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I originally wrote this post in January 2019, when I was living in San Francisco and running the CMD Showroom on Valencia Street. At the time, I was watching the city change around me. Longtime businesses were closing, rents were climbing, online shopping was changing what people expected from small retailers and I found myself wondering what shopping would look like five or ten years down the road.
Well, here we are seven years later in 2026. A LOT has happened since then, both in retail and at CMD, and reading my original thoughts now feels a little like opening a time capsule.
At the time, the Bay Area's tech boom was having a huge impact on the city. Many longtime San Francisco residents, restaurants, shops and other small businesses were struggling with rising costs, and the way people shopped was changing quickly. E-commerce was growing, customers were expecting more convenience and faster turnaround times, and those of us running small businesses were trying to figure out how to evolve without losing what made our businesses special in the first place.
CMD was changing, too. We had already moved our production to Upstate New York, a decision that started somewhat circumstantially when my longtime employee Aryana moved back East to start her family. We had our production studio in Trumansburg and a small team there. What started as a solution to one particular challenge eventually became an incredibly important part of how CMD would grow.
Of course, there was one fairly enormous thing I couldn't have predicted while writing about the future of retail in January 2019: a global pandemic was right around the corner.
The years that followed changed the relationship between physical and online shopping in ways none of us could have fully anticipated. Small businesses had to adapt quickly, customers became even more comfortable buying things online and many of the lines between an online business and a brick-and-mortar business started to disappear.
CMD changed right along with it. Eventually, our San Francisco chapter came to an end, I moved back East and Asbury Park became our new home base. Our production team continued making jewelry in Upstate New York while our website, virtual appointments, Pop-Ups, Open Hours and other in-person events gave us entirely different ways to connect with people.
One thing I wrote in 2019 hasn't changed at all. I still believe there is enormous value in shopping small.
Convenience is wonderful, and I appreciate it as much as anyone. But there's something you get from an independent business that simply can't be replicated by an enormous marketplace. You know who designed the thing you're buying. You can ask questions about how it was made. You can walk into a shop, try something on and have an actual conversation with the person standing on the other side of the counter.
For me, that's become an even bigger part of what I want CMD to be. I love that someone across the country can discover us online and work with me virtually on a Reconstruction project. I also love opening the doors in Asbury Park and watching someone try on rings until we find the combination that suddenly feels completely like them. I don't think the future has to be online or in person. The interesting part is figuring out how the two can work together.
Seven years ago, I ended this post by asking what retail would look like five or ten years into the future. I'm standing inside part of that future now, and I still don't think any of us completely know.
What I do know is that small businesses have to be willing to change. CMD certainly has. We've moved, shifted our focus, changed how we meet with clients and let go of things that once felt central to the business. At the same time, the things I care most about haven't changed very much at all: making things well, knowing the people we make them for and creating experiences that feel human.
I also still believe that where we choose to spend our money matters. Buy the coffee from the little place around the corner. Pick up the birthday card from the independent shop down the street. Support the artist whose work you keep thinking about. Those decisions help determine which businesses are still around the next time you walk through your neighborhood.
Maybe that's what I've learned most since 2019. The future of retail isn't only about how we shop. It's also about what we decide is worth keeping.
Here's to keeping the good stuff around,
Colleen
© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: January 22, 2019
Updated: August 13, 2026
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