Before we begin this week's Retail Therapy, I have some bad news. I will be taking the next two Retail Therapies off due to a previously scheduled conflict (I'm going on vacation).
I know. You’re devastated. I’m devastated. Kim’s devastated.
But life goes on. Without further ado, here are some of the most interesting retail reads from around the web.
‘A higher purpose’
Wednesday was 4/20, the unofficial holiday for weed connoisseurs, Willie Nelson, and Snoop Dogg. Keeping on trend, Racked’s Chavie Lieber profiled two self-anointed nuns, Sister Kate and Sister Darcy—cannabis experts and owners of Sisters of the Valley who distribute peace, love, and spirituality with their marijuana lotion and oil products.
I’ve got sunshine in my bag
Not to be outdone, Fortune got into the 4/20 spirit on Wednesday with a feature looking at Annabis, a company that produces “4/20 friendly” purses and handbags that can store all of a stoners’ goodies, scent-free.
For cereal, you guys
On-trend for a whole different reason: pumpkin spice Cheerios. General Mills announced this week that it will offer the No. 1 cereal in the U.S. in a pumpkin spice flavor for a limited time later this year. So now you can have pumpkin spice cereal with your pumpkin spice milk and pumpkin spice flavored coffee and then die happy because it won't ever get better than this.
Things just got official
To all the haters saying that athleisure isn’t a real thing…boom.
The word was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary this week to the praise of Lululemon, Beyoncé, and every girl just waiting for a sign to trade in all her jeans for comfy yoga pants and leggings.
Not-so-hot stuff
Having attractive employees can lower customers' self confidence—and perhaps sales—according to a new report published in the Journal of Consumer Research and reported on by Time. Consumers studied for the report were less likely to make "embarrasing" purchases (think feminine hygiene or weight-loss products) in front of attractive salespersons, avoiding them altogether and thus "rendering the salespeople ineffective.”