RETAILOBSERVER.COM OCTOBER 2026
6
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Moe Lastfogel
moe@retailobserver.com
Moe's Musings Views
Happy Retailing and Connecting,
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T
oday, it is easier to reach people than ever before. Phone, text, email,
and social media connect us. Telegrams and homing pigeons just
wouldn't make it. We're fortunate to be able to reach out and get the
information we need almost instantly from our connections (as long as they
respond). The internet also gives us the opportunity to answer our own
questions before we can connect with another human.
I start my work week connecting with my social, professional, or commercial
relationships, PR and ad agencies, manufacturers, distributors, associations,
buying groups, and marketing folks from all over the industry. These
connections bring the information to create the magazine you're reading.
Most recently, our connectedness has focused on the devices and social
media that keep us in touch with each other and the world. And these
outstanding technologies are amazing, there's no replacement for the one-
on-one interactions that keep us joined.
According to LinkedIn, I'm connected to 5600+ people. I didn't go to school
with 5600 people, so it's clearly easier today to reach out to others than in
years past. In the 35 years that I've been in the kitchen and bath industry, I've
met tens of thousands of people, and though I couldn't have kept in touch
with many of them without technology, to me, being truly connected doesn't
just happen through a data line or cell tower, it's through our face-to-face or
verbal contacts. We can have all the connections in the world, but until you
get the chance to interact with a person and get to know who they are, not
just by the repost on LinkedIn or the joke on Facebook, it doesn't really seem
like a true connection.
This is one of the great advantages that the independent retailer has over
the big box stores – you're able to connect in a real way with your customers,
and they know they aren't just a name on your contact sheet. I know I need to
feel those real-life, in-person relationships.
Are we really "connected" to thousands of people, or are they just names
on a contact sheet? That's for each of us to answer and decide how we want
to be connected.
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