The Retail Whisperer

This week’s guest is Breegan Jane, an Los Angeles-based designer, author, philanthropist and mom to two boys. She showcases her expertise on HGTV, NBC, Hallmark Channel, Discovery, Food Network and more. You may recognize her from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Dream Home. She is a leading voice in design industry conversations. She also advocates for women and children in Kenya as a partner with international non-profit organization Mekuno Project. Breegan champions community and shares it all via her social channels and website breeganjane.com.

Michelle was fortunate to be part of a roundtable of retail podcasters at Las Vegas Market which is where she met Breegan, who was the moderator. Take a listen as Michelle breaks down Breegan’s journey from retail store owner to being in front of the camera.

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This week’s episode is all about Michelle’s show process - pre & post, how this year’s show is different for her, & why she prefers to experience the show with someone by her side. Grab a pen & pad and take notes – this one is chock full of valuable #retailtips!

This episode sponsored by Opentobuy.co, they create RETAIL ROCK STARS and make inventory finance easy.

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While growing up in Chicago and being influenced by the nature of all things city living and traveling the world for inspiration, Mashallah Ghouleh exploded onto the styling scene at a young age and has never looked back. Drawing from her international travels and experiences with her roster of clientele, she launched MASHALLAH in 2011 to create the versatile, beautifully crafted staples women's wardrobes were missing. As both a designer and collector of all things beautiful, her natural creative energy shines through everything she pours energy into. 

From stylist, to jeweler, to boutique owner to wholesaler, Mashallah is truly a force and Michelle covers it all in this episode.

This episode is sponsored by Fine Lines, a west coast wholesale rep agency with showrooms in Las Vegas and Seattle representing over 50 fabulous gift, fashion + home lines.

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We are so excited to welcome back one of our first podcast guests from back in 2021, Annie Glenn of Urban Girl Accessories. Her positivity and ability to find the silver lining in challenging situations is truly inspiring.

 With 11 stores & concepts, on this episode, Annie discusses how she deals with everything from loss prevention to customer service to the changes she has seen post-COVID.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Sales Producers Inc. a progressive business to business company representing Gift, Lifestyle, Fashion, Personal Care, & Kids lines selling to retail stores with a mission to create long lasting, profitable relationships by adding significant value to our Customer, Vendor, and Team partners. For more information, check out their social media or website www.salesproducersinc.com/.

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They were two healthy, young women when both of their lives changed in the blink of an eye. In 2015, Christina suddenly became very ill. After many misdiagnoses and long hospital stays, she was finally diagnosed with a multi-systemic disease in 2017. Refusing to live a life of pills and wheelchairs, she spent the following years studying natural remedies to help heal, alleviate symptoms and pull toxins from her body. Through her research and studying her Masters in Sustainability at Harvard, she was shocked to learn how toxic our world actually is, and therefore, our bodies.

During the same time, Julie survived a traumatic assault. Despite this, she was determined to feel safe again and not let this event control her life. She knew it was going to demand serious self-love rituals to heal and reconnect with herself.

Christina and Julie were taking baths to help heal through self-care. During this time, they realized the power that a bath holds and created natural bath formulas to target symptoms. Once they experienced the impact of their natural bath formulas, they wanted to share their soaks so others could feel the same relief.

This is an episode about self-care, healing, bringing relief to our bodies & to remember your body is your temple. Run a bath, light a candle, dim the lights and enjoy the episode.

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This week’s guest is Trudi Bartow, Director of Sales & Marketing at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild. Trudi joined the gift world via the preeminent art book publisher Harry N. Abrams and created unique opportunities for sales at gift retailers like Neiman Marcus, Crate & Barrel, Barneys and Sur La Table, including custom designer editions and exclusive bundles.

After 15 years working with various publishers, she joined the fantastic team at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild as their Director of Sales and Marketing. Bringing her enthusiasm for the industry to this smart and funny gift creator she is helping the brand grow into new categories and expanding existing programs.

