MUJI and Mindful Consumption

Last fall, I attended a talk by Masaaki Kanai, the president of MUJI. I am now writing about MUJI in the first chapter of my thesis as an precedent for the promotion of mindful behavior. At the talk last fall, Mr. Kanai spoke of one of MUJI's guiding principles: "Muji tries to attract not the customer who says 'This is what I want,' but rather the one who says, rationally, 'this will do.'" 

For a retail entity to think this way is rather mind-blowing and seemingly contradictory. I encourage you to check out the full video of Masaaki Kanai's talk at MIT.

Masaaki Kanai  -- http://stinterni.mondadori.com

FLOR is coming to Boston

Yes! We'll soon be able to buy sustainably manufactured and super cool FLOR carpet tiles in Boston, on Clarendon Street. I have this stuff playing various roles in 5 rooms of our house, plus the stairs. You could say I'm a fan. Plus, they are a great company and have pledged to get their environmental effect to net zero by 2020.

Room and Board Possibly (Hopefully) Coming to Boston

Yes! Finally!

Read about it here. 

They will possibly be displacing a long-lived but crazy mediocre restaurant, Island Hopper. Definitely a net win.

Shopping in Brooklyn

Of course Boston will never compete with NYC for shopping. But it is also possible that Boston can't even compete with just Brooklyn, nay, Williamsburg alone. The neighborhood is extremely dense with retail awesome. Over the weekend I visited two great housewares stores which are next door neighbors: The Future Perfect and A&G Merch.



Both are well worth a visit. The Future Perfect focuses on beautiful objects, tableware, etc, while A&G has lovely sofas (currently on sale!), as well as a variety of smaller and relatively inexpensive housewares (glasses, dishtowels and the like).