Okay, before we start, let me just acknowledge how much I hate the fact that I’m using a woman’s aging as the centerpiece of this article, but you all already know that I do my part in smashing the patriarchy AND I love a perfect metaphor. So here we are.

I saw this meme the other day about how Anne Hathaway looks pretty much exactly like she did 20 years ago. Now we all know why that’s the case, right? Clearly the woman won the genetic lottery, but she’s also been “investing” in maintaining her 19-year-old face since she was 19.

Now I’m sure this meme was trying to sell me something to stick in or on my face, but do you know what the image mashup made ME think of? You guessed it. Reta...

In my experience, the strangest part of being a retailer was the constant state of emotional turmoil. There’s a lot that goes into this feeling, but one of the biggies is the total disconnect between how you think you're supposed to feel — fabulous and empowered and like it's always (as Lizzo would say) "bad b*tch o'clock" — and reality.

Because, on the one side, you’re the boss. The owner. The founder. The creative mind behind the concept. The one in charge.

But at the exact same time, you’re always feeling bossed around by everyone and everything else pretty much all the time…

Perpetually at the mercy of your customers. Your staff. Your vendors. The weather. The HVAC system. The...

I am ten years out of a commercial lease, and I am almost out of the hole. My scarlet BK will be removed from the sweater of my credit report in September.

Today, I am committed to helping people make good decisions and get good deals on their leases, because I know what it feels like to have it all go very wrong.

I’ll tell you the whole story of my first child (RIP: Punk’s Backyard Grill 2009 - 2013), another time. But for now, let’s start here...

If my experience were a cocktail, it would have been equal parts severe anxiety, disappointment, luminous pride, absolute ridiculousness, and deep joy. The day-to-day was just those five parts auto-cycling every 12 hours.

And when I think ab...

Sometimes, it feels like I specialize in mind games. I try my best not to play them with my partner (Dio, if you’re reading this, that’s definitely NOT what’s happening when I stop doing the laundry at the same time as I’m trying to win a multi-day argument), and yet, as a broker, interpreting the subtext on the other side of the negotiating table is a big part of my job advising Pedal Retailers.

If you’ve signed a retail deal, you know what I mean - and the worst of it is when the other side goes quiet, which happens all. the. time. If you’ve never signed a retail deal, you might assume that going quiet may as well be killing a deal - and you’d be wrong. Over the course of negotiating an...

We're always talking about how LONG retail leases are...

"Longer than most first marriages!"
"Longer than a presidential administration!"
"Longer than undergrad!"

But sometimes life happens, plans change, and even if your business is humming along, there may be a time when you need to exit your lease before the expiration of the term (translation: get out before you're supposed to).

Since we sign leases with the intention to stay for the whole term (and maybe longer with some renewal options), the instances when we want or need to exit early really are (and should be) rare. Obviously if your business is not succeeding and the end times are nigh, that's a clear occasion where you'll exit y...

Apparently we’re in the tail-end of salmon migration season, and that’s got us thinking about lessons we can learn from these delicious piscine endurance athletes.

You already know that it’s a challenging journey to open a bricks-and-mortar store, and perhaps you find moments of respite in imagining the day when things line up perfectly and you can sit back and just enjoy the ride. But seasoned retailers will tell you that at some point (sooner or later) you’ll realize that this day of coasting will never come.

So if the salmon were giving a TEDTalk about retailing, they’d tell you:

You will always feel like you’re swimming upstream. Salmon swim some 900 miles, which is completely amazi...

I’ve got a confession to make - I don’t pre-rinse my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher. Don’t believe in it. I heard on a podcast once that modern dishwashers are designed to wash dirty dishes, and the pre-rinse just wastes water. So, basically, I’m a #DomesticDutyQueen AND an environmentalist.

Also, I am obsessed with efficiency and I abhor extra steps. This may surprise some of you, since so many of my working hours are spent crafting and negotiating the LOI, a document with no legal standing that gets crumpled up and thrown out in favor of the almighty lease. (Hopefully recycled, because the environment.) So, what’s the point?

Let’s pretend your lease is like a house that you...

Have you ever been 💘 love bombed by retail real estate? Oh, yes, it’s a thing.

It goes like this: you’re just minding your own business when POW! [cue the romantic lighting and flattery] In an email, phone call, or personal visit — it’s a retail real estate broker who 😍 loooooves what you’re doing and has an amazing new location for your amazing business, or she wants to help you find some because you are 🔥 hottttttt.

When you’re running a successful (or successful to outside eyes) business, it’s really just a matter of time before you’ll start receiving unsolicited offers to consider new real estate opportunities. Now I know from personal experience running a retail business day-in-and-...