In July 2019, a report [link is below] came out that squarely pointed the finger at private equity and Wall Street for the loss of 600,000 retail jobs and 1.3 million jobs overall during great retail correction (that we’re still in, btw). Many analysts agreed with the report. My guest today, Richard Kestenbaum, does not.  

 

Richard is in mergers and acquisitions, and is a fan and professional follower of active outdoor markets. He is the perfect person to walk us through today’s investment landscape and how that may or may not be in influencing the health of retail. He sees the bigger retail picture, and can tie it right back to our specialty markets.  

 

In this episode, we dig down into the cause of why start-ups are able to scratch away at legacy retailers grip on sales, and why legacy brands seem to be the ones going bankrupt more frequently. Richard analyzes this specifically through the lens of private equity and through the competitive advantages of specialty.  

 

But what if your business is looking for funding? Is there still money for capital investment? You betcha. But it’s time for new metrics to capture the new retail reality, which in large part will be a measurement of how well a brand is meeting customer expectations.