of Serving a Very Special Cup of Coffee and Wal-Mart: I Don’t Belong Here, invited us on to talk about staying creative and producing creative content while stuck in the retail world. The key is perseverance and flexibility, among other things.

And earlier this week, The Ranty Bastard invited us on to the Retail Rant Podcast to talk about customer stupidity and horrible coworkers with Laine from @sexstorewoes, and we had an absolute blast recording together. I know you will enjoy it, and hopefully, you will laugh about as hard as we all did.

Go check out the SKU Retail Routines interview here, and go check out the takeover episode of The Retail Rant podcast here, and go check out the other great blog posts and podcasts at The SKU and The Retail Rant, as well as Laine’s Sex Store Woes twitter feed. I hope you enjoy them, comrades!

.-The Retail Explorer