Last week I was at Trader Joe’s waiting to check out with about 100 other people when I received a nice surprise: an employee was calling out to shoppers who stood in line, “Is there anything that you forgot that I can get for you?”

On November 19, Cotton Inc. and MTV made fashion history by producing the “24 Hour Runway Show.” With 1440 looks—one per minute—this extravaganza was 700% longer than the average fashion show.

A recent retail event that I think will go down in history as a cautionary tale was the Target/Missoni collaboration. First, for its no-holds-barred use of social and traditional media and second, and for the seeming covetability factor it generated for a second-tier brand line.

Nordstrom is a Seattle-based high-end retailer that has long been lauded for its outstanding customer service. Today, Nordstrom has 116 locations throughout the U.S. and is a specialty retailer that aims to offer its customers, “the best possible service, selection, quality and value.”

Diana Nyad, one the world’s most famous long distance swimmers, will soon attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida for a total distance of 103 miles. Along the way, she will encounter some heavy stuff—sharks, storms and stinging jellyfish, just to name a few things. She risks a swollen tongue from salt water, shoulder sores, hypothermia, dehydration and hallucinations. It’s an incredible feat that most of us will never attempt, or even dream of attempting. If successful, Ms. Nyad will break her own 102-mile world record for open-ocean swimming, which she set 32 years ago.