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KITCHENWARE NEWS & HOUSEWARES REVIEW • JANUARY 2020 • www.kitchenwarenews.com 4 PUBLISHER Kimberly Oser SR. ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Jules Denton-Card jules_d@oser.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lorrie Baumann lorrie_b@oser.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Mary Kuder ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Anthony Socci anthony_s@oser.com ART DIRECTOR Yasmine Brown GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jonathan Schieffer CUSTOMER SERVICE Susan Stein MANAGER customerservice@oser.com CUSTOMER SERVICE Spencer Fisher ASSOCIATE CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Tara Neal CIRCULATION MANAGER Jamie Green jamie_g@oser.com OSER COMMUNICATIONS GROUP KITCHENWARE NEWS & Housewares Review Kitchenware News & Housewares Review is a publication of Oser Communications Group Inc. 1877 N. Kolb Road • Tucson, AZ 85715 520.721.1300 www.kitchenwarenews.com www.oser.com FOUNDER Lee M. Oser Periodicals postage paid at Tucson, AZ and additional mailing office. Kitchenware News & Housewares Review (USPS012-625) is published 7 times per year (Jan., March, May, July, Sept., Nov., and Dec.) by Oser Communications Group, 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ, 85715 520.721.1300. Publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material or prices quoted in newspaper. Contributors are responsible for proper release of proprietary classified information. ©2019 by Oser Communications Group. All rights reserved Reproduction, in whole or in part, without written permission of the publisher, is expressly prohibited. Back issues, when available, cost $8 each within the past 12 months. Back issue orders must be paid in advance by check. Kitchenware News & Housewares Review is distributed without charge in North America to qualified professionals in the retail and distribution channels of the upscale kitchenware and tabletop trade. For subscriber services, including subscription information, call 520.721.1300. Printed in the USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Kitchenware News & Housewares Review, 1877 N. Kolb Road, Tucson, AZ 85715. Greetings! Here we are in January, that month when we take stock of what we accomplished last year and figure out how we're going to build on that for the coming year. We are blessed that, as of this writing, fears of a recession in 2020 have subsided, consumers are confident and the economy looks strong, and we hope that all of you ended last year with the resources you need to grow and prosper in 2020. Our national politics promises that the year will be turbulent in many respects, and many of you will find that you're regarded as an en- tertaining escape from some of the turmoil as well as a source of consumer products. You've invested time and energy over the past few years into making sure that you're eligible to be seen that way, and retailing experts are saying that the strength of the holiday shopping season shows that retailers' investments in online marketing as well as easing the in-store experience for shoppers are now paying off. According to the National Retail Federation, its surveys after Thanksgiving weekend showed that more than half of consumers under 35 actually shopped in brick and mortar stores during the holiday shopping weekend. Among the 18-24-year-olds, 61 percent were in stores, compared to less than half last year. Consumers are depending heavily on the communications they're receiving from retailers, the NRF's survey found, so your newsletters are still important. I've listened to a fair few marketing experts say over the past year that we've entered an era in which "stuff" just means less to us. As a culture, we're supposedly burned out on mindless consumerism and acquisition, and we're looking to acquire experiences and memories rather than consumer products. I don't know how much I believe that. Whether or not we're connecting in the same way to material possessions, though, we still do connect to places that matter to us, and neurologists have suggested that place is more important than time in how we make memories. We seem to be hard-wired to make place a part of the stories that we constantly tell each other. Many of you have worked hard to make your store a place where your customers can make memories and to create opportunities for your shoppers to feature you in the stories that they tell each other. There is every reason to believe that 2020 is going to be a year in which your customers will need you to be a place of comfort, safety and good memories as well as a place where they can acquire the goods that help them make their homes places of comfort, safety and good memories for their families and friends. Blessedly, it looks like the economy is going to provide you with some resources to do that. Have a prosperous and happy New Year everyone, and I hope that I'll run into some of you in Las Vegas or Atlanta in January and then in Chicago in March! KN Lorrie Baumann, Editorial Director editor from the

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