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I said that the favorite is always the field. By this I meant that in a playoff system consisting of three short series, no single team is ever the true favorite. If you focus on any one team in the 8-team field, chances are that your team is going to lose to one of the other seven teams in the field.
(Would you have known from reading the mainstream media that the Yanks were not prohibitive favorites to make it to the World Series? I'm not trying to pat ourselves on the back here. It takes no great genius to figure these things out. You just have to avoid parroting the set pieces written 20 years ago.)
This year, the field has proven to be the favorite with an unusual vengeance. The individual favorites in the original 8-team field have all suffered mightily. The AL team with the best record (the Rays) was eliminated long ago. The defending champions, the team with the single best Vegas odds of any of the eight playoff teams (the Yankees), was eliminated Friday night. The AL team left standing, the Texas Rangers (according to the Las Vegas odds), was the biggest underdog of any of the original 4 AL playoff teams. At the beginning of the playoffs, Vegas gave the Rangers about a 10% chance of winning the World Series.
Then, of course, we have to consider what happened to that OTHER team that was supposed to make it to the World Series. You know, those guys down the road in Philly, with the supposedly invincible three-headed pitching monster of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels? As it turns out, the Rangers' World Series opponent will be the San Francisco Giants, who had the distinction of being an even bigger underdog than the Rangers coming into the post-season. Vegas gave the Giants only about an 8% chance of winning the World Series.
But for the moment, our focus is on the Yankees. At the outset of the playoffs, Vegas gave the Yankees about a 30% chance of winning it all. The log5 method for calculating playoff odds gave the Yankees a smaller chance of winning, maybe around an 18% chance. To be sure, those were better odds than were projected for the Rangers (the log5 percentage for the Rangers at the start of the post-season was around 9%). But that's not really relevant. The point is that this year, just like every year, the Yankees' were significant underdogs against the field.
The Yanks (like all other teams) are perpetual post-season underdogs because the champion of major league baseball has to win three consecutive short series, and this is a difficult thing to do. Back in the days when I was a kid, there was one short series – the World Series – to determine the champion. In those days of long ago, the world championship went to the first team to win four games in the post-season. Who was the first team in the 2010 post-season to win four games? The Yankees. Back in the day, the World Series winner was the team that ended up with more post-season wins than losses. The Yankees' overall 2010 post-season record? 5-4.
Consider this as well: the Yankees played 5 games on the road and 4 at home against two of the best teams in the American League, and the Bombers finished this stretch at 5-4. Obviously, that's not good enough to be World Champions, but that's not a terrible result either. During the regular season we'd be OK with a result like this. It's not the result we'd want, but it's hardly a "failure" or an "embarrassment".
Let's turn for a moment to the legacy of George Steinbrenner, who passed away this year. Mr. Steinbrenner ran the Yankees successfully for a long time, and his legacy is full of positive accomplishments. Unfortunately, part of Mr. Steinbrenner's legacy is the notion that any Yankees season is a failure if it doesn't end with a World Championship. We'd be doing Mr. Steinbrenner and his legacy a favor if we'd just relegate this notion to the trash heap.
The Yankees are the most successful franchise in the history of team sport. The Yankees have won 27 World Championships, which is 17 more than the team in second place. As Mike T pointed out in the comments here, the Yankees have historically won World Championships about 25% of the time, about once every four years. A 25% championship rate means that 75% of the time, the Yankees have not won it all. This is not a bad record, this is a good record, a great record, by far the best record.
Being the best and most successful team in baseball means losing in the modern post-season more often than not. In fact, it means that we'll lose in the post season more than any other team, because we'll be in the post-season more than any other team. This is not a record of "failure" or an "embarrassment". It is the record of a champion.
Did George Steinbrenner express a different opinion? Sure he did. But he was wrong. To best honor his memory, we should celebrate Steinbrenner for all the good things he did, and not remember him for anything stupid he might have believed about the post-season. I mean, do we remember Napoleon only for Waterloo, or Robert E. Lee only for Pickett's Charge? Do we remember Cary Grant only for "I Was A Male War Bride" "Blonde Venus", or John Lennon only for "Revolution #9"? Let's remember Mr. Steinbrenner for the new Stadium, the YES network, signing Reggie Jackson … for nearly anything other than his wrong-headed notion that the Yanks should win it all every year.
