IADS Retail Park

What happens when a 170-year-old retail icon makes a deal that backfires? 🎲

BHV, the beloved Parisian department store, bet on SHEIN—and lost. Brand departures, public backlash, and a 40% reduction in retail space followed. Now, Brookfield Asset Management plans a five-star hotel 🏨 where shoppers once browsed DIY tools.

Host Maya Sankoh sits down with Christine Montard, IADS. Director of Markets and Events, to unpack what went wrong—and whether heritage brands can survive radical pivots 🔄.

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🛍️ In this episode of IADS Retail Park, Maya and Anchita unpack Xiaohongshu (Red Note)—the platform transforming how international retailers reach 350 million affluent Chinese consumers.

📖 Read the full IADS Exclusive: “Unlocking Chinese Consumer Trends via Xiaohongshu” 👉 Access the exclusive here

For more insights, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, subscribe to our Substack, and visit www.iads.org.

For over a century, merchants built retail empires through margin discipline, inventory velocity, and vendor relationships. Today, those skills no longer guarantee relevance. In this episode 🎙️, Maya speaks with Christine Montard explore groundbreaking research from the 2025 IADS Academy cohort on how merchants balance intuition with data-driven decisions—and why the future belongs to those who master integration, not choice.

👉 Click here to read the full 2025 Academy Exclusive!

For more updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, check out our Substack, visit our website at www.iads.org for additional resources, and learn more here!

In this episode, Maya and Christine unpack the seismic shift in luxury retail—where sales staff evolved into brand ambassadors, relationship architects, and cultural translators. 🏬✨ What do Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and Kering have in common? They bet big on people, not just platforms. From clienteling apps boosting sales by 20% to recruiting from hospitality and finance, brands rewrote the playbook. 🎯 But with 36% of shoppers saying in-store experiences worsened, the stakes remain high.

👉 Click here to unlock Christine's full Exclusive!

For more updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, check out our Substack, visit our website at www.iads.org for additional resources, and learn more here!

Twenty-seven years after its final flight, Hong Kong's Kai Tak airport is preparing for a different kind of landing—one that challenges every assumption about what makes retail destinations work. In this episode 🎙️, Maya speaks with Christine Montard, Director of Markets and Events at IADS, about her firsthand visit to Kai Tak during the 2025 IADS General Assembly in Hong Kong. Christine breaks down the HK$100 billion transformation across three major developments—Kai Tak Mall's "sportainment" model, Airside's sustainability-driven "culturetainment," and IADS member Lifestyle International's The Twins dual-tower complex 🏢. 👉 Click here to learn more in the full Kai Tak Exclusive! For more updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, check out our Substack, visit our website at www.iads.org for additional resources, and learn more here!

Maya and Selvane unpack the radical transformation at Åhléns under new owner Ayad al-Saffar. 🏬 What do Inglot, private label kitchen tools, and a 47-store network have in common? They're all weapons in a war against intermediaries. ✂️ By slashing third-party distributors and pivoting to 90% wholesale, Al-Saffar is turning Sweden's second-highest retail density into a competitive advantage—and planning more store openings. 🚀 Could this spark a Nordic-wide supply chain revolution?

👉 Click here to unlock Selvane's full Exclusive!

For more insights and updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, check out our Substack, visit our website at www.iads.org for the full White Paper, and learn more here!

In this episode, we unpack the 2026 NRF Big Show—the largest yet, with 41,000 attendees and a provocative tension: when tech companies dominate retail’s flagship event, who truly owns the future? From REI’s “selective openness” and FairPrice’s 17% basket lift through AI, to the stark divide between Amazon’s fortress and Walmart’s federation strategies—discover what retailers must own to remain destinations, not just data sources🛡️. Plus: Why semantic capital is the new competitive moat, why your website’s intelligence is existential, and how Bloomingdale’s and Printemps are proving physical retail’s renaissance is real 🏬.📖 Full report available at IADS Exclusive Insights (👉Click here)

In this episode of IADS Retail Park 🎧, Maya sits down with Christine, Director of Markets and Events at IADS and author of this week’s exclusive investigation into what’s being called “The SHEIN Paradox.” When SHEIN opened its first permanent European store at Paris’s historic BHV Marais in November 2025, 7,000 visitors showed up on day one. Within weeks, the floors were empty, online sales had plummeted 54%, and over 100 French brands had filed legal action. What went wrong? Tune in to discover why some retail models can’t absorb others—and how to avoid a collision that costs millions.

👉 [To read Christine’s complete exclusive and check out the store photos here: The SHEIN Paradox: When Digital Ultra-Fast Fashion Meets Physical Reality]

Keep your finger on the pulse 📊 of retail transformation by connecting with the International Association of Department Stores – IADS on LinkedIn, joining our Substack community, and exploring www.iads.org for strategic resources.

In this Season 2 premiere 🎙️, Maya sits down with Selvane, Managing Director of IADS, to discuss her year-long investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion at retail's most critical turning point 📊. Through research across six global regions with leaders from Nordstrom, Tesco, Falabella, and Galeries Lafayette, IADS' 2025 White Paper reveals four key patterns that separate authentic DEI strategies from performative gestures. As political pressures mounted and executive orders shifted corporate commitments, some retailers doubled down while others quietly retreated . In this revealing conversation, Selvane asks Maya the questions that uncover the evidence-based insights behind retail's most complex challenge. 👉Click here to read the IADS Exclusive on Maya’s White Paper🔎Access the full IADS White Paper hereYou can find all our White Papers here: https://payhip.com/IADSTo read the press release on our annual White Paper, click here! (link)For more insights and updates, follow us on LinkedIn at International Association of Department Stores - IADS, check out our Substack, visit our website at www.iads.org for the full White Paper, and learn more here!

In this episode of IADS. Retail Park 🎧, Maya sits down with Christine, author of this week’s IADS Exclusive on Macy’s transformation. From pioneering retail innovations in 1858 to closing 150 stores while investing in 350 upgraded locations, Macy’s story raises a fundamental question facing department stores globally: can concentration replace expansion as a path to growth? Christine breaks down the “First 50” results, the My Macy’s localisation experiment, why the mid‑tier is getting squeezed, and whether strategic precision can outperform broad coverage. If you’re navigating fleet optimisation, format innovation, or the future of department stores, this conversation offers critical insights you can’t afford to miss.

Want to dive into the data and analysis behind this episode?👉Click here to access Christine’s full IADS Exclusive on Macy’s.

Stay plugged🔌into the latest thinking by following the International Association of Department Stores – IADS on LinkedIn, subscribing to our Substack, and visiting www.iads.org for more in‑depth resources.