The Heat is On

Finally … finally! Summer is here. Global warming be damned, bring on the sticky heat and humidity, the pesky gnats and mosquitoes, the gooey street tar that trips me up in my flimsy flip-flops. After a winter (and spring, too, mostly) as bitter and bleak as a JCPenney board meeting, I’ll happily put up with a few dog day annoyances in exchange for a minty fresh mojito and a passing ray of sun.

Here at VMSD we, too, are celebrating the arrival of summer’s fresh retail designs, from whimsical department store displays and edgy boutique windows to charming local pop-ups and artfully presented produce at our corner grocer. Retailers are counting on consumers to loosen their frozen purse strings with pent-up demand for everything from sandals and sunglasses to linens and lawn tractors. You’ll find no better example of the season’s carefree vibe than our profile on page 18 of Free People’s Tokyo flagship, a bright, welcoming store that celebrates an endless summer aesthetic for bohemian-minded young women. 

Speaking of heat, it doesn’t get any hotter than Miami Beach, where the city’s sultry Latin rhythms are in step with the fevered dance of retail development, as seen in the Miami Design District, a burgeoning creative neighborhood and shopping destination dedicated to fashion, design, art, architecture and dining. It’s a prime destination for this year’s International Retail Design Conference, to be held September 3-5 at the retro cool Fontainebleau hotel.

In addition to getting your networking groove on at IRDC, you’ll find plenty of personal and professional inspirations in the exciting slate of conference sessions we’ve lined up, covering everything from global design strategies and new retail formats to the latest shopper insights and brick-and-mortar strategies for a digital world.

Many of these topics will be showcased in our new Power Session format – side-by-side tracks of fast-paced, 25-minute sessions – providing busy professionals carefully curated content in a dynamic, engaging setting. And you won’t want to miss our always popular roundtable breakfasts and the fierce Iron Merchant challenge, where mannequin mischief will surely ensue.

Register online now at irdconline.com. We’ll share a mojito with you in Miami.