“I spend a lot of time on Zillow,” Scott Tannen, the CEO and co-founder, with his wife, Missy, of the luxury bedding and home brand Boll & Branch, told Retail Brew in a recent interview. “Zillow is my favorite sport, actually.”

Tannen is not in the market for a new home. He was telling us about how Boll & Branch, which launched in 2014 as a DTC brand highlighting fair-trade practices and organic cotton, is turbo-charging its brick-and-mortar strategy, nearly doubling its footprint, from eight to 15 stores, over the last year.

“You’re looking at average household income, you might as well also be looking at number of bedrooms,” Tannen said of his Zillow proclivity. “It’s not a surprise that Dallas”—where a location opened in 2023—“is our top store.” Homes in that area have “some of the largest square footage relative to the lot sizes in the country.”

“If you look across our store mix, you’re going to start seeing a trend…We are in Birmingham, [Alabama]—very large houses relative to their market size. We’re not in downtown Chicago; we’re out in the western suburbs.”

In Bethesda, Maryland, where the company opened its latest store in October, Zillow estimates the current average home value at $1,107,992, up from $843,132 in 2017.

Keep reading here.—AAN

Retailers that begin piping “Frosty the Snowman” into their stores before Thanksgiving this year may get some complaints of “Christmas creep,” the notion that some stores can jump the gun when they amp up the winter-holiday vibes before Black Friday. But a new survey suggests that only 20% of consumers believe retailers ought to wait until after Thanksgiving to introduce their winter-holiday music, decor, and scents.

One in three respondents (33%) said the right time for retailers to commence the in-store holiday sensory experience is early November, while 24% said mid-to-late November and 22% said as early as October.

You won’t be shocked to learn that the survey was conducted not by the Grinch, but rather by Mood Media, an experiential media company whose offerings include in-store music, scent, and signage. The survey polled US adults aged 18 and older.

While 32% of those surveyed said the multisensory holiday atmosphere has no influence on their shopping behavior, others perk up when reminded that Santa Claus is indeed coming to town.

Keep reading here.—AAN

As Week 9 of the 2025 NFL season gets underway, there’s no denying the reach of American football. Whether you’re a devoted Cheesehead, a loyal member of the Bills Mafia, or an expat who only cares about the Super Bowl halftime show, fans seemingly can’t get enough of it. An average of 18.5 million viewers are tuning in to each game this year, but the bigger story has been the NFL brand taking its heft overseas, with regular season games played in Brazil, Ireland, the UK, and beyond.

The NFL isn’t resting on its laurels however. It’s been on the hunt for another new revenue segment to keep up its growth: fashion.

Keep reading here on Revenue Brew.—LI

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