A New Land

Well the Auckland Anniversary Weekend is drawing to a close. We made it to Hahei in the Coromandel, but only after security in our local New World asked to search my bag… yep a random bag search at 7.30pm on a Friday night at a supermarket that I have been going to for 10 years. And I possibly don't think that I look like your regular shoplifter… has management gone mad!!!!
What about some EQ guidelines re. who the security team should make this request to… I can’t see my customers hanging around too long if I was to instigate this in our retail environment.
Our weekend break was only for two days given the new Howick store is in the middle of its fit out. We did however get to catch up with a couple of friends. My suggestion was to take them to one of our foodie discoveries over the Xmas/New Year break and sadly, I have to report that the platter and wine bar we found in Cooks Beach is seriously lacking (below left). I have created my own platter photo to compare (below right) This is how it should look!.

We ended up here as the cafe that I do love in Whitianga, Mill St Cafe and Bar, wasn't open for Sunday lunch... hard to believe given that the town was heaving with holiday makers. Surely we can’t have been the only one wanting to wile away a long hot Sunday!!

The boy hasn't text from India so, you guessed it, I am starting to wonder and I have also been reflecting on how he will be getting on with his food choices. As you can imagine everyone that had ever travelled there had lots of advice for him before he departed and given he has such a varied palette, he's not averse to eating vegetarian. He's also taken up the free range crusade (not easy when you’re a student) so let’s just hope that the places he visits have the livestock wandering. I did manage to find this very sought after shot on his Facebook page... Edward's the one to the far right.

And this week I’m looking ahead at a week 3 day week, as I fly to Hobart on Friday for a retail site reeky in Hobart, Canberra and Adelaide. I have finally decided that 2012 is the year that I will establish a strong presence in the Aussie continent. With a population of nearly 24 million people there’s got to be thousands of women that will love my frocks!!
Australian retail is not new for us. In May last year we opened in Paddington in Brisbane and Noosa. Both of these stores have been hard work but the upside is that I now know why.
Plan to fail… isn't that what they always say and I sure as hell know that I learn my best and my fastest lessons from failure, Yet so many businesses see failure as a personal indictment on their ability to run a strong operation. Business is about taking risks; calculated risks. A person’s willingness to fail is actually their key to success. Whoever learnt to ski without falling over? And do you think Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Everest the first time? It is this failure that makes a business robust and strong. Sure you may lose some money along the way but this is simply the price of the valuable lessons that you need to ensure your subsequent success.
So the focus for me in Aussie is one that is a little off the beaten track; emulating the very successful formula we have here in NZ, therefore the destination of my pending trip this week.
The latest Her Magazine hits the book shelves next Thursday. I’m loving the new look and look forward to some feedback from our readers. The digital version of the mag has had a strong uptake and has been an exciting new direction with some big learnings for the whole team. We have known from the start the publishing of a mag in these difficult times. Even one that owns its own airspace as Her does takes ingoing innovation and perseverance and we are certainly intending to be there for the long haul!