What next?
We told you that you'd be watching a small sample size. Obviously, we hoped you be watching a larger sample size, one that would include World Series games. But the Yankees ended up playing nine post-season games. In regular season terms, that's about a week and a half of baseball.
The Yankees finished nine games of regular season baseball last April 15. Were you ready to make sweeping pronouncements about any of the Yankees last April 15? Last April 15, Derek Jeter was hitting .333 and Jorge Posada was hitting .345. Might as well sign those two guys up for the next 20 years. In contrast, Nick Swisher was hitting .267 and obviously was heading towards a season of mediocrity. Joba Chamberlain had a 3.37 ERA, and Phil Hughes had a 3.60 ERA. Clearly, the Yankees had made a mistake promoting Hughes to the starting rotation ahead of Joba. Because as we all know, we can make blanket statements about a player's ability based on nine games of work. Right?
Not right. We have to be careful not to judge any Yankee based solely on his post-season performance. That's too small a sample size. We're in a better position when we notice trends during the regular season that carried over to the post-season (such as the Yankees' problems with their starting pitchers). But even then we should be careful.
One observation we made in the Rational Guide: when you're looking at a small sample size, much of what you're encountering is luck. Did the Yankees get unlucky during this post-season? I'm hoping to see some analysis of this question by one of our stats-masters, like Will. But one measure we use to gauge luck is a statistic called Batting Average On Balls in Play, or BABiP. BABiP measures how often a ball hit into play turns into a hit. In the long run a team can expect to hit at a BABiP of around .300, and a team can expect to pitch allowing a BABiP of around .300. To illustrate, the Yankees' team BABiP in 2010 was exactly .300, and the Rangers' team BABiP for 2010 was a little better (or luckier) at .307. But when we're dealing with a small sample size like a short series, we can expect BABiP to vary a great deal from that .300 average, and at least some of that variation represents luck (for good or for bad).
My rough calculation of BABiP for the 2010 ALCS: the Rangers' BABiP was .344. The Yankees' BABiP was .242. This suggests that a good number of Rangers' hits found spaces between Yankees, while some number of Yankees' line drives were hit right at Rangers' fielders.
In order to raise the Yankees' BABiP against the Rangers to .300, the Yankees would have needed around 10 extra hits. On the surface, it doesn't seem like 10 more hits (less than two hits a game) would have made much of a difference. But remember, the Yankees' ALCS batting average with runners in scoring position was .151 against the Rangers, 8 hits in 53 tries. If some of those 10 potential extra hits came with runners in scoring position, it might have been a big help. Also, what if we could negate a handful of Rangers' hits, to bring the Rangers' BABiP down to .300? What then?
Did the Yankees get unlucky in this ALCS? Possibly. To some extent.
Here's another measure of luck: Bill James' "Pythagorean expectation". This "expectation" is a formula that projects a team's expected win percentage based on the number of runs the team has scored and allowed. Again, this expectation is most accurate when applied to a large sample size … but by the Pythagorean expectation, the Yankees should have won 39% of its post-season games, about 3 ½ games of the nine it played. Instead, the Yankees won 5 games. Was this luck?
Of course, if the Yankees had hit for a higher BABiP, then they would have scored more runs, affecting the Pythagorean expectation. Right?
Three of the Yanks' five wins were comeback wins. Luck?
There was luck (bad luck) in Mark Teixeira's getting injured, and having a number of Yankee hitters slump at the same time. Maybe it was bad luck for the Yankees to have had six days off after their ALDS sweep of the Twins, giving their bats time to "cool".
We can argue back and forth about luck. But we can't expect to measure luck precisely with the tools we have at hand. The luck involved in winning baseball games is difficult to quantify. We know luck is lurking there, because no matter how many objective measurements we take and how we toss them around, we cannot predict how a post-season short series will turn out.
I think Rob Neyer put it really well: "I will probably go to my grave believing that the New York Yankees were better than the Texas Rangers in 2010 … But in a series that is closely matched – as this one was closer than most thought – catching the breaks is a lot more important than having slightly more talent."
So … we're going to have to leave it at that. The Rangers beat us fair and square. We're Yankees fans, and we believe (with some justification) that our team would have beaten their team if luck had evened out. But we'll never be able to prove it. All we can say for certain is that the Rangers are a very good ballclub and that they kicked the stuffing out of us this time. Congratulations, nice job, best of luck in the World Series. See you down the road next time. Next time it will be different.
