As we look forward to the re-opening of non-essential retail outlets in England, we’d like to share a book about nineteenth-century London shops. Nathaniel Whittock’s On the construction and decoration of the shop fronts of London published in 1840 has illustrated descriptions of a variety of businesses and is available.
Midtown Has Been Empty, but Other Retail Zones Have Bounced Back
Shopping locally has helped foot traffic in some commercial districts across the city return almost to prepandemic levels.
Main Street, the heart of Flushing’s Chinatown, is busy but many businesses have closed.Credit.Tom Sibley for The New York Times
April 13, 2021
All eyes are on Midtown Manhattan as everyone anxiously waits to see if and when office workers and tourists will return to what have been eerily empty streets and whether the businesses that line them will regain customers lost during the pandemic.
But other retail corridors across New York are also important barometers of the city’s economy, as well as key to its recovery; a survey of five of them, one in each borough, showed signs of resilience.
Frank, the social-media site developed by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, is set to launch next week. The site, which has the tagline "the voice of free speech,"
Signet Raises Outlook After Strong Start to 2021
RAPAPORT. Signet Jewelers has predicted sales growth of up to 88% for the first fiscal quarter amid positive market conditions at the start of the year.
“Signet has seen stronger-than-expected conversion and average ticket values in the first quarter,” the jeweler explained Monday. “The company believes this top-line strength is likely due to a combination of traction from strategic initiatives, as well as tailwinds from stimulus, tax refunds and consumer enthusiasm on the heels of vaccine rollouts.”
The announcement comes during a buoyant period in the diamond and jewelry industry, with consumers shopping again following the store closures of 2020. US jewelry sales more than doubled year on year in March, and were 30% higher than in the same month of 2019, Mastercard SpendingPulse reported last week.