Search Engine of Independent Retailers and Small Business Resources

Even the most successful retailers need to re-invent themselves sometimes.

Despite creating strong numbers over the past five years, including organic sales growth, a writer at the Motley Fool not only questions how long Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie can maintain its leading retail edge but also questions if the retailer is beginning to lose some of its footing.

Independent retailers can learn a few lessons from this scenario. By moving into big malls and away from their destination sites, Urban Outfitters may be alienating the core audience that has made them a success and added to their style cred. Shopping malls can be soul-sucking locations where independents can get get lost in a retail Bermuda Triangle.

Change,for all of us,is inevitable but there are ways of moving on and re-inventing yourself successfully without losing your own cred.

Imagine if David Bowie kept his Ziggy Stardust persona or Madonna remained the Material Girl ?

Are you growing complacent because you are smugly satisfied with your present success?

Remember that the same creativity that spurred on your own success as an independent retailer can be mined endless number of times to keep your business fueled and on the leading edge. It can happen to the best of us and when I see one of my favorite retailers, like Anthropologie, grapple with growth issues, then I know that there is something for me to learn.