Listen to mama

Raina had a really great post earlier today that you should read. It's specifically about Pottery Barn, but I think it's indicative of retailing everywhere. Loss of focus, loss of identity, lackluster design and even worse execution-that's the real problem.

I feel the same way about Restoration Hardware. It used to be interesting to go, but now they have all these "lines" and everything comes in every finish and theres 50 fabrics each in 8 colors and...enough.

I don't think all is lost. As I commented on that post, I think PB does mirrors well:

And lighting too:

And while I don't have photos here, my master bath fixtures are Resto's Spritz collection, and we've bought nothing but their bath towels for years now.

So come on retailers, get with it. Yes the economy is scary, but people still have money to spend. We just don't have money to spend on crap. Put out a well-designed, well-made product that we can imagine living with for more than a season, we'll buy it. And when we're happy with that we'll come back looking for more.