D

Anti-Semitic Signage Gives Dallas a Bad Name

I was horrified to see this sign in a downtown storefront. (And I’m trying to figure out how to use that adverb in a sentence.)

How Not To Screw Up Valentine’s Day This Year

Use our gift guide and our dining guide.

Women’s Wear Daily Looks at Neiman’s 2010

Women’s Wear Daily says there are “some signs of life” for Neiman Marcus after a rough 2009. They note that same-store sales in December were up 4.9 percent. Of course that’s only an improvement from the big 31.2 percent drop they took the previous December, 2008.

Our latest D CEO cover story takes a hard look at prospects for the luxury retail icon. CEO Burt Tansky declined to be interviewed for the article, but here’s what he told analysts in December: (more…)

Neiman’s Names New Men’s Fashion Director

With a name like Nickelson Wooster, how can you not be men’s fashion director for Neiman Marcus?

Wait, he’s got more tattoos than I expected.

You’ll remember that Tommy Fazio, the previous men’s fashion director, left the company last fall — reportedly because he wasn’t too happy about having responsibility for both the Neiman’s and Bergdorf stores.

UPDATE: I’m told Wooster’s Facebook page (linked above) has disappeared. You can still find his photo on Twitter.

JCPenney Earns Customer Service Honors

Earlier this week, the National Retail Federation Foundation released the results of its 2009 Customers’ Choice Awards. Plano-based JCPenney landed in the top 10 (No. 9). The department store has routinely ranked high in the last four years of this nationwide survey.

The only other North Texas company to crack the top 50 this year was Fort Worth’s Radio Shack (or “the Shack,” or whatever it is they want to be called these days.)

Derrty Boi Montana Shops for Watches at deBoulle

DeBoulle, as you know, is a very high-end jewelry store in Highland Park. Derrty Boi Montana, as you might not know, is a recording artists from St. Louis. You can familiarize yourself with his musical stylings here (warning: you will see some booty). What brings Mr. Montana to our attention today is the below video that was posted to YouTube on Tuesday. In it, Mr. Montana and his associate PJ take a tour of deBoulle with what appears to be a concealed camera. Two things of note about the video: Mr. Montana doesn’t know how to pronounce several of the watches that he’s shopping for. And, two, I doubt Denis Boulle, owner of the shop, wants people videotaping inside his store, lest thieves use the video to case the joint.

Cupcake Car Demolishes David Letterman’s Set

During a segment on Christmas toys, David Letterman tore a path of destruction through the set of the Late Show tonight with one of Neiman Marcus’ $25,000 cupcake cars.

ShopTalk Has a New Format: Sales and Deals

Perhaps you’ve noticed that in the last few weeks, our shopping blog has come into focus. It’s now the daily destination for the Dallas deal seeker—which is especially handy for holiday shopping in these troubled times. In addition to sales, we’ve got solid info about affordable presents, so take a look. Speaking of gifts, you might want to browse our exclusive holiday gift guide for ideas for everyone on your list. Know a foodie? Then check out Todd Johnson’s piece in the current issue of D Home. If you’re looking for a dose of humor with your shopping inspiration, look no further than Laura Kostelny’s gift guide for her famous Dallas friends.

Breaking News: Southwest a Great Place to Work

So Glassdoor.com, a site that lets people share their thoughts about where they work and how much they make, got itself some free press today by releasing its 2010 Best Places to Work. The rankings are based on how users on Glassdoor.com rate their workplaces.

Southwest Airlines comes out on top. It’s the only Dallas-area company in the top 50. This is hardly the first survey to call Southwest a great place to work, but I was surprised to find that the company didn’t rank among even the top 50 on last year’s list. I’d like to think that Southwest made some spectacular changes in the last year that caused it to vault to the top. They might have been the same decisions that led us to name Gary Kelly the D CEO of the Year.

But no, it’s probably just a flawed methodology. Maybe they just pick them out of hats. Then again, it makes sense that Whole Foods (ranked No. 6 last year) would fall (down to No. 48 this year), after all the brouhaha over the Wall Street Journal op-ed written by its CEO.

Big in Japan Gets Big Pub in WSJ

Big in Japan is a local tech developer that has written a few lines of code for our humble enterprise (what’s up, Mr. Muse?). In today’s Wall Street Journal, they get some good pub for a smart phone app they’ve written called ShopSavvy. It allows you to scan a bar code on an item you’re about to buy and compare its price to other prices at nearby stores. I’m downloading it in 3 … 2 …

Update: You know what’s not awesome? ShopSavvy. I installed it on my iPhone. I tried to launch it six times. Each time, it crashed. I rebooted the phone and tried again. Still crashed. What is up indeed, Mr. Muse?

Neiman’s, Luxury Retail Market on the Rebound?

