Marco Bianchi

I came to editorial work by way of the trade. Before I ever filed a piece I spent nearly two decades on the wholesale side, first with a small Milan-based distributor and later as a category buyer for one of the larger Italian retail groups. That background shapes almost every piece I write. I know what a purchase order looks like, I know what a store owner is thinking when they refuse a line, and I know how the sausage — or in our case, the silicone — gets made.

My territory is Central and Western Europe, with regular reporting from Italy, Austria, Germany, Czechia, Poland, Hungary, and the Benelux. I file occasionally from Athens, Sofia and Bucharest when a story warrants a longer trip east. Amsterdam is a personal favourite because its retail scene remains, to my eye, the most editorially interesting in Europe — tourist-facing without being cynical, and still capable of surprising a jaded visitor.

The reason I joined this publication in 2014 was straightforward. There was almost no real journalism about European adult retail. Trade publications existed, but they were essentially industry newsletters. Consumer coverage barely existed at all. The gap between how much money the sector moved and how little serious editorial attention it received was, and remains, absurd.

I write about storefronts, distributors, and the economic and regulatory realities that shape them. I try to spend time in the stores I cover — sitting quietly for an hour to watch how customers move through the space usually teaches me more than any interview. I believe strongly in the specialty boutique model and I’ll defend independent retailers against chain consolidation until I run out of column inches.

Outside of retail reporting I write a small newsletter on Italian food culture and consult occasionally on retail layout for boutiques in Milan and Turin. When I’m not travelling I keep an unreasonable number of records and drink an unreasonable amount of espresso. Nothing else about me is particularly interesting.