Here are some small stories:

A few months ago, J. Crew opened a couple stores under the Madewell name; the clothes are simple (some might say, a little boring), and not quite as preppy as the parent company. And there are no stores in New York, which means New Yorkers automatically think the brand is much more exclusive and interesting than it actually is. At least, that's what we gathered after reading the rather breathless writeup on New York's website yesterday, which trumpeted the fact that Uma Thurman had stopped by the "secret" temporary location "near Astor Place"!