read me pt 2

good mornin merry makers,

back for part deux of our retail reads series!

this time, we're diving into retail books by journalists. these retail deep dives don’t just cover the brands — they uncover the juicy backstories, culture shifts, & fascinating characters that shaped them.

if founder-written books are about vision,
journalist-written books are about revealing the tea.

expect stories of triumph, drama, reinvention, & some jaw-dropping retail exposés!

the kingdom of prep (j.crew)

maggie bullock unravels j.crew's rise, reign, & retail unraveling. the book blends prep-school nostalgia, obama-era style highs, & a front-row seat to the retail apocalypse, all told with the drama & wit of a glossy fashion tell-all.

the book feels like a love letter to preppy days gone by.

with reflections on how arthur cinader turned ivy league dreams into mail-order gold. emily cinader’s transformation of a no-frills catalog into a temple of 90s minimalism. the cult of the rollneck sweater. jenna lyons’ rise from catalog obscurity to cultural phenom. mickey drexler’s strategies & shenanigans as the merchant prince. cashmere pr politics. becoming an obama-era icon. how they made madewell.

having worked with so many people from j.crew & gap during my time at apple & warby parker in retail corporate — & with mickey drexler himself on the board at warby parker — i thought i knew a lot about j. crew. turns out, i barely did.

i couldn’t put this book down.

overall rating: : 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 5

retail relatedness: 100%

key retail insight: lean into your brand’s history again & again. applies to assortment, experience, styling, & marketing. love the recent return of their catalogs.

selling sexy (victoria’s secret)

lauren sherman & chantal fernandez show how victoria’s secret went from a cult-favorite catalog to an $8 billion empire of airbrushed angels & impossible beauty standards to a spectacular fall. the book includes billionaires, scandals, & a desperate rebrands.

the pages drip with drama.

beginnings with vibrators. transforming stodgy department-store lingerie into mail-order allure. les wexner’s vision to turn catalog glam into a multibillion-dollar empire. the rise of the angels — their airbrushed beauty, annual fashion shows, & cultural domination. the cult of the push-up bra. everything pink. jeffrey epstein’s shadow over wexner’s empire of L brands including limited, express, lane bryant, bath & body works, abercrombie & fitch, henri bendel, & white barn candle co.

as a 90s kid & 00s teen, victoria’s secret was everything.

i blossomed into womanhood alongside this brand. the catalogs, the stores, the angels, the bags, the scents, & ofc all the undergarments. reading about what was happening behind the scenes kinda feels like realizing a childhood dream was built on something far darker.

i haven’t shopped there in years so it’s wild to read about & reflect on how much it shaped us, millennials especailly. proud of how far we’ve come since while still acknowledging there’s more progress to be made.

overall read rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 5

retail relatedness: 90%

key retail insight: overhaul before your image feels dated. being “sexy” worked until it didn’t. as soon as customer values shift, your brand needs to shift with them
(hint: faster than VS did).

when women ran fifth avenue (bonwit teller, lord & taylor, henri bendell)

julie satow documents how three trailblazing women turned department stores into glamorous empires of fashion, freedom, & female power. the book shows how they redefined shopping, shattered ceilings, & proved that women ruled the retail world long before anyone admitted it.

the book gives all the glamour.

hortense odlum turning bonwit teller into a haven for the modern housewife & becoming its first female president. dorothy shaver of lord & taylor elevating american designers during wartime & smashing the $1 million salary glass ceiling. geraldine stutz reinventing henri bendel (yes the one later acquired by L brands) with her boutique floors & preternatural trendspotting. afternoon teas, fashion shows, & the decadence of department store culture in its prime. where men owned the buildings, but women ruled the world inside.

made me miss the golden days of department stores.

despite never experiencing them.

but as someone who lived in nyc, worked in retail, & loves legends of female empowerment, i’m shocked i never knew about these trailblazing women. i’m so grateful this book helped me realize the revolutionary history behind places i’ve walked by countless times.

overall rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟 out of 5

retail relatedness: 95%

key retail insight: double down on experiential retail. worked then & continues to work now (when down right). lavish window displays, champagne shopping events, & luxe dressing rooms are more than just perks — they keep high-end shoppers loyal & talking.

two retail reads to skip

i also read two other books that i didn’t love & don’t recommend.

the first is “glossy: ambition, beauty, & the inside story of emily weiss’s glossier” by marisa meltzer. this book feels like a fever dream about glossier — vague timelines, abstract musings, & existential sidebars instead of the actual story.

by the end, i had more questions than answers.

a few store specifics are included but like many other topics, it’s mostly glossed over ;)

the second is “meet me by the fountain: an inside history of the mall” by alexandra lange. as someone who grew up as a 90s mall kid & loves the mix of architecture, culture, & commerce they represent, i really wanted to like this book.

instead, it felt like a dry, academic slog.

too much history, not enough heart, & none of the magic that makes malls so fascinating (& polarizing). bit too much architecture for me too.

closing musings

i’m shocked to see that journalists & historians are delivering sharper specifics & more actionable strategies about retail than many founders themselves i reviewed last week.

the 3 books above do an excellent job at telling the story(i)es, but they also give insight into the strategies that worked & didn’t. insights that are super valuable for growing retailers.

i can’t help but wonder which brands will get the deep-dive treatment next.

maybe outdoor voices with its meteoric rise-&-fall? or the weird & wild story of american apparel? or supreme big hype & sell-out accusations? or a look at gap’s identity crisis & revolving-door leadership? or maybe more on abercrombie’s reinvention after its scandal-filled heyday?

the possibilities are endless!

i’m feeling hopeful more retail exposés will be coming soon.

& if i missed any, please do let me know. i’m going to make the most legit retail reading list resource with all of this so very soon.

in the mean time, if you made it through all the above that i spent many hours both reading for & writing. i’d so appreciate you clicking below to learn more about this merry partner 👇️ 

p.s. be on the lookout for a very special ONE HUNDREDTH edition of merry makery next monday! a few very merry updates are in store for ya & this newsie ✨