The current issue of Bloomberg Businessweek features its first ever Popularity contest. The research looks at brands, trends and things we love to eat, buy, watch, and do.

I love this kind of stuff. Brands are what makes the world go-round and mostly we take them for granted. But if you sit back and read up on brands, you wonder why some brands make it and some don’t.

Remember Atari and Intellivision games? How about American Motors? Or Henry’s hamburgers? Is Pepsodent toothpaste still made?

Do you know what the most valuable brands are? Apple is #1.

Here are some of my favorite bits from the article:

• Most popular cereal: Honey Nut Cheerios.
  • Runners-up: Cheerios; Post Honey Bunches of Oats; Kellogg Frosted Mini Wheats
• Most popular color car: White (black is a close second)
• Most popular deodorant: Secret
  • Runners-up: Axe; Old Spice, Degree
• Red wine has the edge over white wine, 47% to 40%
• Skim milk slams whole milk 61 to 45 servings per capita
• Coke is it 17% of the time. Diet Coke and Pepsi only 9.9%.
• We eat more chicken but beef is still up there, 87 to 66 pounds per capita
• Bud Light is 2-1 over its full calorie brother, Bud.
• White bread is losing ground to wheat bread but still #1.
• Most popular fruit is an orange (not for me).
• Shrimp wins hands-down as the most popular fish. Yes, FDA classifies shrimp as fish, not seafood. 2-1 over canned tuna. Then salmon.
• Orbit sells over $200 million of its gum if you can believe. Trident which used to be #1 is way back at $146 million but still second.
• On the booze side, Smirnoff vodka, Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Jose Cuervo tequila and Bacardi rum all #1.
• No wonder the French hate tourists. Paris is #1 tourist destination worldwide. U.S. is second followed by Spain, China, and Italy.
• Jif is #1 for more than 20 years. Skippy is #2.
• Vanilla ice cream creams chocolate by 2-1.
• #1 job in America? Retail salesclerk. 4.2 million if you can believe.
  • Runners-up: Cashiers, office clerks, food preparation and serving workers; registered nurses.
• And my favorite bit from the article?
• What item does Walmart sell the most of?
• Happy Monday!
• [I could have made you look up the article but it’s Monday. Bananas. We eat 107 on average per year.

The latest economic news sucks. Unemployment claims dropped by only 2,000, exports were down, housing values could drop another 20% and China’s growth is slowing.

All of this has lead to a weak second half forecast. This will lead to more idle capacity. While airlines have figured out a way to reduce idle capacity by getting rid of planes or flying fewer of them, hospitality can’t reduce room count as easily. Salons and spas can’t reduce room or chair count either.

A hotel room sitting empty has no value. A spa room sitting empty has no value. A styling chair sitting empty has no value. Factor in the point that the facilities still needs housekeepers, massage therapists and hairdressers on staff, what solutions are available to fill idle capacity?

The Westin Detroit went from $179-$259 rates to $99. They figured the incremental cost per room night was low enough to make money at $99 and at least keep their restaurants somewhat busy. The Desange Spa in Ann Arbor is offering $105 half-day treatments including a 150-minute facial and 60-minute massage. Logic has it therapists would rather work making less money than hanging around the coffee machine earning nothing.

As I mentioned earlier, restaurants are using Happy Hours like never before. $3 drinks and $3 snacks are all the buzz. Now is the time for Hospitality/Salon/Spa to come up with their own version of Happy Hour.

What ideas do you have? Here’s one for salons. Mondays and Tuesdays are dog days. How about $10 Mondays and $12 Tuesdays? Salons can engage newer talent. And like the Westin’s strategy, once customers get in the salon, you can up sell them retail and other services.

Idle capacity is the bane of our existence. Let’s figure out a way to reduce it. The state of the economy dictates this.

Happy Thursday!

