A very lively and productive week.

• First dental visit since February. My teeth were in A+ condition which I attribute to being home most days and brushing and flossing more. It was great to reconnect with Dr. Blau’s office and with Heather, my dental hygienist, even if it was behind a mask or two or three (see pic above).
• More retail/holiday scouting. Spoiler alert: Hudson Yards is still #1 when it comes to BEST holiday vibe in the city. In pandemic times, we cannot underestimate the power of sparkling lights and festive decor to lift our spirits (even therapists are weighing in on this).
• COVID-19 vaccine approved in the UK. The first patient was a very spry 91-year old woman. Great on one level but it struck me as a risky move. What if something happens to her (she is 91 after all) and they recall the vaccine? Fingers crossed all goes well.
• I’ve added six more cities to my Google custom news feed. I now track 10 cities daily (4 that are reliably trend-forward and 6 new ones that I will switch in and out based on how productive they turn out to be).
• I also had my every-other-week FaceTime with Brandi Moody, former colleague, great friend, and exceptional trendologist. As I’ve said before if you need to know “what’s up” there’s no-one more observant or better at connecting the dots than Brandi.

And with that, scroll down for this week’s Top 10.

1. Professional Holiday Decorators having their best year ever.

And thank you Sebastian Maniscalco for putting this on my radar!

“2020 – it’s a pandemic year. I‘ve got a team coming in to decorate this 12-footer. Putting up every light. Flock that tree, bro. Everything you’ve got. Full-bore Christmas. Make the house a Winter Wonderland.“

Pete Correale & Sebastian Maniscalco (on The Pete & Sebastian Show – Episode 437)

companies doing Christmas decor have been working non-stop Since mid-November

Rich Johns has his teams at Christmas Decor of New Jersey working six days a week to set up light displays at homes and businesses. Johns said the company had “more calls, and more emails, and more hits through our website than we’ve ever had.”

NBC New York

Brandi Moody, Silicon Valley trend guru, agrees!

• People are not only dialing up their decor game this year, they’re getting in professionals to do it. “Who did you hire?” is the first question many ask their neighbors. It’s the hottest topic on NextDoor, the app for all things local.
• See photos below from Brandi’s neighborhood.

Fake Snow is falling, lights synced to music, you listen in your car as you drive-by!

And it’s not just for mansions. The owners of this sweet house also called in the pros.

2. holiday decor for retail districts has never been more important!

• After having my mind blown by Hudson Yards last week, I checked out Brookfield Place’s Luminaries display (pics below) along with The Oculus and the Westfield World Trade Center Mall.
• Two words: underwhelming and disappointing. Plus, the Oculus is not aging well.
• Brookfield falls short by relying solely on the Luminaries display along with a few fake trees.
• None of it is enough to bring in the crowds they so desperately need. The skating rink outside is great but it doesn’t tie in with the interior theme.
• What Hudson Yards has done brilliantly is develop one strong central theme that works throughout the entire property – outside and inside. Every detail is consistent.
• The Oculus, meanwhile, had zero lights, zero ambiance. Sad and drab. They’ve clearly given up all hope of a rebound.

Brookfield Place/Luminaries/ skating rink

Oculus/ Westfield Mall: Hello? Do they even know it’s Christmas?

And then there’s Hudson Yards, a sparkling jewel. not surprisingly, drawing huge crowds

3. Outdoor winter dining

Happening all around the country: igloos, “greenhouses” and yurts. Essential in NYC where it looks like indoor dining will be shut down starting this Monday.

Atlanta’s ‘Greenhouses in the Grove’ (Source: whatnowatlanta)

Austin’s Line Hotel has debuted a yurt village (Source: Patch)

The Yurt Village is in partnership with Arlo Grey, American Express, and Resy. The heated custom-designed tents serve as miniature private dining rooms and are reserved exclusively for American Express Card Members.

