In this week's Retail Therapy, we're getting real.
Real as in, Target superfans who somehow turned their fandom into full-time jobs.
Real as in, questioning a Lululemon board member's very existence.
Real as in, a $6 bottle of wine that actually ... tastes good and wins awards?
It all sounds crazy—even (dare I say it) unreal. But, as I'll explain below, all these improbable scenarios are in fact real life.
Casper the board member
If a Lululemon board member never Tweets, were they ever really a Lululemon board member at all?
Having a low online profile is unusual these days. So unusual that The Street questioned whether Lululemon board member Rhoda Pitcher is “for real?” when they found minimal personal information online while researching an article in the wake of founder Chip Wilson calling out the brand's board members for their "uninspiring" leadership.
While Pitcher's education and background certainly deviate from the norm of other board members at major retail brands, the Motley Fool set the record straight: Pitcher is a real person, but despite multiple phone calls from The Street and other news outlets, she still doesn’t want to talk in her real voice to show how real her real-ness really is. For real.
For the love of Target
Many Target fans spend enough time obsessing over the retailer that it could be considered a part-time job. As Racked reports, Jen Coleman and Laura Wiertzema took it a step further, transitioning their fashion savvy and Target knowledge into an Instagram account called @TargetDoesItAgain, which boasts over 500,000 followers. Highlighting some of the most fashionable pieces found at their local Target stores, Coleman and Wiertzema began accepting enough sponsored posts on the account to make it their full-time jobs.
The pair has now also launched @CostcoDoesItAgain, where I’m sure the retailer’s $1.50 hot dog and coke deal gets mentioned daily.
Wine for the masses
If you turn your nose up at a $6 Wal-Mart red wine, you may be missing out on a solid drink. La Moneda Reserva Malbec, a Chilean wine sold at Wal-Mart’s Asda supermarkets in the UK, has been named the number one red single varietal under $20 at the Decanter World Wine Awards, according to the Independent. The competition is no joke: the Independent called it “the world’s largest and most influential wine competition,” with 240 experts sampling 16,000 entries in this wine's category alone.
A new kind of Chew toy
We’ve reported on the now-famous “Chewbacca Mom," her overwhelming appeal and subsequent boon for Kohl’s and Hasbro. After a Facebook Live video of her geeking out over her new Chewbacca mask went viral, amassing the most views on the social media platform ever, Kohl’s surprised her with a load of Star Wars merchandise and Kohl’s gift cards. Not to be outdone, Entertainment Weekly reports that Hasbro has gifted Chewbacca Mom a custom action figure of herself—complete with its own Chewbacca mask and 13 catchphrases like, “I’m such a happy Chewbacca.”
#ChewbaccaMom now has her own action figure doll! https://t.co/uvHpmEFn9A pic.twitter.com/KLbAMKaa60
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 20, 2016