Or maybe not.
We know that the playoffs are a crapshoot, dominated by small sample sizes, where luck matters more than small differences in talent. We know that we can't win the World Series every year; all we can do is make the post-season most of the time, then hope for the best.
It hurts. It's disappointing. It's life as we know it in the big leagues. We pull for the most successful franchise in sports, and it's up to us to reflect the quality of this franchise. Plus, we have the comfort of knowing that the Yanks will start the ball rolling all over again in Florida next winter. I'll be ready. What say you?


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Her Gift...
Josh McBride arrives at Halden' s local vet practice prepared to temporarily step in for a doctor who' s about to have a baby. But he' s not prepared for a midwife with a head of rich copper hair whose special way with needy strays has an immediate and possibly permanent effect on one in particular--his eight-year-old son.
Is His Problem
Gen Halvorson can' t resist reaching out to the little boy, despite his father' s obvious mistrust of her talents and her motives. She' s not sure what she' ll do even if she does convince them to finally settle in Halden. Especially once Josh discovers that he and Tyler aren' t the only ones who need TLC and healing in the small North Dakota town...

subset: commoncrawl


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For the past four years I have served as an Assistant Professor of Business at Presentation College and Chair of its Business Department.
I teach a wide variety of business courses including Labor Management Relations, Business Management, Marketing, Business Law, Survey of Leadership Theories, Business Communications, Senior Seminar, Business Internship, Supervisory Management, Theory of Organizations, Planning Sports Facilities, Sports Administration Clinical, Health Care Marketing, Legal and Ethical Issues in Sports Administration, Introduction to Criminal Justice.
In the past I lead the effort to create the Department's new Sports Administration major. I also lead the Department's successful effort to be granted specialized accreditation by the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education, (IACBE).
After high school I spent 7 years at the University of South Dakota earning a BS in political science, a Masters in Public Administration and a Juris Doctor.
I am a retired Circuit Judge and worked for my state's court system for 30 years, handling all manner of criminal and civil cases. On a number of occasions, I sat as a substitute justice on the SD Supreme Court and authored a number of majority decisions for the court.
After retiring from the bench, I came to work at Presentation College.
I am married and have three children, all college age or older.


text: Maldryn Revision as of 20:21, August 22, 2012 by MarkvA (Talk | contribs) (diff) ←Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 104,162pages on this wiki Edit Classic editor History Talk0 Maldryn Title <Druid Trainer> Gender Male Race Night elf (Humanoid) Level 40 Affiliation Stormwind Location Stormwind See Maldryn<Druid Trainer>Level: 40Stormwind Maldryn is a level 40 druid trainer located in the Park in the human city of Stormwind. See List of Stormwind NPCs. External linksEdit Wowhead Thottbot WoWDB Retrieved from "http://wowwiki.wikia.com/wiki/Maldryn?oldid=2590708" Categories: Level 40 NPCs Night elves Druid trainers Stormwind City NPCs


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May 6, 2016
The grand opening for a new boat ramp in Emerald Isle took place Friday morning.
The new 23 acre boat access will be the largest on the North Carolina coast. There are four launch ramps, 18 single-vehicle parking spaces and 112 vehicle/trailer parking spaces.
It is located on the Bogue Sound, along Highway 58, between Mile Marker 17.5 and 18, adjacent to Chapel By The Sea.
The project is the result of a partnership between state and local government.
Click Here to access the online Public Inspection File
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The Power of Independent Thinking
Is the U.S. Provoking an Arms Race in Space?
Recorded: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
February 12, 2008
The Independent Institute, Oakland, CA
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty designated space for peaceful purposes as the province of all mankind. Virtually all spacefaring nations now favor a new treaty to accommodate major changes in geopolitics and military technology. The United States, however, has blocked negotiations, citing potential threats to U.S. rights, capabilities, and freedom of action. Some self-proclaimed space warriors even argue that U.S. military dominance in orbital space will be the only guarantee for international peace. But in Twilight War: The Folly of U.S. Space Dominance, Mike Moore, former editor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, argues that such American exceptionalism, Will not guarantee American security; it will guarantee conflict, and possibly, a new cold war. Come join us for a stimulating forum on what could be the most crucial national security issue of this century.