Meanwhile in NYC, we’re happy with igloos, greenhouses, apres-ski huts

and my all time favorite: yurts at the standard east village

4. Cocoa bombs are the festive food fad of 2020! (Source: NextPittsburgh)

Sales blew up as soon as Pittsburgh’s Sarris Candies introduced the product in mid-November. They sold 5,000 bombs in two hours. It crashed their site! Watch the video below – it’s really cool!

here’s the concept:

• Place the chocolate ball, which is filled with cocoa mix and tiny marshmallows, into a mug.
• Pour hot milk over the confection and watch as the chocolate slowly dissolves and bursts open and a delicious winter beverage emerges. (Watch the video till the very end.)
• Bill Sarris, President of Sarris Candies, who initially saw the craze on TikTok, says they’ll be making cocoa bombs year-round with seasonal twists.

5. NEW STORE ALERT: ANTITHESIS

This store blurs the lines between technical wear, streetwear, and fashion. On top of that, the store smells terrific. They burn Verveine candles from Le Labo (another neighborhood fave).

Antithesis (1 Rivington Street NYC) carries a tightly edited selection of casual menswear (as pricey as it is stylish!). It’s primarily tops with a small sampling of pants, coats, bags, shoes, and glasses. I could see Jack Dorsey shopping here – and the prices reflect who the shopper might be e.g., an Acronym beanie goes for $838, The Salvages sneakers are $680.

• Brands featured include Acronym (out of Berlin), 4SDesigns/EndClothing, Effector Eyewear (out of Tokyo), Ramidus (out of Tokyo), Sci-Fi Fantasy (skater hoodies/tees), The Salvages footwear
• They kept much of the interior exactly as the former tenant (another retailer) had left it including the central corrugated steel dressing room.
• But they did change the exterior especially the front window which now features a gigantic QR code that links to the Antithesis website (which is very cool and worth checking out in its own right).
• Downstairs (previously a storage area), is being turned into a club house of sorts for Antithesis VIP customers. I see major hangout potential once this pandemic is over.
• Matt Breen (pic above) is the owner/manager although, on LinkedIn, he’s listed as the ‘customer consultant.’ Whichever title, he’s extremely knowledgeable and clearly has extensive retail and branding experience.
• Bottom line: another great style addition to the neighborhood along with Daily Paper, Supreme, and Seize Sur Vingt.

6. TARGET is booming! We’re even getting one in Soho! (Source: TheRealDeal)

This newest Target will be at 600 Broadway, the former home of A&F and Hollister. I’m excited about it because contrary to what everybody else is doing, i.e., buying every last thing online, I am reversing that trend and buying more stuff in person. Why? Because it cuts down on boxes, deliveries, and pollution.

And I’m clearly not the only one. Look at this Line at the Tribeca Target last weekend:

• Besides Soho, there will soon be Target locations in Chelsea, Times Square and Washington Heights.
• The Soho Target marks the 11th building that Target has taken over in the NY area in the past 14 months.
• Target has had a record year despite (or because) of the pandemic. Its operating income was $1.9 billion from August through October (double last year’s).
• Total revenue grew to $22.6 billion, a 21.3% year-over-year increase.

7. Shoppers in Palo Alto and Flower Mound (Dallas suburb) are the biggest holiday spenders in U.S. (Source: CultureMap Dallas & Wallet Hub)

What’s shocking about this study is that NYC only comes in at #256 with a spend of $811 versus Palo Alto’s $3056 and #2 Flower Mound’s at $2973.

Here is a random sampling of cities.

• Boston: #114 with household spending at $1210
• Columbus, OH: #160 at $1009
• Knoxville: #506 at $484
• Los Angeles: #449 at $552
• Miami: #567 at $315

To check out where your city ranks, link here.

Reading this study made me feel like a bit of a curmudgeon because I’m not into gift giving or getting. I do love to take people out for lunches or dinners and enjoy being treated to a meal as well. But that’s as far as it goes.

• I haven’t sent cards for at least 20 years. When you get out from under the burden of gift-giving, it frees up your life and relieves a lot of stress (emotional and financial).
• While I know I’m an outlier on this, I do sense that more people are tilting my way. It certainly explains the now well-documented trend of self-purchases around the holidays.

8. Car Culture has gotten 100% wilder because of the pandemic

This blew up early in the pandemic when roads were virtually empty and there was nothing else to do. Now even with traffic back to normal, incidents of street racing, burnouts and stunting have DOUBLED. These illegal car events are arranged and promoted to fans thru social media. There’s also betting. Hot spots: Atlanta, LA, Dallas

November 7, 2020 Los Angeles

But car culture is not all about illegal street racing (Source: Dallas Observer)

ParkUpFront is a social media app that got its start in Dallas and is designed to make car shows easier to organize and attend. It has seen large growth in the last eight months. Previously disconnected groups become more unified as people look for an outlet during a time when so much has been shut down.

