Yesterday was an interesting day.  My mother and I came into the city to peruse other museum shops as we like to do from time to time to make sure we are keeping up with the best that NYC has to offer out in New Jersey.

As we glided up the escalator from Penn Station we were greeted with the lovely morning sound of what every Jersey-ite hears upon entering Manhattan, the screaming voices of about 5 different newspaper promoters all yelling and not in unison, "Good morning New York!!," while trying to stuff their free papers down every pedestrian's throat.

So, we bit, and I grabbed an AM New York paper.  I sifted through the pages on the subway uptown and found a very interesting article, "A 'recession-proof' retailer".  I thought, now this is something I'd like to see.  The store that claims to be recession-proof is a local consignment shop in NYC, Michaels Consignment.

Their model is great for many reasons, "We can choose what to take and what we know sells.  We can also choose not to take certain items."  Later in the article, the owner lists out other reasons their business is recession-proof, "We also don't have to forecast out...Retailers usually have to forecast six to eight months out about the economy and fashion trends.  We don't have that restriction."

Sounds great for a consignment shop, but what about help for retailers who don't have to deal with buying, minimums, sales reps, tradeshows, inventory, etc?  I feel that we can take some of these "tips" for recession proofing and implement them in different ways in our store and our business model.  The owner's first quote really made me think how I need to get in control of my inventory and how I can be in control of this just as much as a consignment shop can.  I am the one who determines what I buy, what I know sells, and how much of it I will need, I just need to do a better job at it!

I have to admit though; it was nice to see one piece of positive press on retail, as recently, I feel we have all been inundated with recession woes of retailers with only the big boxes coming out on top!  It was nice to see a locally owned family operated shop succeeding during this time and getting press!