Mike Moore is Research Fellow at The Independent Institute, former editor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and author of the book, Twilight War: The Folly of U.S. Space Dominance. He is the author of many articles on national security, conflict resolution, nuclear weapons and proliferation, space weaponry, and related topics. Mike has spoken at many professional conferences and meetings sponsored by scientific organizations and policy institutes.
Experts: Mike MooreType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Science, Technology
Secrecy, Freedom and Empire: Lessons for Today from Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
Recorded: Wednesday, October 23, 2002
Daniel Ellsberg began his Vietnam-era career as a U.S. Marine company commander, a Pentagon official, and a staunch supporter of U.S. global interventionism. But, in October 1969, Ellsbergfully expecting to spend the rest of his life in prisonsmuggled out of his office and made public a seven-thousand-page top secret study of decision making in Vietnam, the Pentagon Papers. At this upcoming Independent Policy Forum, Ellsberg will tell the story of his becoming the most important whistle-blower of the last fifty years, risking his career and his freedom to expose the deceptions and delusions of U.S. leaders from Truman onward.
Based on his new book, Secrets, Ellsberg provided an insiders view of the secrets and lies that have shaped decades of U.S. foreign policy to the present. His exposure began on his first day at the Pentagon, August 4, 1964, which was also the day of the infamous Gulf of Tonkin incident. In time, the more he learned from top decision-makers, confidential documents, and reports of secret maneuvers, the more skeptical he became about the conduct and impact of U.S. foreign policies.
The release of the Pentagon Papers set in motion a chain of events that included a landmark Supreme Court decision, the arrest and trial of Ellsberg, the crimes of Watergate, and the end of the Nixon presidency and the Vietnam War.
As the U.S. pursues the current War on Terrorism, Ellsbergs insights into governmental intoxication with power could not be more timely or important.
This special evening with Daniel Ellsberg and a distinguished panel of scholars, Barton J. Bernstein, Edwin B. Firmage, David R. Henderson, and Jonathan Marshall discussed Secrecy, Freedom and Empire: Lessons for Today from Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers.
Experts: Daniel EllsbergType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Defense and Foreign Policy, History (International)
The U.S. War on Terrorism: Myths and Realities
Recorded: Tuesday, September 24, 2002
"Nothing will be the same after September 11." This is the view offered since the announcement of the war on terrorism, a "permanent war" declared with an ill-defined objective and unclear enemies. At this upcoming Independent Policy Forum and based on his new book, Theater of War, Lewis H. Lapham will instead discuss with intelligence and wit why the recent behavior of the U.S. government is consistent with that of past administrations. Politicians have long fostered pork, corporate welfare, government surveillance, and global interventionism that have created a more dangerous world. Now, we face the prospects of a major war in Iraq combined with the Orwellian USA PATRIOT Act, TIPS domestic spying program, Department of Homeland Security, incarcerations without charge or trial, militarized domestic law enforcement and airport security, and national ID cards.
Until recently, hearing skeptics of the "permanent war" has largely been a rarity. For example, as Lapham points out: "Ted Koppel struck the preferred note of caution on November 2 when introducing the Nightline audience to critics of the American bombing of Afghanistan: 'Some of you, many of you, are not going to like what you hear tonight. You don't have to listen.'" Unpopular, informed opinions seldom appear on the network news, and since the destruction of the World Trade Center, dissenting voices have been few and far between. However, Lewis Lapham is a major exception, questioning the motive, feasibility and morality, as well as the imperial pretension, of an infinite and dangerous, U.S. global-war crusade.
This special program with Lewis Lapham and a distinguished panel of journalists, Alan W. Bock, Jonathan Marshall, Seth Rosenfeld, and Paul H. Weaver, discusses the "U.S. War on Terrorism: Myths and Realities."
Experts: Lewis H. Lapham, Seth Rosenfeld, Paul H. WeaverType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Terrorism and National Crises
Big Brother is Watching
Recorded: Thursday, June 6, 2002
To outsiders, its initials once stood for No Such Agency. To its employees, they stood for Never Say Anything. Today the public knows that the ultra-secret National Security Agency manages the nations spy satellites, but few know exactly why the NSA is the most powerful U.S. intelligence agencyor its roles in the Cold War, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, and Echelon, the worldwide NSA spying operation that, many charge, is illegally monitoring innocent citizens. No outsider knows more about the NSA than investigative journalist James Bamford, who began to research it before most members of Congress had even heard of it. In this talk, Mr. Bamford explained why he believes the NSA is a dangerous, two-edged sword.