In Dallas, car enthusiasts also use ParkUpFront to organize charity drives, e.g., a caravan of exotic cars dropping off gifts at the homes of sick children.

9. ART WORLD PIVOTS YOUNG

i) 17-year-old Artist from Las Vegas Sells Digital Artwork for $21,350 (Source: Decrypt)

This piece was commissioned by Morgan Creek Digital co-founders Anthony Pompliano and Jason Williams. The auction was held on Nifty Gateway, a blockchain-based digital art platform owned by cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. The platform allows various artists to submit their collections and pieces as “nifties” (a playful derivative from “NFT”). These are unique blockchain tokens that are each “one of a kind.”

ii) 25-year old Kendall Jenner has an amazing art collection. who knew? Love her!

Watch this video of Kendall Jenner doing a house tour for Architectural Digest. I’m very impressed by her knowledge of the artists and their works, e.g., James Turrell, Tracy Emin. She’s the real deal, no bullsh*t. My favorite of that clan.

iii) and This just in from Marfa: Don’t Go, THEY HATE US!

The night before Thanksgiving, artists Chris Ramming and Rob Brill put up the sign “Everyone Here Hates You” outside the Z Ranch exhibition space in Marfa, Texas

When COVID first hit NYC, I thought about cool places to hunker down and Marfa came to mind. I had visited previously and absolutely LOVED it and I’m a huge Donald Judd fan. But after doing a bit of research, I quickly came to the conclusion that this was not for me. Others, however, had no such qualms.

Restless tourists have descended to Marfa and the surrounding Big Bend region, hoping that a rural escape might mean minimum exposure to the virus. Marfa’s restaurants are buzzing, hotels are at capacity, and in October, Big Bend National Park, a popular pit stop for Marfa weekenders, reported a 20% increase in visitors compared to this time last year.

Hyperallergic, Dec 8, 2020

10. FINALLY: HAS ANYONE ELSE Given up on TV?

I basically stopped watching TV in June. I got turned off by how shrill and manipulative mainstream TV’s coverage had become of everything from the pandemic to politics. I looked around for other forms of news and entertainment and discovered how much stuff was on YouTube including Joe Rogan’s long-form video podcasts. Going down that rabbit hole was the best thing I did early in the pandemic – and I’m still reaping the benefits.

This week, I have 3 recommendations.

Check them out if you’re into music, fashion, or just have a funny bone.

i) MUSCLE SHOALS – a must-see documentary for rock n’ roll history buffs.

Absolutely one of my favorite documentaries ever – great footage of the early, early Stones, Aretha Franklin, and Etta James among many others. Thank you to Greg Fitzsimmons and Mike Gibbons for tipping me to this on your Sunday Papers podcast.

ii) Supermodels. Fashion Documentary 1995 – so good!!!

A camera follows Christy Turlington (and Naomi Campbell) through the spring fashion shows in Milan, Paris, and New York in the early 1990s. Includes priceless behind the scenes footage of Galliano, Gaultier, and Lagerfeld in Paris, and Isaac Mizrahi in New York.

iii) BAD FRIENDS – FAVe PODCAST at THE MOMENT. weird, quirky, hysterical.

And that, my friends, is a wrap.

At this time of the year, I would normally be up to my eyeballs in end-of-year trend predictions.

Not this year. There are too many contradictory things going on to make any sense of where we will be a year from now, e.g., there’s high unemployment but there’s also a major worker shortage. Nobody is supposedly going back to the office EVER (especially in tech), meanwhile Facebook just leased 1MM sq ft of office space in Austin on top of another 2.2MM sq. ft in NYC. So which is it?

What I am planning to do over the next two weeks is put together my Top 10 Year In Pictures. I’ve taken more photos this year (and there’s been more to document) than at any time in recent memory. That should shed some light on what’s coming down the pike.

And on that note, have a great weekend everyone. Those that can get out, have fun, stay safe, and those that are in serious lockdown mode, check out those movies and podcasts I recommended.

‘Til next week!