About us
RetailSpeaks is an idea born in 2004, then launched in 2007, as a community of gift and stationery retailers determined to compete and thrive in a world filled with big boxes and internet stores.

Each member of RetailSpeaks is an “independent retailer”—someone who owns three or fewer brick-and-mortar stores, is not part of a franchise or chain, does their own buying, sleeps little, eats on the fly, and can juggle a fax machine, a telephone, a new employee and the UPS guy all at once. Each has at least one year of experience behind their own cash register. They are not home studio retailers...no franchises, chains or big boxes allowed.

Put simply, RetailSpeaks was created so brave entrepreneurial souls living with the unique challenges of today’s world could network on a large scale. By joining the RS forum, members are able to post questions, reply with responses, or just peruse the postings of their peers, in a safe, private, territory-protected environment.

Forum topics run the gammut from locating hard-to-find sources, POS systems, employees, market trips, vendor issues, etc. Basicallly, if it matters to you, we’ll be talking about it.

Hallmark stores have a similar forum, limited strictly to their own franchise owners. Large chains have multiple layers of support. Why not you too?

About the founder

Cinda Baxter is one of the most recognizable retail consultants in the gift and stationery industry; better yet, she’s also one of you, with 14 years of independent retail experience under her belt as the owner of a successful, upscale stationery and gift store in Minneapolis. She’s been a regular on a lot of pretty high profile Advisory Boards too: the National Stationery Show, AmericasMart Atlanta, Retailer Networks Inc., the National Stationery Show Delegates Program (charter member), and the Gift and Home Trade Association, where she also serves on their Board of Directors. Not once, but twice, she’s been honored with the coveted Retail Excellence Award. Translated: She seriously believes in independent retail.

Cinda‘s official job title is “Retail Enabler,” consulting both store owners and vendors through Always Upward, and is frequently a speaker at major trade shows, including the Hong Kong Gifts and Premium Fair, the National Stationery Show, The New York International Gift Show, the Los Angeles Gift Show, and at various regional marts, including Dallas, Seattle, Chicago, and Boston.

Her experience in private forums came as the founder of two smaller, successful online communities: Brilliant Ink (a nationwide community of stationery/invitation designers) and The Print Lab (a collaborative project with Epson). Each brings richness to its members’ lives as they share the critical information necessary to build their respective businesses and success. In Brilliant Ink alone, more than 9,000 messages were posted in the group’s first three years.

As a contributing editor for Gifts and Decorative Accessories magazine (and long time participant in the monthly “We Asked” column, as well as a regular in the Greetings Etc. magazine “Hot Topics” column), Cinda’s words of wisdom have been shared with a multitude of readers. Additionally, she and her original designs have been featured in Modern Bride, Gifts and Decorative Accessories, Greetings Etc., Gift Shop News, and a long list of regional and local magazines.

Oh yeah. And she likes dark chocolate...the way some people “like” oxygen.