At the age of around 64, Jimmy Buffett is still “kicking ass.” He recently tossed a benefit concert for the Gulf and it was reminiscent of Woodstock with so many people in attendance.

With Jimmy’s popularity spanning all age groups and his universal appeal, I think it’s time to start campaigning Buffett For President.

Here are some really good things Buffett would do as President:

• Add Anguilla and Mexico as #51 and #52 states. The U.S. needs a tropical location in the east and Anguilla is ideal. Adding Mexico would eliminate the immigration issues, make Tequila the official “hard” beverage, reduce NAFTA regulations and create jobs. Just think of all the flags that would need to be replaced.
• Help get people off Prozac. With the economy in the dumps and unemployment stuck at 9.5%, Jimmy would put his speeches into song and instead of the loud, obnoxious, political tone, Jimmy’s message would be heard by all. This alone would put people in a better mood.
• Come Monday would be welcomed instead of dreaded.
• Cheeseburgers would be the national “American” food like it was years ago. They would be adorned with a big kosher pickle and hot French fries. Heinz ketchup would be a big contributor.
• We would adopt a more casual dress code. Shorts, flip-flops and t-shirts would be widely accepted.
• Moustaches would be back in style, especially the pencil thin varieties. The last time they were in style the economy was booming.
• Medical marijuana would become legal nationally. Redemption after all.
• Taxes would go down. More people would buy Landshark beer, Margaritiville food items and eat dinner at Margaritiville restaurants. All this added revenue would reduce taxes.
• And last but not least, it’s 5:00PM somewhere. Now how bad can that be?
• Happy Wednesday!

Procter & Gamble (P&G) and Colgate-Palmolive recently announced quarterly earnings and both stated sales were “soft” as consumers bought more private label and house brands.

Now I don’t know about you, but I buy a lot of my household stuff at Costco (used to be Target but they are always out of stock on so many items). Costco sells Tide in the giant economy size- the new size fits on a Ford F-150 Harley Davison model and requires storage but the hose option makes it easy to dispense into the washing machine. Alas, price per ounce for the Kirkland brand is 25% less.

I brush my teeth with Crest (P&G) and Colgate. Costco sells giant economy sizes like 8.3 oz. packed in 4 and 6 packs. I figure that’s enough toothpaste for a year for one person. No wonder people are buying more toothpaste at the Dollar Stores.

Luckily I don’t have kids in diapers. Back in the day I did have them, I remember buying Pampers in 24/36 count boxes. Now Costco sells them in 96/144 count crates and it’s more work to deal with the crates than change the blasted diapers. Perhaps it’s easier to buy private label diapers at Walmart.

Recently I was talking to a woman that wanted swimmer’s shampoo. I told her we sold Malibu and it was about $10 a bottle. Her response was that it was way too expensive. I asked her what she bought. She said Pantene (P&G). I then said Pantene is around $10 a bottle.

“Oh, I don’t buy it at retail price. First I wait for it to go on sale. Walgreen’s had it on sale for $6. Then I go to the P&G website and download their coupons. They had $2 coupons. Then I wait for Walgreen’s to have double coupon days so I ended up getting the Pantene for $2.”

No doubt, these are crazy times. Shampoo, toothpaste and laundry soap don’t appear to be on the high end list for consumers. No wonder Dollar Store sales are up 6-8% across-the-board while name brand toiletries are down 4-6%.

Where’s the value? Perhaps P&G should start selling smaller sizes to Costco and return to the days of premiums. Heck, they can include a bottle of Nioxin with each purchase; with the economy so bad, more and more people are losing their hair.

Happy Tuesday!

This is the year I gave up golf. I gave up golf for the farmer’s market. Well not really.

I only played golf on Saturday mornings. I once played on Wednesday afternoons with the BUB, but she gave up golf a few years ago. This year I decided that playing once a week and being frustrated most of the time wasn’t worth it.

