The Retail Whisperer

We are so excited to have Sean Jimenez, president of Socksmith back as a guest. A former retailer, now turned wholesaler, Sean has been in the industry for over 25 years. He now runs a great, multi-million-dollar novelty sock and design company based in Santa Cruz, California.

Take a listen as these two industry veterans Michelle catch up and talk about all things retail.

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

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Julie McCallum is the retail group editorial director and co-owner of Great American Media Services. She has been covering the specialty retail industry for more than 20 years. As a graduate of Michigan State University’s School of Journalism, Julie is passionate about reporting and telling the stories of makers and independent retailers – creating content that will inspire, inform and help them succeed in their businesses.

She also serves on the board of directors for Gift for Life, the gift and home industries sole charitable organization. Great American Media Services, the company Julie co-owns with her former husband, Matt McCallum, has been in business for 30 years and publishes 16 B2B titles in specialty retail, horticulture, specialty agriculture, and sports.

Michelle & Julie discuss the magazine world, her thoughts and what she loved from the Atlanta show and giving back through Gift of Life.

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Meet Andrew & Chelsea Evans, co-founders & owners of Roaming Travelers. Launched in 2020, Roaming Travelers offers locals & tourists a curated boutique clothing shopping experience. It has grown to operate two retail locations in Joshua Tree & 29 Palms. Through hosting events & pop-ups featuring local or emerging designers and vendors, they have been able to provide a sustainable & eco-friendly shopping experience.

Michelle, Andrew & Chelsea discuss the future of retail, what that looks like and how they have created their unique retail community in the hi desert of Joshua Tree & 29 palms.

This week’s episode 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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In 2022, Energy Muse is *the* crystal authority. But when co-founders Heather Askinosie and Timmi Jandro first started Energy Muse over 20 years ago, it was with just one necklace.

Heather, who had been traveling the world in the name of spiritual research for some time, had turned her Manhattan Beach home into a makeshift energy lab where she could test ancient holistic philosophies. She began tinkering with a formula to create the energy of wealth.

By combining the crystal energy of Jade, ancient Chinese symbolism and numerology, she created an “energetic equation” that she would later call the Prosperity Necklace. Heather gave 10 samples of the necklace to 10 of her most skeptical friends, including Timmi, who had been one of her best friends since the single digits. She asked everyone to wear the piece for 10 days and report back on their experience. Timmi had worked as a merchandiser in the garment industry for 12 years and knew how to get a product into mass production. As one of Heather’s many energy experiment guinea pigs, Timmi knew firsthand how effective energy work could be: she received an unexpected job offer while wearing her necklace for 10 days.

Take a listen as they discuss their journey in creating Energy Muse, the importance of helping people empower themselves and providing people with everything they need to create positive shifts in their energy & life. Everyone can have a success story of their own: simply let the crystals be your muse.

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 our social media or website www.salesproducersinc.com/ 

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Erin Sarpa is the Creative Director at StationeryHQ.com, a wholesale Print On Demand company that specializes in custom stationery and gifts, serving creative small businesses. Erin opened a design agency at 23 years old, worked for all the big dogs in Silicon Valley and won awards while creating an all-women team. She joined StationeryHQ.com a few years ago with goals to grow a community as well as the company. Erin freaking loves creative people and entrepreneurs and is passionate about supporting women in business. 

Take a listen as Michelle & Erin discuss everything StationeryHQ.com, how she takes a month off every year to describing her perfect client. We hope you enjoy this interview as much as we did!

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

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This week is a solocast with Michelle informing listeners on what exactly a merchandiser does & how they can help your retail business. From storytelling to creating add-on sales to reinventing merchandise, these are some topics that Michelle will cover in this episode.

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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Allison Carter and Catherine Hildner were two strangers who connected at a conference, turned into business besties, and a few years later saw a gap in the product based business space and decided to take action to fill it. In addition to the two businesses they run individually, Allison and Cat are the founders and hosts of Ultimate Product Party (UPP for short!). UPP is a 2-day creative conference that serves product based businesses. Allison and Cat create a unique experience and space for the product based business owner where they can connect with other like-minded small business owners who are looking to grow, scale, and make more money! UPP is definitely not your average biz conference- it’s a business meets FUN party, full of action focused education, and immediate takeaways for attendees to apply to scale.

Take a listen as Michelle circles back with Allison & Cat to discuss what people can expect at UPP for 2023! Tickets are halfway sold for the event May 17-18, 2023 in Nashville, so don’t wait and get your ticket now here!

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Hailing from North Dakota where her nearest shopping opportunity was over 300 miles away, Ashley Alderson longed for a place online to find and shop the boutiques she loved all over the country, together in one place.

“There must be a place for shoppers like me who love boutiques to find them all — and a place, boutique owners, themselves, can connect to find resources & grow,” Ashley thought. 

Ashley’s background in business, marketing, and economic development fueled the desire to simply make life easier for small businesses by providing them training, exclusive savings, events, and wholesale shopping, in one simple place. And all in the name of COMMUNITY over COMPETITION since 2013.

Today, The Boutique Hub & Shop The Best Boutiques are the central connection point for the retail industry, providing a daily membership packed with resources, live events, signature courses, wholesale shopping, daily networking and a consumer facing marketplace for boutiques.

Ashley is a wife, busy momma of 3, jewelry junkie, barrel racer, cancer survivor, basketball fan, speaker of sarcasm, and heart for those with a dream.

** Just this year, The Boutique Hub launched Hubventory - a wholesale marketplace built by the boutique industry for the boutique industry with curated & trusted brands, creative inventory planning, smart integrations and membership perks.

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 our social media or website www.salesproducersinc.com/   

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We have received so many inquiries online and in-person on how to start a podcast. Sharing is caring and we here at Team Retail Whore Podcast, also known a Host, Michelle Sherrier, Editor Katherine Khaloo and Digital Marketing Manager, Elisa Anthony talk about the inception of The Retail Whore Podcast and what we have learned along the way, the good AND the not so good (lost recordings!), tips (create a podcast about something you are an expert in & passionate about!) and the resources we recommend to help you create your most successful podcast ever!

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This week we welcome Crystal Vilkaitis, founder of Crystal Media, a social media advertising and digital marketing agency she started in 2012. For more than 15 years, Crystal Vilkaitis has been helping retailers boost sales and drive more traffic through social media and marketing. Most recently she launched Crystal Uncorked, a podcast that features inspiring guests and interesting business conversations, over a glass of wine. She started the show to share open and honest conversations about her journey, and to talk to other entrepreneurs about their experiences. On the podcast she pulls back the curtain and talks about the highs and the lows of being a business owner.

Michelle & Crystal discuss how her team are passionate about alleviating retailers' frustrations, confusions about social media, online marketing & provide multi-platform social media solutions to help retailers continue to elevate their brand & grow sales! For those retailers who haven’t dipped their toe into the social media world, this is the episode for you. Take a listen. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain! 

This week’s episode 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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