TOP 10 LIST: Reopening, With A Firm Focus On The Future
Determination, resilience, persistence — these are the traits I see strongly entrenched among those on the vanguard of the reopening. I’m also picking up a vibe among this group that they refuse to be cowed by fear of the unknown. To these fast rebounders, the “unknown” represents only positive possibilities.
And with that, Scroll down for this week’s TOP 10 LIST.
1. across industries, innovation is being fast-tracked
Art World innovators and Entrepreneurs (Source: Artnet)
- Acute Art already has more than 500,000 users. This latest mixed-reality venture from the Swedish-born former Moderna Museet director, Daniel Birnbaum, provides access to commissioned digital works by big-name artists, including KAWS and Olafur Eliasson.
- StudioVisit (UK) provides artists the opportunity to make much-needed money by offering bespoke visits to their studios, priced up to £250 per person. StudioVisit gives artists the tools to become a self-sustaining, independent institution.
- Arternal offers pioneering software to all galleries, regardless of market tier. These workflow tools leverage data, professionalize operations and maximize efficiency. Next on founder Sean Green’s agenda: helping implement streamlined payment systems to improve galleries’ cash flow—an innovation that will be more important than ever post-pandemic.
New Zealand leads in accelerated business INNOVATION (Source: ITBrief/Microsoft)
88% of New Zealand business decision-makers say innovation is now a ‘must’ for them to respond quickly to market challenges and opportunities and to ensure business resilience.
Plus, most companies say it’s been easier to facilitate innovation during the pandemic.
- Over the last six months, the proportion of New Zealand businesses who are leaders in a culture of innovation increased by 40%.
- 62% are speeding up digitalization – from launching digital products and introducing digital payments, to embracing e-commerce and automation.
- Microsoft’s recently announced global skilling initiative is bringing digital skills to 100,000 New Zealanders by the end of 2020.
- Fostering a culture of innovation comes in four parts: i) fortify resilience with technology, ii) invest in skilling, iii) leverage data to increase competitiveness, and iv) redesign processes to empower people.
2. Amazon orders 100,000 electric delivery vans from Rivian (Source: Green Car Reports)
- Amazon is also an investor in this electric-truck startup. It plans to have 10,000 of these vans in service by 2022, and all 100,000 on the road by 2030.
- Additionally, Amazon is buying 1,800 Mercedes-Benz eSprinter and eVito electric vans. It also announced plans to buy larger trucks from Canada’s Lion Electric.
3. Drone-on-Demand App (Source: Patch)
Aquiline Drones, founded by former airline pilot Barry Alexander (pic below), is the nation’s fastest-growing drone manufacturing and cloud technology company. Now launching the nation’s first true “Drone-on-Demand” (DoD) mobile app.
The DoD app will be accessible through all mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets.
- The user can order aerial photography and videography services for: utility inspections (power lines, wind turbines, bridges, tunnels, railroad tracks, etc.), outdoor events, real estate, safety patrol, search and rescue missions, precision farming, tracking wildlife, beach patrol for spotting sharks and countless other applications.
- AD is also training drone pilots through its Flight to the Future drone training academy.
AD is one of four drone airline companies in America but the only one privately owned by professional aviators. As airlines continue to furlough pilots, expect more of them to shift to drone operations. My FB friend, James Lummus, a private jet pilot in Australia, was certified as a drone pilot this week!
4. Outdoors/Countryside destinations are booming
This past weekend, I was flabbergasted to see hundreds of people with their bikes and/or hiking gear, at 8 am at Grand Central Station heading upstate on the Metro-North Train.
- There were so many of us in fact that an extra train had to be put into service to accommodate all the people standing in the aisles.
People are seeking connectivity with nature.
Whether it’s to visit an amazing sculpture park, e.g., the world-renowned 500-acre Storm King Art Center (celebrating its 60th anniversary this year), or to flex their muscles and take in the beauty of nature on a strenuous hike or bike ride.
And it’s not just in America, Scotland’s NatureScot just published research on how people’s relationship with the outdoors and nature has changed as a result of Covid-19:
- During August/September, levels of participation increased, with 80% of adults visiting the outdoors at least once a week (up from 74% during the initial lockdown and up from 64% in August 2019).
