I've written about Martha Stewart before, and as the leaves slowly begin to change in Minnesota I'm thinking of her once again as my holiday decorating instincts kick in.
How's she been doing since we last spoke of her, back in October 2009? Well, her television program has moved to the Hallmark channel. The magazines are steady. Her empire has blossomed into the Home Depot with a line of carpets and other stuff, and pet products at PetSmart. Her stock has been shaky with the economic fragility of the past year, but so has everyone else's.
Something that always baffled me was her partnership with Kmart. Michaels for her crafty stuff, I get. Macy's makes sense. PetSmart is, well, smart. But Kmart just seemed like such a mismatch, which is why I guess it was no surprise that the contract was not renewed at the end of 2009. According to AOL Daily Finance, Martha blamed the parent company of Kmart, Sears Holdings, for letting her line deteriorate in recent years.
"It has been kind of ripped off. I would say it has been diminished. The quality is not what I am proud of," she said.
Then she ripped into the stores themselves. "Have you been in a Kmart lately? It is not the nicest place to shop." Ouch. Don't worry Martha, as if we thought you really shopped in a Kmart. I wonder what's next for Martha? A line of custom butler robots, perhaps?
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P.S.
I can't blog about Queen Martha and not include this absolutely awesome excerpt from an interview with BusinessWeek:Are you hard to work for?
I don't think so. I have people who've worked for me for 25, 26 years. I have cats who are 19 years old. They're still hanging out there.
That's different.
No, they work for me every single day. They pose for pictures. They'll do anything I want them to do. My animals are also employees, actually. Tell the IRS that. Franchesca and Sharkey, my French bulldogs, have their own blog. And they are brilliant at it.
Do you yell?
Not very much. I used to probably yell more. I have to yell at one employee because she's deaf. Sometimes if she's in the room I'm accused of yelling. It's because she has a cochlear implant and a raised voice helps her hear better.
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I'm speechless.