Sure, Neiman Marcus recently had some very bad news, that its fiscal first-quarter profits were down 34 percent. But Mint.com, a site that helps people track their finances, says its numbers show that the luxury retail market is on the rebound. See here:

By aggregating date from 1 million of their users, Mint claims to have a “representative sampling of U.S. consumers.” The chart shows that, for these luxury retailers, spending per user is coming back up to 2008 levels late in the year. But since the bottom didn’t really fall out of the market until late 2008, isn’t it easier for the retailers to look better compared to last year when it comes to these October and November numbers, as opposed to the first quarter of 2008?

Plus shouldn’t we discount all the data on this chart, since they’re classifying Banana Republic as a “luxury retailer?”

Burning Man Begot Neiman’s Cupcakes

I love learning that the cupcake cars, which got top billing in most news stories about this year’s Neiman Marcus Christmas Book, were originally designed as a costume for Burning Man.

No one has yet purchased one of the gussied-up motorized wheelchairs, which are priced at $25,000. More from Forbes.com:

2009 Neiman Marcus Christmas Book Delivers

Yep, Neiman Marcus is hurting, and they know we’re hurting too. So in this year’s Christmas book, all today’s headlines are saying, they’re offering plenty more affordable options.

Don’t worry, though, if you need a $25,000 cupcake car, they’re there for you also.

If I had $200K to spare, maybe this. But John Lithgow?

Walls Are Crumbling at Neiman Marcus

Not literally, as far as I know. Things are bad for the luxury retailer. But not quite that bad.

The wall that has crumbled, according to the New York Post, is the wall between Neiman’s corporate and its Bergdorf Goodman division. Apparently Bergdorf has always had its own fashion office. In what would appear to be a sensible move when you’re trying to hold on to your effin’ ocelot-fur hat, they consolidated some of the roles. Those in the Bergdorf fashion office balked. The men’s fashion director quit.

Neiman President and CEO Karen Katz — who engineered the recent consolidation of Fazio and Patel’s roles — “maybe doesn’t totally get the fashion office,” according to one person close to the company.

The dust-up is another headache for Neiman Chairman Burt Tansky, who is beset by rumors that he will retire — even as the retailer scrambles to cut costs as sales continue to plunge.

One journalism-related complaint, which may seem strange to bother with since we’re talking about the New York Post here: “one person close to the company?”  That’s as specific as you can get?  Sounds like that quote could have come from a homeless guy standing outside the Neiman’s offices downtown.

JCPenney Most Innovative Company in North Texas

JCPenney apparently has the most innovative business technology in North Texas, as it’s the highest ranking  local company on this year’s Information Week 500. The Plano-based retailer finishes No. 6 and was the category winner for Supply Chain and industry winner for Retail at the star-studded awards gala last night:

JCPenney`s Door to Floor technology was cited by InformationWeek as one of the
“20 Great Ideas.” The technology enables store management to know what
merchandise will be delivered up to 48 hours in advance, allowing for optimal
planning and preparation for getting merchandise off the truck and onto the
sales floor.

That’s some outstanding work to ensure that your mom can get you dressed in style.

Lake Highlands Town Center Delayed

Lake Highlands has a strong sense of being a town all its own. But, as I learned in my former life at People Newspapers, one thing they lack in being entirely self-sufficient is a town square, a place that allows them to do most, if not all, their shopping in the neighborhood.

Neighborhood leaders would tell us that they were most likely to drive over to NorthPark Center, or the Galleria area. So there was a lot of excitement about the new Lake Highlands Town Center when plans were unveiled last year. At that time the first phase was supposed to be done by 2010. Now Prescott is saying it won’t be finished until 2012, because of general economic difficulties.

New York Times Insults J.C. Penney, Its Customers, Its Own Readers, And a Wide Swath of America

Cintra Wilson, a “Critical Shopper” columnist for the Times, had this and much more to say about Penney’s opening a new store in Manhattan:

Why would this dowdy Middle American entity waddle into Midtown in its big old shorts and flip-flops without even bothering to update its ancient Helvetica Light logo, which for anyone who grew up with the company is encrusted with decades of boring, even traumatically parental, associations?

A better question might have been, “Why would a struggling newspaper already regarded as an elitist relic allow a smug, shallow fashionista to display her disdain at the first department store to open in Manhattan in 50 years?” 

Perhaps I’m being sensitive because J. C. Penney is a hometown store. But perhaps not, since executive editor Bill Keller apologized profusely yesterday, but only after public editor Clark Hoyt ran a devastating column on the paper’s own op-ed Sunday blasting Wilson’s piece. Worst of all was Wilson’s mea culpa, as quoted by Hoyt, where she said she thinks of her audience as

1,300 women in Connecticut and urban gay guys in Manhattan

which, she admitted, is “kind of provincial of me.”

