Walking the Walk: What I Relearned at Coterie
Last Friday, I did something I haven't done in years- I went to a tradeshow.
Between prepping clients for market and coaching them through how to approach trade shows strategically, it's easy to get comfortable giving the advice from the sidelines. But when the chance came up to see a client at Coterie and catch the Management One presentation in person, I figured it was time to practice what I preach. If I'm going to keep telling people how to best tackle market, I should probably be walking the show floor myself once in a while.
Here's what stood out.
1. Market Is Overwhelming, And That's Exactly the Point
I knew this going in. Clients have told me this for years. But knowing it and feeling it are two different things. Walking into Coterie is the retail equivalent of walking into the Mall of America- except instead of stores, it's hundreds of vendors, all vying for your attention at once.
It's a lot. And that's precisely why the advice I give clients matters so much:
Build a must-see list before you go. Know which vendors you absolutely need to visit, and don't let the noise pull you off course.
Use a vendor scorecard. Know which vendors worked for you and which vendors were a drain on your cash and profit. Having this to back up your decisions and navigate difficult conversations with brand reps is incredibly helpful.
Set a budget before you walk the floor. It's the single easiest way to stay focused when everything in front of you looks like a good idea. Know what you should spend by month, by category and stick to it.
Being there in person it reinforced why this advice works. Without a plan, the sheer scale of the market will run you over.
2. Leave Room to Explore
Here's where it gets a little contradictory- and I'm okay with that.
As much as a game plan keeps you focused, market is also one of the best research and development tools available to a retailer. Some of the most valuable moments aren't the ones on your list- they're the ones you stumble into.
Pay attention to which booths are busy. Ask yourself whether the people shopping those brands look like your customer. Talk to a brand you've never heard of. Look at what other boutique owners are wearing, what they're gravitating toward, what's showing up again and again across different booths.
It's a real-life Pinterest board- a live, walking snapshot of what's trending, who's buying it, and where the market is headed. Skipping that in favor of a rigid checklist means missing half the value of being there at all.
3. Don't Skip the Education
Markets like Coterie run educational sessions nearly every hour, and I'll be honest, not all of them are going to apply to your business. Some are genuinely worth carving time out of your schedule for and Dane’s was one of those.
His presentation, walked independent retailers through five readiness signals for opening a second location- cash position, inventory turn, freshness, stuck cash, and whether the store can run without the owner- and the importance of differentiating buy plans for each store location.
4. Edit, Edit, Edit
Coterie and Magic overlapped this year, and a number of brands were showing immediates alongside product shipping as far out as April. As a boutique owner, you're essentially acting as a buyer — and it's easy to get swept up in product you're excited about. That's a good problem to have. The harder problem, and the one that actually hurts a business, is not being able to say no.
Enthusiasm is part of the job. Left unchecked, it's also how retailers end up chronically overbought. A few things worth keeping in mind when you're shopping this far ahead of the season:
Leave money open for later shows, immediates, and chase. How much depends on your typical mix of business, but even if every brand you buy is high-end and long-lead-time, and spring already feels essentially filled, I'd still recommend holding back 20–30% for in-season reorders and chasing trends as they emerge.
Be cautious with brands showing both immediates and long-lead-time product at the same market. If a line is showing immediates right alongside an April delivery window, ask yourself why you'd place that April order now with them, they'll likely be showing that same window again in October, and again in January. There's no urgency forcing your hand.
Make exceptions sparingly, and only for true must-haves. If there's a specific item you genuinely can't live without, that's a fair exception to make. But don't let your budget quietly drain into brands that will always have immediates on the table and will always be showing the same distant shipping window, market after market.
The goal isn't to buy less enthusiastically. It's to buy with enough room left over that the next great thing you find- in season, at the next show, wherever it turns up- doesn't have to compete with a budget you already spent too far in advance.
The Takeaway
A day on the show floor didn't teach me anything I didn't already know in theory, but it reminded me why the advice holds up: have a plan, but don't let the plan close you off. Stay focused, but stay curious. Carve out time for the sessions that are actually worth your attention.
Dane's session was a good example of why. It was framed around store expansion, but the underlying message applies to almost every decision a retailer makes at market: plan before you act, and don't assume what worked once will work again just because it worked once. Buying store two- or a new season, or a new category- off instinct instead of a plan is how retailers end up both overbought and marked down in the same breath. The retailers who get it right are the ones who show up with numbers in hand, not just momentum.
That's really the thread running through the whole day. Market rewards the retailers who walk in with a plan, stay open enough to learn something they didn't expect, and know which hour of education is actually worth sitting down for. Sometimes the best way to make sure your own advice still holds water is to go get your shoes dirty on the floor.