Trudi is universally loved throughout the gift industry and after listening to this interview, we’re sure you will walk away feeling the same!

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Erik & Courtney Legenhausen opened Lotus Jewelry Studio in 2007. Their vision was to create a line of handmade products that would reflect the latest trends, while upholding the quality that was fostered by their background as fine jewelers. They also had a dream of providing an avenue for other artists to come and earn a living under Lotus’ roof. Over the past 10 years, they turned their basement business into a thriving company that provides their unique pieces to thousands of retailers, both large and small, across the globe. Their wholesale division continues to thrive and expand in new and exciting markets, meeting the needs of cost conscious buyers wanting extraordinary fashion accessories.

Adding to their existing retail business Erik recently created Noble Mick’s, single serve craft cocktails. A simple solution for cocktails on the go! They have developed 6 amazing cocktail mixes (Moscow Mule, Cosmo, Paloma, Margarita, Bloody Mary and Old Fashioned) They are made to “Craft Your Own Cocktail” You can grab a single packet and make a Bloody Mary at a tailgate or camping with just water, a single serve packet and spirit. Brilliant!

We had such a great time talking to Erik and hearing about Noble Mick’s inception, brand growth and what it is like working with your spouse (something Michelle can certainly relate to!)

This week’s episode is sponsored by Fine Lines, a west coast wholesale rep agency with showrooms in Las Vegas and Seattle representing over 50 fabulous gift, fashion + home lines.

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Raised in Carmel, in a family of retailers - it's in Wish Walnut Creek owner Sasha Varni’s blood! Sasha worked for her mom's candle store growing up and during college. Lived in Italy for a short time after college, then moved to San Francisco, working for Sephora corporate, and then bareMinerals corporate doing marketing and producing their video content and commercials. She then moved to Walnut Creek the week before having her first baby (10.5 years ago!). Coupled with the commute and maternity leave, she realized that wasn’t the job for her anymore. Her mom and her decided to open a gift shop - when they both moved to Walnut Creek, California, they were surprised that there were virtually no small boutiques and felt there was a big need.

They were right, and have their amazing customers to thank for their continued expansion which includes opening an additional building they call Little Wish (kids and baby gifts), as well as an e-commerce website that ships nationwide. Michelle & Sasha talk about the value of customer service, Sasha’s journey in retail, and the power of word of mouth.

This episode sponsored by Opentobuy.co, they create RETAIL ROCK STARS and make inventory finance easy.

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This week we welcome Bob Negen, co-founder of WhizBang! Retail Training. Bob is a retail expert, author, speaker, and business coach who motivates and trains independent retailers to improve and grow their businesses with actionable tactics and strategies. His proven systems and techniques consistently deliver measurable results in over 40 retail industries.

On this episode, Michelle & Bob discuss how he speaks to business owners in their own language using real-world retail experiences and humorous stories from the trenches. A retailer himself for 19 years, Bob turned his single kite store into an award-winning multi-million-dollar toy store chain. Now he uses his four decades of retail experience to help store owners and managers learn the business skills they need to succeed in today’s changing retail environment.

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This week we welcome Valerie (Val to her friends!) Wright, Brand Development & Sales Manager for Pixie Mood, a consciously leather-less, Canadian, female-led company.

Val has learned to use her Psychology degree, within the retail space, to really understand what people need and how to get into the mind & heart of what people want in the world of fashion. Val has always found it effortlessly organic when visualizing trends. Curating fashion themes and stories is her love language.

Listen up as Michelle & Val walk through her retail journey, how one door closes and another opens, to her current role as Brand Ambassador for Pixie Mood.

This week’s episode is sponsored by Sales Producers, Inc., a progressive business to business company representing Gift, Lifestyle, Fashion, Personal Care, & Kids lines selling to retail stores with a mission to create long lasting, profitable relationships by adding significant value to our Customer, Vendor, and Team partners. For more information, check out their social media or website www.salesproducersinc.com/ 

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