Zola's slowdown is good news for indie stores--but Zola will likely be back. While it is over-leveraged with venture capital and over-valued, the wedding registry business will rebound next year.
Indie stores are not the only ones to get a reprieve: market buildings were playing defense against Faire, the wholesale platform, that is likewise buttressed by venture capital. I outlined this situation in a Tableware Today article last year (Read the article: https://www.bridgecatalog.com/news.cfm?id=19118). Faire was also mentioned in the 2019 Times unicorn article. Faire, like Zola, has likely cut staff and salaries. This is welcome news to IMC and Dallas Market Center.
The silver lining on the Covid pandemic is it pausing some VC-backed companies' advances on traditional players' bases.