Latest news with #AndyBernard
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Why We're Launching The Hobby Awards
This morning Mantel, with support from our friends at Yahoo Sports, announced the formation of The Hobby Awards, and I thought it would be helpful to answer two questions I know people will ask … Why, and Why Mantel? Like many of you reading this, collecting has been an important part of my life since I was a kid. I grew up with two brothers in a sports-obsessed household, and whenever we had a few extra bucks from doing chores, we'd head down the street to a pharmacy-like shop that also sold candy, soda and some cards and pool our money to maximize the haul. I'm reminded of the Andy Bernard quote, 'I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them,' though my version might be 'I wish there was a way to know you were in the junk wax era before spending all your cash on Upper Deck Behind the Glass.' (A PSA 8 MJ trades for less than $100 today.) We all have our collecting origin stories, and hopefully we all still feel at least a shred of that childhood joy when participating in this hobby. I know, I know … collecting is a BIG business. There's money at stake. Collectors are at the mercy of corporate decisions, market dynamics, IP deals and manufacturing inconsistencies. Plenty of people try to take advantage of other collectors to make a quick buck. It's not all perfect. But it's still net-positive to our lives, right? The anticipation before ripping a pack, or excitement at a great pull or dollar-box find or big trade is still there, right? ... Right? Look — this hobby could stand to do a bit more celebrating, don't you think? More focusing on the things we love about collecting, the people who make The Hobby more fun, the innovation and cool releases and HOLY S*** moments we all have following our passions. That's what Mantel is all about (...from Day 1 we billed our community and app as a celebration of the objects people are most passionate about and the relationships we build through our hobbies), and that's why we wanted to launch an awards program to highlight the best of our hobby each year. And we wanted to include this great community every step of the way. The categories are still being cemented, but we'll give out awards for things like: Best Auction House Best Hobby Shop Best Marketplace Best Collectible Show Digital Product of the Year Best Custom Art Card Artist Best Breaking Platform Best Live Stream Sellers Creator/Influencer of the Year Collectibles Exec of the Year Grading Company of the Year Innovation of the Year Best Sports Card Product Best Sold Memorabilia Item Best Non-Sports Card Product Best Media Platform (site, newsletter, podcast) The collecting community will be able to vote on all of the categories, with the collector vote making up 70% of the weighted vote total. The remaining 30% will come from votes from our judging panel, and I'm so excited by the crew that agreed to participate, including: Alexis Ohanian (founder, 776; co-founder, Reddit), Brent Montgomery (CEO, Wheelhouse; executive producer, King of Collectibles), Ryan Spoon (president, Yahoo Media Group), Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO/chairman, VaynerX; creator, VeeFriends), Josh Luber (founder, ghostwrite), Darren Rovell (founder, cllct), Scott 'DJ Skee' Keeney (founder, TheRealest), Geoff Wilson (founder, Sports Card Investor, CardsHQ), Michael Osacky (expert sports memorabilia appraiser), Morgan Jon Fox (award-winning director, The Hobby), Alex Giaimo (sports and collectibles host), Annemarie Farrell (journalist and @ Frank Hrelja (creator and co-founder, Trove), Mat Sposta (co-founder, and Trove), investor, creator and collector Buster Scher, Suzy Lulgjuraj (journalist and marketer), Jay Moslehi (founder, MojoSports LLC), Sarina Morales (senior media director, WeTheHobby) and more. The website is live, and we'll be sharing updates about final categories, nominations and the start of voting there, as well as on the Mantel app and on Yahoo Sports. We are ironing out plenty of details, but it was important for us to tell the community about The Hobby Awards before so many of us hit The National this week in Rosemont, so we could talk openly about our plans, solicit feedback, and rally support for the program. If you see me walking the halls at The National, stop me and let me know what you think. And if you aren't going to be there, drop us a line over on Mantel. We want the whole community to feel part of The Hobby Awards from Day 1.
Miami Herald
17-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Huge retail chain suddenly closing 100s of stores, no bankruptcy
One of the most confounding life lessons many of us eventually learn is that you hardly ever know you're in the good times until they're over. Andy Bernard from "The Office" may have phrased it best when he said, "I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them." Related: Another giant cosmetics brand closing store unexpectedly For many retailers, this sentiment rings true. Take a look at your local shopping mall, central plaza, or even Main Street downtown. There is a good chance that, 10 or so years ago, these centralized shopping hubs were bustling with customers and gleaming "Open" signs, signifying a thriving commercial culture. Now, however, those days might be largely behind us. There's a better chance that, today, your local shopping mall stands largely unoccupied or underutilized. Your central shopping plazas are filled with vacancy or for-rent advertisements, or are instead home to one or two large, national big-box stores. And your downtown Main Street may even be boarded up. But things are particularly dire in the indoor shopping area. It's estimated that just under 9% of total available mall space in the U.S. lies vacant or un-leased. This is expensive for mall operators, but it's also costly for the tenants that already operate in malls. More closings: Popular local Dairy Queen rival suddenly closing, no bankruptcyAnother big Mexican chain closing down restaurant, no bankruptcyUPS suddenly closing more stores amid chaotic new change, layoffsPopular fast-food burger chain closes all restaurants in key area That's because malls typically charge outsized rent to their tenants for the opportunity to get more exposure to foot traffic. The more foot traffic a mall gets, the more foot traffic mall stores get. And that activity typically converts into sales. But that's not the case when people stop coming. As malls decline in popularity and folks opt instead to shop online or at discounters closer to town, profits dwindle. Which makes it even harder to justify paying those high rents for diminishing returns. And now, the popular clothing store Torrid is closing up to 30% of its footprint as sales decline, particularly in shopping malls. Torrid mostly caters to plus-size women, specializing in sizes 10-30. About 65% of Torrid stores are located within shopping malls, and around 60% of its leases are coming up for renewal shortly. Meanwhile, current estimates say up to 70% of Torrid's new demand comes from online shoppers. Related: Amazon makes a harsh decision amid concerning customer trend This means that operating out of shopping malls is a decreasingly lucrative model for the company. So Torrid announced it would shutter roughly 180 stores as it works to renovate its shopping model. The brand currently operates over 630 stores. Despite the closures, Torrid CEO Lisa Harper maintained that the brand is in a "strong financial position." Torrid plans to refresh about 135 stores in an effort to attract and maintain remaining brick-and-mortar customers. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