Instead, we head out to the Pontiac farmer’s market. Much more fun! No trees to wander around. No lakes to fish balls out of. No need to swing into sand (much better to walk on sand). And best of all, no watching a ball miss the hole by 3 inches.

This has been the best year for tomatoes. I love tomatoes, especially Michigan tomatoes. This year they have the typical large varieties, but also Heirloom and lots of tiny ones in yellow, orange and red colors. They burst in your mouth with flavor. Yum!

Fresh blueberries and raspberries are great too but the season is too short. Corn has been abundant and expensive but very tasty. The new all white is recommended. We pass up the green peppers for purple ones and the fresh lettuces are so good, it makes it tough to go back to store bought.

It’s a hoot to walk around and talk to the farmers. They work tirelessly until 2AM to get ready for the market. Many leave their farms at 4AM to set up and prepare. This is the time they have to make their money.

The leap from white balls to red ones has been great. For those looking for something more entertaining to do on a Saturday morning, hit a farmer’s market and get ready for some good old fun.

Happy Monday!

I am always wondering where terms that we use on a daily basis come from. For instance, take “thank you.” In many households kids are taught at a young age to say “thank you” when receiving a gift, compliment, or something of value in return. As adults, we continue on with the tradition. But why “thank you?”

So I dug up a little research and found this:

The word thank derives from Old English pancian, meaning to give thanks, which in turn derives from the Proto-German term thankojan, which also spawned the Middle German term danken, meaning to thank.
The English term thank you was shortened from the phrase I thank you.

Now you know the rest of the story. So I thought today would be a good day to say thank you to a few people.

I thank you

Kym, Randy, AMK, our loyal BE’s, Gail, Carrie, Kelly, Carly, Ward, our KAT and KTT team members, and our newest team member, Brian Hill, owner of Network Salon Services. KEMON rocks because of you.

I thank you

Ed, Jimmy, Amy, Liz, Shelly, and Heather for your help in launching Hospitality. And The Ritz Carlton, Canyon Ranch, Four Seasons, MGM Resorts, Lifetime Fitness, Brown Palace, Starwood, Hilton and so many others in your support.

I thank you

Jimmy Buffett for being the daily tonic to make my day even better.

I thank you

Global logistics talent for sweating out the hot days taking care of customers orders.

I thank you

Shawn, Craig, Gaye, Jon, Mark, Leslie, Kym, David and Liz for your leadership ability. Hey, congrats to Shawn for getting married next week in Jamaica man. Be careful of the ganja!

I thank you

The rest of the TNG team for helping to make us such a great company.

I thank you

All our loyal customers. Too many to name but recently Lynn, Debbie, Andy, Cathy, Emile, Jimmy, George, Jesse, Barbara, and Judy.

And one more I thank you

To The BUB! Everyday is a celebration and because we both love Gordon Ramsey, I can tell her to PISS-OFF without getting in trouble! Love the BUB! Roar!

Happy Friday!

ACE is the place of the helpful hardware man. That was the slogan back in the day. Now it’s simply ACE is the helpful place. That’s what happens when ACE has more women employees than men.

While running outside in 100% humidity, I was thinking about how life as an ACE hardware guy 30-40 years ago was compared to today. Back then I worked 6 days a week with only having Wednesday off. My work clothes were the same each day: jeans with leather belt to hold my utility knife and retractable key holder; leather boots and shirt. At the end of the day, I would hang my jeans on a hook and put them on the next day. By the end of the week, I didn’t need the hook anymore, they stood on their own. Dinner at McDonald’s included a Quarter Pounder, cheeseburger, Filet of Fish, large fries, apple pie and Diet Coke (yes I know, hard to believe).

Work was grueling. The store was in the heart of Detroit. The store survived the 1968 riot (barely) with the end result removing all windows from the front. That’s also the time when security bars and window steel grates became hot items as homeowners rushed to protect their homes. I was only 13 then.