Experts: James BamfordType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Constitutional Law, Defense and Foreign Policy, Democracy, Freedom, Government Waste/Pork, History (U.S), Law Enforcement, Politics, Technology, Terrorism and National Crises
The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate
Recorded: Tuesday, May 7, 2002
Many Americans consider Abraham Lincoln to be the greatest president in history. His legend as the Great Emancipator has grown to mythic proportions as hundreds of books and a monument in Washington, D.C., extol his heroism and martyrdom. Is Lincolns reputation deserved? Lincoln defender Harry V. Jaffa (author of the new book, A New Birth of Freedom) will argue that Lincoln was a model statesman who stuck by high-minded principles as he fought to promote liberty. Lincoln critic Thomas DiLorenzo (author of the new book, The Real Lincoln) will argue that Lincoln was a calculating politician who waged the bloodiest war in American history not to free the slaves, but in order to build an empire that rivaled Great Britains. Was Lincoln a great hero or a villain? Did he honor the promise of Americaor betray it?
Experts: Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Harry V. JaffaType: Independent Institute EventIssues: History (U.S)
Gore Vidal on Understanding Americas Terrorist Crisis
Recorded: Thursday, April 18, 2002
Filmed before a live audience on April 18, 2002, renowned author Gore Vidal rejects the blind patriotism expected by government officials and the mainstream media, and investigates U.S. foreign policy throughout recent history, showing how it has contributed to the terrorist crisis. With his famous wit and insight, Vidal also demonstrates the ways in which the War on Terrorism is being used to curtail civil liberties and shred the Bill of Rights.
Experts: Gore VidalType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Civil Liberties/ Human Rights, Culture/ Society, Defense and Foreign Policy, Political Ideology and Philosophy, Terrorism and National Crises
Conning Americans: How Politicians Create Dependence on Government
Recorded: Wednesday, February 13, 2002
"Dependence on government has grown at unprecedented rates over the past 70 years. This ominous trend has coincided with the growth of centralized government power, which at its own discretion is used to regulate, manipuate, or prohibit. Driven by bipartisanship, bureaucracies, and interest groups, and accelerated by presidential ambitions, this trend has been so profound that few today can imagine life without government control. Economist and historian Charlotte Twight, one of the leading experts on politics and privacy, showed how special-interest politics created the income tax, Social Security, Medicare, surveillance of ordinary citizens, and other linchpins of the dependence-state, which in turn have made opposition to centralized control seemingly futile. She will then offer a strategy to reverse this trend in order to fulfill the promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Experts: Charlotte TwightType: Independent Institute EventIssues: Bureaucracy and Government, Government Waste/Pork, Welfare


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To The Carmelite Institute's of North America webpage CarmelStream! The Carmelite Institute is a collaborative effort of the Carmelites of the United States and Canada. Its mission is to promote the following of Jesus Christ through studies in the Carmelite tradition and by making the tradition available to our Carmelite brothers and sisters, as well as to all those interested in a spiritual life.
Learn More


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One of the things that we are putting into the new version of the RavenDB Website is some smarts about courses. We want to be able to figure out where a visitor is coming from, and show him relevant courses near him. This is a fairly standard feature, I guess. But I think we solved this in an interesting fashion. First, we had to figure out how to know where a visitor is coming from. This is done via geo location. There are plenty of geo location API, such as: The problem is that a service like that
is limited to ~1000 queries per hour, and we didn't want that. Other option include paid services, again, with either hard limits on the number of queries per hour or an open credit line. Neither option was very interesting to us. Instead, we thought we would try something out. Max Mind is offering a database that can be used for geo location purposes. They have two options, a free database and a paid option. I took the free version for a spin. Here is the GoeLiteCity-Blocks information: Note that we have repeated rows per location, which allows...(Read whole news on source site)


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Retailer of the Week
Trend-scout and Quartershop owner Paolo Malgarini
29 Aug. 2012
PAOLO MALGARINI, QUARTERSHOP OWNER IN GALLARATE/LEGNANO, ITALYResearch brands, special goods and the ability to constantly discover and launch new trends, products and labels are the reasons behind the success of Quartershop, a Northern Italian store owned by trend- and brand-scout Paolo Malgarini. The men's streetwear shops are based in Legnano and Gallarate, towns near Milan, and offer cool urban streetwear apparel and accessories. Since founding his first surf-, skate- and snowboard store in 1997, Malgarini's tastes have evolved to the concept store he runs today. Interview by Maria Cristina Pavarini
Apart from Vans sneakers and the Vans Authentic model, which are our absolute bestsellers, our main bestsellers during the summer were t-shirts and footwear. For t-shirts, the most popular brands were Obey, Sebago, Red Wing, New Love Club and Suck. In terms of style, people have been buying lots of t-shirts with photographic prints (for instance J.F. Kennedy's portrait as well as nonsensical images such as an enk with a girl's face). Among footwear, the Nike Sportswear Blazer shoes sold very well.
