Game of Thrones fans know well the expression “Winter is Coming.” But for restaurant owners who have scrambled to save their businesses by creating outdoor dining areas, the well-known idiom is particularly chilling. Many of our clients who have counted on warm summer evenings to bring in customers need to create comfy outdoor seating arrangements that will work during winter.

Even Jon Snow Won’t Workout in the Cold…

Boutique fitness brands such as Orangetheory Fitness and 9Round built entire communities with specialized, in-person courses such as spin classes, boxing classes—even disco goat yoga. Seven months into a pandemic, these boutiques are trying to recreate their sweaty magic outdoors, but the leaves are turning and as Jon Snow said: “Winter is Coming.”

October is the new Black Friday. We are starting holiday shopping sprees earlier than ever this year. Most retail stores are out of Halloween décor and are already upfront and center with Christmas décor.

What a roller coaster of a retail year! We have never seen anything like this in history. Ecommerce is on the rise, the in-store shopping experience has changed drastically, and the shifting cultural landscape has paved the way for the upcoming holiday season – the likes of which we have never imagined.

Hot summer nights turned to scorching summer days during August. I’m sure I drove my poor husband crazy by asking “How can our retailers survive this heat? Restaurants are depending on outdoor seating, and shops already have moved their merchandise outside.” It was so sad to watch retailers resolve to drag their soft goods outside under tents and restaurant staff show up day after day to work in the heat while wearing masks. It broke my heart.