As a hardware guy, you have to learn quite a few things. Here’s just a few I picked up:

• Picking locks and making keys. Being a locksmith was a fun hobby.
• Cutting and threading pipe. It was a lousy job but when someone needed a 37.5” piece of 3/4” black pipe, they needed it bad.
• Unloading trucks of salt in the winter and cement in the summer. No fork lifts back then. Two of us would unload 400 bags. And then of course we had to load them into customer’s cars when sold.
• Custom mixing paint. No computers back then, actually taking tubes of color, cutting them open, dumping into gallons and putting on the mixing machine.

Items of interest back then that the X and Y generation can only shake their heads now include”:

• Ringing sales on a manual register. Can you imagine anyone making correct change today without being told how much to give back? Oh, credit cards were virtually non-existent. Customers only used cash.
• Galvanized garbage cans and washboards. Plastic cans weren’t around and some households didn’t have washing machines.
• Cigarettes were $4.99 a carton; Kool was the #1 brand.
• $2.99 window shades cut to size were a hot commodity. Window shades with an automatic release were a luxury item.
• Ferry Morse vegetable seeds were $.19 a package. Collard and Turnip greens were the best sellers.

Being in the city, there were a few really bad incidents:

• Being robbed at gun point several times. The worse being when I had to tie up my father with a gun pointed at him and one pointed at me in the office. I had to walk to the registers, open them up and luckily (with everyone on the floor), they only shot the ceiling and walked out.
• Having my car stolen twice. Nothing like leaving work and not seeing your car in the lot.
• Being punched out for no reason.
• A customer wanted to hear how a door chime sounded. So I attached a transformer to the chime and a hot lead with a plug. While I was attaching the lead to the transformer, an employee plugged in the plug. I became the chime, instantly feel to the ground and luckily the employee unplugged the plug. I couldn’t plug anything into an outlet for 3 years.

One thing for certain: Life as an ACE hardware guy and life as a wholesale distributor has something in common: You keep on learning and it ain’t easy.

Happy Thursday!

Michigan voters went to the polls yesterday and made a statement: Career politicians have failed us, we need jobs, and it’s businesses that hire people and bring prosperity, not the government. Snyder already has a 80% to 20% lead on his Democrat challenger, Bernero.

Max Sortino turns 54 today. I’m not sure if he will be celebrating his birthday in Manhattan, the Hamptons or Paris. But one thing for sure is he won’t be celebrating it in the cafeteria at 575 Fifth Avenue.

Why is it that drivers who turn right off their side street without stopping at the stop sign and cut you off always drive at least 5-10 miles below the speed limit? So irritating.

Speaking of irritating, do you watch Hell’s Kitchen? Gordon Ramsey is quite the TV character and has made “Piss-off” famous. Who is going to win top chef at the Savoy?

I know everyone loves to read about controversy and that is what made the TIGI blogs last week so fierce. While I’m over it, I have to add one comment that a fellow salon owner said yesterday to us, “The TIGI manager came into my salon without knowing me, offered 10% off retail to buy direct and yada, yada, yada. I said to her why didn’t you give me 10% off all these years before? I was livid and the TIGI manager was speechless.”

Michael O’Rourke’s hands-on class sold out in 1 day. Way to go Michael! We are pleading with him to do another one on Sunday, August 22. Stay tuned.

What time to do you go to sleep at night? I have this theory. Average go to bed time based on age: 20’s: 11-12PM; 30’s: 10-11PM; 40’s: 10PM; 50’s: 9-10PM; 60’s: 9PM; 70+: 10-12PM. Personally, 9PM works for me.

Hear ye, hear ye! We received a Shellac shipment and it included Base Coat!!! Sorry, we shipped all the backorders we could, more is coming.

And speaking of color, today is the first day salons can sell the new OPI Swiss collection. Incredibly we sold out the A collections and have more coming. Seems like polish is the one salon item consumers are still snapping up in this economy. Thank goodness.

