Katherine Lewin has staged her Brooklyn-based “dinner-party store” Big Night like an eclectic NYC apartment. It’s a small space, just under 300 square feet, with a big window, stocked with colorful wine glasses, linens, tablewares, tinned fish, cheese, bread, dried flowers. She conceived of the idea during the first pandemic holiday season—when people were attempting to work festive atmospheres into their quarantine dungeons—and opened up shop the following summer. Even as fear of the virus loomed over retail, Lewin opted for physical space over digital footprint.

The brick-and-mortar experience is a crucial component, she told Retail Brew, and for all the challenges that come with eschewing e-comm, there are rewards.

Out and about

After a year in business, Big Night still doesn’t have an online presence. “That brick-and-mortar, in-person element was the most important thing to get right,” Lewin told us. “After basically two years of staring at screens and having [the] Instagram algorithm feed us what it thinks we want to shop,” she says she missed the emotional touch and feel of shopping. And Lewin doesn’t think she’s alone.

In creating Big Night, Lewin wanted an intimate space where she could know every single SKU, watch people browse, and speak with them about the brands. She also made sure there was prominent signage for the products, so people could walk around the store and learn about the wares.

• “Where does it come from? Why is it good? What could they use it in? What other products might they like if they like this one? I think that product storytelling is key,” Lewin explained.

For Big Night, part of telling that story is consistently rewriting it (i.e., bringing in new inventory). “My vision for the store is that it’s jam-packed with things for people to discover. The small footprint actually allows people to dig in a little bit easier,” she said.

Click here to read the full story.—JG

Marketing Brew’s Alyssa Meyers has a question: What’s the difference between the sounds of a Dorito, a Tostito, or Lay’s potato chip? Turns out there isn’t one, since a crunch is a crunch.

So how exactly did Tostitos find its new sonic logo? Alyssa has the scoop:

“We drill down and we find each brand’s, what we call, ‘inevitable sound,’ something that couldn’t possibly be anyone else,” John Taite, Made Music Studio’s EVP of global brand partnerships and development, told Marketing Brew.

Through that process, the Tostitos team found that they “didn’t want to just be another crunch,” Tostitos marketing director Hana Golden said, among all their Frito-Lay sister brands, a couple of which have also worked with Made Music Studio. In fact, it was the success of Doritos’s sonic identity that inspired Tostitos to do the same as it was updating its packaging.

“Everything is expected to have a sound, and we didn’t have a sound,” she said. “It was just very clear that with the capabilities that Made Music had, with the success that Doritos had, that we needed this to round out that transformation” of the packaging.

To create a sound for Tostitos that was more than just a crunch, Taite and his team decided to get their hands on Tostitos’s non-chip products, like its salsas.

Click here to read the full story on Marketing Brew. And click here to read how music can also help stores hit the right notes.—GT

This month, Retail Brew has been exploring retail beyond the US. To kick things off, we teamed up with Harris Poll to get a sense of how shoppers in the states think about international brands. Spoiler alert: US consumers under 40 are leading the way. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of Zoomers and 71% of millennials surveyed have shopped with at least one international brand in the last year.

We took you inside India’s 150-year jewelry hub, as well as its ubiquitous kirana stores, one of the most popular ways to buy groceries in the country.

• Plus, read how Indian beauty company MyGlamm found DTC success.

We also dug into how the Ukraine-Russia war is impacting global commodity exports.

+1: Stay tuned, as we’ve still got places to go. This week, we’ll be heading up north.—GT

Today’s top retail reads.

Drive a non-bargain: That new car smell is really going to cost you. “At the end of the day, it’s saying, ‘Look, if you don’t buy this, the guy right behind you or the gal three people behind you is going to, and they’re going to pay me $1,000, $2,000 more than you’re willing to, so I have to go with them,’” said Ivan Drury, senior manager of insights at Edmunds. (Vox)

Planted: Burger King revamped one of its London locations to be completely meat-free. (Insider)

Follow the money: Why aren’t investors sold on apparel companies anymore? (Modern Retail)

Don’t miss it: Chargebee’s SubComm NXT ’22 is happening April 5 at 9am PT. Learn about the latest trends in the subscription e-commerce industry, hear about best-in-class solutions adopted by high-growth DTC brands (like Superfoods Company, TokyoTreat, and Pret A Manger), and network with your peers. Register for the free half-day summit right here.*

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At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where we invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic.

The national average price for gas rose 72 cents in the last month, and consumers are feeling it even if they don’t drive, since companies that rely on drivers are charging surcharges to help cover their costs at the pump.

Uber and Lyft added surcharges and cash-back offers to help drivers bear the brunt. And if you’re someone with a drawerful of soy-sauce packets, chances are you’re helping pay for that unleaded, too:

• Instacart recently announced that it would add 40 cents per order for the next month.
• UberEats also added surcharges of 35-45 cents.
• DoorDash is helping drivers with a gas rewards program and Grubhub just increased driver per-mile pay, but neither has added a surcharge—at least not as of this writing.

You tell us: When it comes to ordering food, if a delivery platform adds a surcharge, how will it impact the way you use the service? Cast your vote here.

Circling back: Activist investor Engine Capital has urged Kohl’s board to consider selling, as have Macellum Advisors. Among the companies reportedly interested in acquiring Kohl’s are Hudson’s Bay Company (which owns the Saks Fifth Avenue and Off 5th chains) and PE firm Sycamore Partners (Staples, Express, The Limited, and more).

When it comes to selling Kohl’s, Morning Brew readers got all “no soup for you,” with 69.1% wanting Kohl’s to remain independent. Another 18.8% would like it to be sold to Hudson’s Bay Company, while 5.4% favor Sycamore Partners.

• Finally, 6.7% would like Kohl’s to be sold, but not to either Hudson’s Bay or Sycamore Partners. That could be interpreted countless ways, but we choose to believe they’d like Morning Brew to buy the chain and stock it with our merch.—AAN

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• Ace Hardware talks omnichannel
• What makes a successful loyalty program
• Buy online, ship to store doesn’t get much glory. Here’s why it should.