Some of the best learning happens when you read stories about real people and real companies. Read them for ideas, for lessons, and inspiration. This week’s stories and strategies from real life are about luxury coffee cups, T.J. Maxx, an online shoe retailer not named Zappos, Compass Iron Works, and Joor.

From Steve Coomber: Cup winners

“Luxury goods cover a wide range of activities. There are fast cars and bespoke suits, fabulous watches and beautiful jewellery, crisp cotton sheets and hand-stitched loafers. And now you can add a new item to the list as luxury comes to the humble coffee cup, courtesy of Jonathan Strauss and Andreas Bös, co-founders of DeViehl.”

From Beth Kowitt: Is T.J. Maxx the best retail store in the land?

“The off-price chain has built a fantastically loyal following. How have they done it? We got inside the playbook of parent company TJX.”

From Paul Cubbon: Shoe retailer was born after Zappos left Canada

“Sean Clark, founder and CEO of Canadian online footwear retailer ShoeMe.ca, had several figurative doors slammed in his face by brand-named footwear distributors and traditional retailers when he first started out.”

From Joseph N. DiStefano: At Amish ironworks, a matter of mettle

“As a teenager he worked at the Pequea Machine Inc. plant in Lancaster County, building manure spreaders. At 22, with marriage pending, and funds from his father and the local Mennonite bank, Glick in 1998 started Compass Iron Works in Chester County, refitting an old sawmill among cornfields a few miles past suburban Philadelphia.”

From Teresa Novellino: Joor founder Mona Bijoor brings new meaning to fast fashion with her tech startup

“Joor founder Mona Bijoor is an unlikely tech entrepreneur but it turns out that being able to speak the language of brands like rag & bone and Diane von Furstenberg versus code may be why her software platform is poised for $3 billion in transactions this year.”