- 70% reported being outdoors helped them de-stress, relax, and unwind (up from 63% for March-May).
- 56% said it improved their physical health (vs 47% pre-pandemic).
- 49% expect to increase their time outdoors in the future, including 20% who would like to spend ‘a lot more’ time outdoors.
5. Archery: Is It Getting Trendy?
This week I stumbled across the first post-pandemic international archery tournament hosted by Turkey and covered in-depth in World Archery. Then, I came across the Indian archery teams back to training for the Olympics. And not an episode on Joe Rogan’s podcast goes by without talk of bow-hunting! Even Brad took up the sport while out in AZ.
With these 4 examples, I can confidently say archery is worth checking out as a bonafide trend!
Indian Archery Teams practicing for the Olympics
Brad’s into old-school archery
6. WINTERIZING RESTAURANTS: is 45 degrees the cut-off point? (Sources: The Counter/Eater NY/CBS Boston)
It’s decision time for many restaurants. Do they try to carry on as winter sets in or do they opt to hibernate until next Spring (if that’s even a viable option)?
In NYC, over the last few weeks, I’ve seen restaurants build out their outdoor spaces to weatherproof them for the winter. How well that will work, only time will tell. This week it’s been cold and rainy so only those restaurants with comfortable covered patios have been busy.
But NYC’s mayor finally released winter heating guidelines:
- Electric heaters are allowed in sidewalk and roadway seating setups
- Natural gas and portable propane heaters can only be used on sidewalks
- Restaurants with private outdoor space can use any of the three options
plastic bubble restaurants are my least-favorite option.
In Los Angeles, with indoor dining prohibited, restaurant owners are gloomy.
“I do not foresee us being open for the winter. It’s just not going to happen.”
Genevieve Gergis, co-owner and pastry chef at Bavel and Bestia
In Athens, Georgia, chef Hugh Acheson is creating a winter-themed outdoor space at his flagship restaurant, Five & Ten. It has a big, covered wraparound porch and patio to which he’s adding heaters, a ski resort-inspired menu, and blankets to make his guests feel comfortable eating outside in winter. He’s prepared to invest up to $10,000, even though any outlay right now is a calculated risk.
In Boston, owners of small, intimate restaurants are putting them into hibernation and opening large, expansive spaces that customers are more comfortable in at the moment. One example is Chef Michael Serpa’s Atlantico (pic below, right) vs. his smaller bistro, Grand Tour.
“I don’t know if it makes sense to continue. I don’t know how popular it will be once it’s 45 degrees and drizzling.”
Chef Mitch Mayers, owner of Seattle’s Sawyer
7. Spirits and cocktails are booming
What have you been drinking over the last 8 months?
My preferences have shifted dramatically from red wine, to white wine, to Negronis, to Campari Spritzes, to Manhattans and now most recently to Mezcal Negronis! (But never more than two drinks per day and if I’m drinking anything at home, it’s wine.)
But I’m not the only one excited about my cocktails.
Per Nielsen, the spirits category was up 33.5%, making it the top-performing alcohol category with tequila leading the way, up 59.1%. Shout out to one of my favorites: Casa Dragones Barrel Blend Añejo (and the Robb Report agrees with me!)
Diageo also recently gave an optimistic business update for fiscal 2021, boosted by the U.S. market’s robust recovery in on-trade (restaurants/bars) and ongoing strong demand in off-trade. On-trade in China is also continuing to recover. (Source: Motley Fool)
8. meet the owners: sharon and patty, Third Prince Hair Salon
I didn’t realize until this past week that I have been coming to Sharon and Patty’s hair salon for weekly blowouts for over 20 years! The salon has been in business for over 30 years.
I LOVE these two sisters. Their salon is situated in a small Chinatown mall on the edge of Little Italy. Sharon and Patty are among the most hardworking, caring, salt of the earth people I know. It’s a no-frills salon, they have no assistants – they do everything themselves! And they are 100% on top of all safety protocols. They were into masks way before it was mandated in NYC.
You can find them at 179 Grand Street (entrance on Baxter).
