Playboy is not playing around with its Valentine’s Day lingerie collection (yes, we’re talking about the Playboy that you’re thinking of). Inspired by the iconic Pamela Anderson cover of the February 1991 issue of Playboy magazine, the Miss February collection—which came out last month—comes adorned with lace and hearts.

While the brand already sold casual underwear as part of its capsule collection that debuted in November 2022, the Miss February collection has been a year in the making and is designed to be a tad more racy. The collection is part of the company’s overarching strategy—a key component of which is retail—to transition from a brand that used to represent “entertainment for men” to one focused on “pleasure for all,” according to its website.

“So much about bridging the gap between fantasy and reality is kind of taking some of those iconic moments and realizing them in a three-dimensional way; so we kind of reinterpreted that core set and built a full lingerie [collection] around it,” Jason Mahler, VP of design at Playboy, told Retail Brew.

New crop: During its magazine days, Playboy counted (mostly) men across a wide age range as its “reader” base; the lingerie collection is aimed at the demographic everyone seems to want a piece of: Gen Z.

• The target age for the new range is under 34, Mahler told us.
• The collection was also intentionally designed in a way to be more “provocative” and promote the trend of “innerwear as outerwear,” he said.

“There’s obviously a clear correlation in our history and our heritage to lingerie,” Mahler said. “It’s always been a big feature of the magazine in general and the history of the brand. How we kind of approached it this time around was really understanding that there was an opportunity for the Gen Z consumer. Specifically, there’s a big focus on nostalgia right now.”

Keep reading here.—JS

Hopson Grace was one of many home decor operations that saw success early in the pandemic, with its 2020 online sales doubling to almost 30% of revenue. Almost three years later, its online business has consistently accounted for 20–25% of sales, and the return of weddings has boosted its registry business.

The Canadian-based company recently moved into a 4,000-square-foot showroom in Toronto, after expanding its product selection and outgrowing its first location, which was about 1,000 square feet. But the future of the company’s expansion plans lies in its e-commerce and registry platform, where the company is gaining traffic in the United States.

• For now, the majority of Hopson Grace’s sales still come from its brick-and-mortar operations, co-founder Andrea Hopson told Retail Brew.
• The brand has built a dedicated customer base since its founding in 2016, as 80% of its shoppers are repeat customers.
• Hopson attributes this loyalty to the unique tableware products and brands it carries, names that include Richard Ginori, Mud Australia, Tom Dixon, Ethnicraft, and others.

“They feel a great affinity in terms of a kind of shared philosophy. Not just the quality of the product, but the aesthetic philosophy, which is…less stuffy,” Hopson said. “We’re bringing that culture and vibe to the way they already want to live, and so we’re reflecting their needs.”

The registry platform and marrying that with its existing online business is now the primary focus for the company over the next year or so, co-founder Martha Grace McKimm told Retail Brew. She explained that couples in Toronto have been looking for a modern, curated offering, and Hopson Grace has been able to accommodate items beyond tableware, such as furniture, bedding, rugs, and bathroom products.

Keep reading here.—KM

Today’s top retail reads.

Induction ceremony: As questions arise about the safety of gas stoves, some brands are introducing more induction stoves. (the Wall Street Journal)

Dollar s’mores: More consumers are doing their grocery shopping at dollar stores, which are increasing their offerings. (CNBC)

Pay it backward: The pay-it-forward trend is a nightmare for some fast-food workers. “Drive-thrus have a very organized system and when people pay it forward, the order of things is disrupted and it is easy to make mistakes and receive the wrong order,” a Starbucks barista wrote on Reddit. (Eat This, Not That)

At the mall, it’s where band tees are the only tees. In Retail Brew, it’s where we invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic.

Last week, we ran two stories by Retail Brew’s Andrew Adam Newman (hey, that’s me!) about tipflation, which Wiktionary defines as: “the phenomenon of tipping becoming both increasingly widespread and expensive (in terms of acceptable percentage) in society.”

Contactless point-of-sale payment systems on touchscreens—both stationary and handheld—have gained popularity. And the choose-a-tip prompt increasingly migrated from full-service restaurants to other types of restaurants and—more and more—beyond restaurants.

“To me, this sort of obligatory, ubiquitous approach of I go to a stationery store and I buy a pad of paper for $3.06 and then the screen turns around…and should you tip for that?” Michael Prendergast, managing director of the consumer and retail group at Alvarez & Marsal, told us. “I don’t see that as a great strategy going forward, especially in an inflationary environment.”

You tell us: Is it a good thing that tip-prompt screens are being used not just in full-service restaurants, but in more and more retail settings? Cast your vote here.

Circling back: Last week, we asked you about Sheetz’s rules regarding employees’ smiles, the subject of a recent scoop in Insider.

The Pennsylvania-based convenience store chain has a policy that “applicants with obvious missing, broken, or badly discolored teeth (unrelated to a disability) are not qualified for employment with Sheetz,” according to documents acquired by Insider.

An unnamed former Sheetz employee told Insider the policy was “really disgusting and kind of classist, especially when the majority of people you’re employing are going to be lower-income.” And Sheetz told the publication it was reviewing the policy.

We asked you if you thought Sheetz should keep its policy that disqualifies employees based on the state of their teeth, and most of you (55.2%) said no, the company should abandon the policy. Another 37.9% of you said Sheetz should keep its policy of disqualifying employees based on their teeth, and 6.9% didn’t know or weren’t sure.—AAN

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• The perils of reformulating for beauty brands
• Tipping is on the rise seemingly everywhere
• Inside Starbucks Odyssey