Our next company barbeque is Friday, August 20. I’m grilling world famous Black Angus quarter pound dogs. If you never had these, you don’t know what you are missing. Grill’s on 12PM – 1PM.

BP contained the oil well, the government claims at least 75% of the oil has either evaporated or been sucked up. Good news indeed for the gulf coast but where is the media on this story? Not interested. Good news never sells papers or magazines.

And finally, Vince Davis thinks I don’t say nice things about him. Hogwash. Vince Davis dresses as well as Paul Sharnsky. In fact, they could be brothers. Hmmm???

Happy Wednesday!

This week launches the start of our major community projects and as always, it’s a very rewarding time.

Friday, August 6 at our World Headquarters and Friday, September 10 at our Global Logistics Center is our American Red Cross blood drive. Each year we donate over 100 pints of blood and I’m always first to go. Let me tell you, the first time I saw that “needle” they stick in your arm, I said to the nurse, “Are you kidding me?” She looked at me and said “Don’t worry, I usually hit the vein the first time, usually.” Lucky for me, it’s been the first time every time! It’s a great thing to do and there is always a blood shortage. Please stop on by if you are in the neighborhood. They serve up some delicious store bought cookies and juice in little plastic bottles afterwards.

Wednesday, August 11 is the kick-off breakfast for American Cancer Society’s (ACS) annual STRIDES event in Detroit. As a national sponsor, I get to go on stage and rally the 600 or so women and 3 men in the room to raise money for ACS. Last year more than $800,00 was raised and we are hoping to at least equal that amount this year. The actual event is Saturday, October 9. Please join TNG and over 10,000 walkers for this fun-packed event honoring so many survivors.

Sunday, October 3 is our annual DREAMS event featuring the Tiffany Awards. This charity event benefits ACS and raises more than $100,000 annually. This year we are blessed to have amazing talent showcase the event such as Michael O’Rourke, Antonio Corral from Moroccanoil, Carlo Bay (#1 hairdresser in Italy) and special guest from Label.m. Tickets are only $75 and $125 and include dinner. This year the event will be held at Andiamo in Warren. More info to come.

December is our annual food drive benefitting Forgotten Harvest. With the economy and unemployment continuing to be stubbornly high, food banks are more desperate than ever for donations.

There’s a lot going on and plenty of opportunities to participate. We hope to see you at one or more events. It’s well worth your time and donation as the memories are forever.

Happy Tuesday!

We have witnessed first hand what new technology can do to a market. Witness CND’s Shellac. Everyone thought the brand would do well but had limited appeal due to only having a dozen shades compared to 200-300 for polish lines.

Turned out everyone was wrong and in the scheme of things, women really only do need a dozen shades if it stays on for two weeks. Demand has outstripped supply to the point that you can buy it on eBay for $45 a bottle ($15.95 list price). CND has informed us that we are looking at the middle of the month to get our next shipment and that won’t even handle half our backorders.

Another new technology, Gorilla Glass from Corning, is going to  change the TV industry. . .again. Flat screens will soon be passé because of Gorilla Glass. And just in time since virtually everyone has replaced their old TV’s with LED’s and Plasma’s.

Have you ever gone to a hotel and witnessed a TV inside the bathroom mirror? Your first reaction is, “WOW, how cool.” That’s Gorilla Glass. Invented some 40 years ago by Corning, they never found an application for it so they put it into their archives. Viola, now they found the answer.

Gorilla Glass is 2-3X stronger than typical TV glass. Not only is it chip and scratch resistant, it is so strong that TV manufacturers no longer need to “frame” the screen. This means frameless TV’s. This means TV’s built flush into walls so they become art and TV in one. This means unlimited uses and installations of TV’s. By 2012, we won’t be able to go anywhere without seeing TV’s.

Who knows, perhaps Corning and CND can get together to produce color-coordinated glass that goes clear when the TV is turned on. What’s next?

Happy Monday!