A Web Shop Is Born

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This past holiday season, as in-store clothing and accessory sales fell between 19 and 21%, online sales grew by 4%. If you run a downtown boutique, online shopping might be your salvation, as the Observer observes in an article about the many independent stores that now run Internet extensions of themselves. We liked their account of Cry Wolf's recent first day online: "Nov. 5, 2008, was a hectic day for Abiri Ward and his wife, Nina Wolff, co-owners of the East Village clothing boutique Cry Wolf. At 8 a.m. that morning, Cry Wolf launched an online store. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Wolff went into labor. For most of the afternoon, Mr. Ward sat in front of his computer fielding phone calls and email inquiries about shipping and sizes in between timing Ms. Wolff's contractions. 'It was pretty wild,' he said. (She gave birth to a healthy baby girl at 9:33 p.m.)" [NYO]