9. The Feel-Good Story of The Week: WATCH THIS!
OMG, I ADORE THIS GUY. Nathan Apodaca is a 37-year-old Idaho potato worker, a dad with two daughters, Angelia and Makyla. They live in a house trailer. On September 25, on his way to work, his truck which has 320,000 miles on it broke down about 2 miles from the potato warehouse where he has worked for nearly two decades. He got on his longboard and skated to work drinking his Ocean Spray Cran-Rasberry Juice. He casually turned on his Tik Tok account and created a video to Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” And that, my friends, changed his world!
Per NPR, after the video took off, that 1977 hit single, “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, tripled its sales and the band had its best week ever on streaming.
Tribute videos have been pouring in from everyone including Montana’s lieutenant governor to comedian Jimmy Fallon. Mick Fleetwood, the band’s drummer, was so touched that he recorded his own version on a skateboard, juice in hand.
But there’s much more:
- Ocean Spray bought him a new truck in the appropriate color of cranberry red. It was delivered to him packed full of jugs of the brand’s juice. And the CEO of Ocean Spray did a really cool tribute video as well.
- Fan donations have poured in. He will put them toward a down payment on a home. Right now, he’s living in an RV in Idaho Falls, where he doesn’t even have running water. To shower and use a bathroom, he goes to his brother’s house nearby.
- He still has the potato warehouse job. There is, however, something new in his life: a publicist. Unsure how enduring his moment in the TikTok limelight will be, he’s taking a couple of weeks off work to see.
- “Just a week or two,” he said. “But I told my boss I’ll be back probably sooner.”
- And, btw, it was his daughters who initially urged him to get on TikTok.
WORD OF ADVICE TO ALL THOSE COPYCAT BRANDS I NOW SEE DOING THIS EXACT SAME THING: KNOCK IT OFF! YOUR LACK OF CREATIVITY IS MINDNUMBING.
10. And here’s one last crazy bit of info on the USPS
PEOPLE USED TO MAIL THEIR CHILDREN USING THE USPS. YES, it’s true!
Per the History Channel (link here)
- In January 1913, one Ohio couple took advantage of the U.S. Postal Service’s new parcel service to make a very special delivery: their infant son. The Beagues paid 15 cents for his stamps and an unknown amount to insure him for $50, then handed him over to the mailman, who dropped the boy off at his grandmother’s house about a mile away.
- Regulations about what you could and couldn’t send through the mail were vague when post offices began accepting parcels over four pounds on January 1, 1913. People immediately started testing its limits by mailing eggs, bricks, snakes, and other unusual “packages.” So were people allowed to mail their children? Technically, there was no postal regulation against it.
- Nancy Pope, head curator of history at the National Postal Museum, found seven instances of people mailing children between 1913 and 1915, beginning with the baby in Ohio.
- After Postmaster General Albert S. Burleson heard about these incidents, he officially banned postal workers from accepting humans as mail.
Still, others would later try to mail their children. In June 1920, First Assistant Postmaster General John C. Koons rejected two applications to mail children, noting that they couldn’t be classified as “harmless live animals,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
one last question for you.
If you had to send/receive an important document, e.g., your passport, would you just drop it in the mail or would you send it via FedEx or UPS?
I know what my answer would be.
And that’s a wrap!
The big news for me on the home front is that Brad returned from AZ last night. While I am super excited to be reunited, I did have some trepidation about how easy (or not) it would be for us to re-adapt to living together under one roof after so much time spent living separately (his usual 4 month stint in AZ stretched to 10 during the pandemic). He and I are both incredibly independent and definitely creatures of habit, especially when it comes to our at-home routines. We are at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to things like cooking and cleaning. Even our sleep patterns are miles apart. 10 months of doing things exactly our own way, might make it tough to adjust (I thought).
However, based on his reentry to NYC yesterday, I am highly optimistic. It was so cool to get caught up and also to see Brad so excited (and grateful) to be back. I am thrilled to be reunited. 💕
And for any of you in NYC, check out REALLY, the group show he’s currently in at Miles McEnery Gallery in Chelsea. It’s a great show with some excellent artists. It’s at 525 West 22nd Street.