Another bestseller has been Basicon, a Made in Italy (actually Made in Naples) brand. Our clients mostly appreciate this brand for its chinos and camouflage pants. Curiously, apart from its great fit, modern style and profitable price-quality ratio, most models carry a small rope at the waist instead of a belt.
Do people buy according to their favorite brand, style, or impulse?
They mostly buy according to impulse. Our clients don't like mainstream trends. They know that what they find in our stores can hardly be found anywhere else. They often visit our stores and get struck by our special - often odd, though unique! – selection of merchandise.
Where do you place your orders? How do you inform yourself about trends?
We get most of our information from trade shows, especially foreign ones. We always find new and interesting products and brands at Bright and Capsule and we also visit many stores when we travel for fairs. Inspiration can come from anywhere - watching people on the streets of different cities or while vacationing abroad, summer holidays in San Francisco or New Year's Eve in Barcelona. During one trip in particular we began playing with the idea of launching some old-style California skateboards. We tried selling them and they became a bestseller!
A major source of communication with our customers is our website, which we started in 2007 and which has become most popular for jeans and streetwear. We constantly post new looks and collection lookbooks as well as store offers as a way to keep our clients up-to-date. When they come into our physical store, we prefer that they look around freely and find what they like best. Our team strives to be proactive and involve our customers in buying and discovering our constantly fresh ideas, visions and trends. We like our clientele to expect the unexpected in our stores with products they might not find somewhere else; for instance, sailing shoes like Sebagos, which is a brand that provides a sharp contrast to our store personality.
What are the most important trends of the moment? Have you added any new labels to your assortment?
We're predicting a return to a comfier image. We've been selling super skinny jeans for a long time, so we think cool comfort will set the course of a new direction. US brand Supreme has just launched a new fit that is neither baggy nor super skinny, but in-between. We're betting on a new cooler, cleaner street-inspired trend, like an evolution from Cheap Monday towards Nudie Jeans. Our new brands include Carhartt, Pennfield, New Era, Mitchell & Ness, BePositive and New Balance.
How does your store differ from other stores?
We always try to keep one step ahead. We're constantly working towards being a store that's not only focused on reaching turnovers but also on presenting special products and ideas. Urban Outfitters is a great source of inspiration for us. Most of all, we give our customers the opportunity to buy products that are intriguing and different from what other stores sell, which has been our main characterization throughout the years.
Our history has also been of interest to our customers. We opened in 1997 in Parabiago (a town near Milan) as a snowboard shop that gradually become more skating-oriented. We slowly started offering trendier apparel along with the snowboarding gear, and added skating gear and skaters' trousers, and later became more involved with music. Our aim was always to differentiate ourselves from others and present a concept of our own. This has always fascinated people and that's why people talk about us and visit our stores.
What do you like about your customers?
I like how our clients have become more independent of brands. Our clients have matured and are no longer brand-addicted. Brands are not necessarily everything. In fact, we often scout and launch brands that are not even distributed in Italy as of yet.
The image of our stores is as important as the product we offer because as our brand list changes, so does our look. We are constantly renovating or revamping an aspect of our stores. For instance, we've added some new lamps and vintage furniture in one section and most recently redesigned the footwear room. Furthermore, we've developed our own style of folding merchandise in a tight manner that really showcases our merchandise while saving on space.
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