http://www.RetailSource.com

www.retailsource.com is a one-stop shopping resource for the retail industry. Need a listing of companies selling banners? They’ve got them. Need a mannequin vendor? They have those, too. Their "Products for Retail Design, Construction, and Visual Merchandising" page lists everything from accessories displayers to wood flooring. Their "Services" page offers a similarly extensive list. Now you’ll never have to go searching for brand development firms, lighting designers, and structural engineers again. They’re all here!

Their "Community" page offers useful information as well, including links to:

• Retail industry association websites.
• Retail industry events.
• Forums for discussion of topics such as store operations, displays, visual merchandising ideas, etc.
ï Retail industry news.
ï A full-service retail industry "Career Center".

Perhaps the best feature about RetailSource.com is its commitment to providing unlimited and liberal access to vendors and service providers. They write: "We are an open, non-exclusionary resource. We include listings and links to any vendor, service or information company that serves the industry and we add more resources every day." After logging onto this site how can you possibly go back to using a search engine for your retail industry-related searches?

Reviewed by R & RC Staff Member - Kirstie Harless - S.F.

Beads have been around for about 40,000 years, used in everything from necklaces, bracelets, anklets, headbands and headdresses. They have been used symbolically, have been exchanged in barter, and used to define concepts of beauty. Continuing this tradition today, and also allowing for fun and whimsy, is the magazine Beadwork.

Beadwork allows the imagination to take flight and inspires creativity. With artists sharing their original designs, knowledge and experience, each article is easy to read, each project is fun to try. Feature articles in the August/September 2003 issue include:

• Releasing Your Creativity: An interview with Ann Gilbert
• Cindy Wrobel’s Lively Beaded Wire
• Four Easy Steps to Conserve Your Beadwork.

There are fourteen beadwork projects in this issue alone. If you have always wanted to try making a Victorian lace bracelet or a stair-step tassel, this is your chance. Perhaps your own work might be featured in these pages. In ‘Words from Our Readers’, the W.O.R.D. (what our readers did), features readers’ designs accompanied by their letters to Beadwork.

One of the regular departments is called "Bead Boy." In this department, creative solutions to beading are sought. Readers are encouraged to send snapshots of their creations. In the September edition, the challenge was ’Bead a Memory.’ An upcoming challenge is ‘Bead Peace.’

Beadwork is fun and informative, lively and upbeat. The magazine is living proof that beadwork in all its vast and varied forms can still has the power to enchant us.

Reviewed by R & RC Staff Member - Cynthia Aaron

Handbags: A Peek Inside A Woman’s Most Trusted Accessory has something for everyone. Whether you prefer the tote bag, clutch, or satchel, this guidebook covers the undeniable, yet very real, psychological powers of the most popular of all fashion accessories, the purse. With this book, Hagerty thoroughly explores the emotional attachment women have to their purses, an attachment that often begins with childhood.

This book explores the various feelings associated with the handbag such as:

• Identity & Individuality
• Privacy & Secrecy
• Power & Status
• Glamour & Luxury
• Memory & Nostalgia

This book is beautifully illustrated with over 128 pages of color photography. It features some of the most popular bags ever created such as: the Chanel quilted 2.55, so named for it’s debut in February of 1955; the Louis Vuitton signature canvas backpack; and the world-renowned Judith Leiber minaudiere, each a work of art in it’s own right. Celebrated novelist, Anne Rivers Siddons, has written the insightful forward adding her own personal musings on the subject. Handbags is a must-read for the accessory fanatic and casual shopper alike.

Reviewed by R & RC Staff Member - Monika Earle