Site Links Buyers, Castoff Clothes of TV News Talent

Ever dreamed of wearing one of Mike Snyder’s big double-breasted jackets? How about one of those ties John McCaa likes–the ones with the tiniest knots in the world? Now it might be possible, thanks to a new Web site specializing in second-hand reporter/anchor duds that’s run by Jolene DeVito, a former anchor herself at WFAA and TXCN. Uncle Barky’s got the scoop.

What Luxury Recession? Kitchen Starts at $214,900

The top dogs at Poggenpohl, a fast-growing German maker of luxury kitchen cabinets, really want to meet the Mavs’ Dirk Nowitzki. The execs were in town yesterday to open the new Poggenpohl Kitchen Design Studio, the second–and largest–new kitchen studio the company has opened in Texas this year. (This one’s 5,000 square feet, compared to Houston’s puny 3,800 feet.) And, managing director Elmar Duffner and U.S. president Ted Chappell (in photo, from left) were especially eager to show off their Poggenpohl Porsche Design P’7340, a sleek “kitchen for men” developed in cooperation with the German automaker. The 7340’s price starts at a whopping 150,000 euros–or roughly $214,900. The luxury-segment recession notwithstanding, Duffner and Chappell said they’ve sold five Porsche kitchens in the U.S. so far. And they think German-born Dirk would make an ideal buyer for the sixth.

Leading Off (7/28/09)

1. Texas spends less money per pupil than all but six other states, according to 2007 census data — about $7,800 a year versus a national average of more than $9,600 a year. (Although those figures are disputed.) But, at least we have the largest outstanding debt for education purposes at about $50 billion. (Does my student loan still count toward that?)

2. Speaking of kids, Texas is doing the best job in the nation of reducing the rate of fatal teen car crashes. As the father of a 15-year-old who tells me every day she wants a shiny new pink convertible Volkswagen Beetle, this is good news.

3. If, like me, you’re excited about the new Fairview Macy’s store opening north of Dallas, you’ll be happy to know the company is now being careful to tailor each store’s merchandise to better match the surrounding area’s tastes. Because, as one retailer notes, “the Dallas customer and the Portland customer are very different.” I would suspect, for example, you won’t find T-shirts in Portland with the Fairview city slogan “Keeping It Country.”

Bad News On The Dallas Retail Front, Ctd.

While Dallas is indeed down 21.5%, as the Comptroller reported last week, a large refund from an audit bumped last year’s receipts for Dallas.  Not including last year’s bump, Dallas is down 5.9% — which is still bad but not nearly as bad in comparison to the other major cities in Texas.

Neiman Marcus Holds On To Elegant, Stylish Effin Hat

Same-store sales (my ska band name, btw) down 25 percent in fiscal third quarter. No problem, though. Don’t worry about it. We’re just playing economic rope-a-dope. About to come out swinging aaaaany minute now.

Check Out BridalBuzz, Daily Advice for the Dallas Bride

Pardon the shameless plug, but I’m just pleased to announce that we’ve added a sixth blog to our lineup: BridalBuzz, the daily destination for Dallas wedding advice. Perhaps you’ve visited ShopTalk, where we used to post an item or two about the Dallas wedding scene. But now we’ve got a proper place to house our great advice for Dallas brides. Should you stop by, you’ll notice–as I’m sure you have today on FrontBurner–the new-and-improved top nav and snazzy blog logos. Hats off to Stephen Edmonson for that.

Stanley Korshak Turns to eBay to Move Merch

An energetic FrontBurnervian points us to this Wall Street Journal story about Stanley Korshak’s electronic outpost on eBay. Korshak’s owner, Crawford Brock, says, “[W]e’re not so sure we want people to know necessarily that this is Stanley Korshak.” That’ll be tough to hide now that the WSJ has outed them. Here are the items up for sale on eBay now.

An Open Letter to Matt Moss at N3L Optics

Dear Mr. Matt Moss: Today I received not one, but two FedEx packages from you. Both were sent standard overnight from your Lake Forest, California, location. Each package contained the same promotional materials, informing me of the new N3L Optics store soon to open in NorthPark. Each package contained the same press release, wherein N3L Optics senior VP Kendra Reichenau was quoted as saying, “N3L is committed to educating each customer on the benefits of performance optics.” Each package extolled the greatness of N3L’s “smart mirror” and its “Newton immersive display” and its “custom fit station.”

Here’s the thing, Mr. Moss. And I’m betting you can see where I’m headed with this. I don’t care.

In the future, try the good folks at ShopTalk. Pick one person. Say, Sarah Eveans. Or Stephanie Quadri. But pick just one. And then send the FedEx to her, maybe with a personal note. Just a quick one. “Hey, Steph, I saw that post you put up about Jellies. I used to wear those, too! Check out our sunglasses!” Something like that.

Helpfully, Tim