We wrap up Season 9 with Part 2 of taking account of Steve's 2024 retail predictions. Our second batch include:

7.  Neiman Marcus and Saks merge.

8. Nordstrom goes private.

9.  Apple's "Vision Pro" is a big nothing burger...for now

10.  Sustainability schizophrenia hits a new high.

11.  Bailing still doesn't fix the hole among those stuck in the mediocre middle.

12.  Health-related services are this year's retail media networks.

13.  Commercial real estate becomes a slow motion crisis (if we're lucky)

We also discuss some upcoming NRF activities including Steve's appearance at the inaugural edition of the "NRF Book Club" and a live on-stage special recording of the Remarkable Retail podcast at Celonis' WTC headquarters on January 13th. 

NRF Top Retail Voices 2025

Steve's 2024 Retail Predictions

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

We're all about accountability on the Remarkable Retail podcast, so as we bring this season to a close once again it's time to grade Steve on 2024 predictions. In part 1 we dig into six of his baker's dozen of retail prognostications, which include:

1. The bifurcation of just about everything accelerates.

2. For many brands, flat is the new up.

3. AI: This time its personal.

4. The D continues to come out of DTC—except for top vendor brands

5. There is a culling of the once and future unicorn herd

6. Honey, I shrunk the store (again).

But we start with the retail news that caught our attention this week including lots of deals in the news: the end to the Kroger/Albertson's merger, the likely beginning of Saks and Neiman's, a possible go private transaction on the part of Walgreens, and yet another activist takes on Macy's. Then we assess Tik Tok's future in the US, before wrapping up with earnings news from Costco, Lululemon, and RH.

Steve's Prediction from Forbes (Part 1)

FootPrints AI Retail Media Event

The Great Vanilla Fudge from the Ed Sullivan Show: Keep Me Hanging On!

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

In this special bonus episode, we delve into the innovative intersection of sports and e-commerce with Patrick Jenkinson, Commercial Director for Venue and E-commerce at Manchester United, and Thomas Peyer, Director, Growth, SCAYLE, a leading enterprise e-commerce platform.

Patrick shares insights into Manchester United's remarkable global fan base, boasting over 270 million social followers and viewership that rivals global sporting events like the Super Bowl. Highlighting the club's transition from an outsourced to an in-house e-commerce model, Patrick emphasizes the importance of providing a seamless, unified shopping experience that caters to fans worldwide, regardless of location or language.

Thomas discusses SCAYLE's unique approach to enterprise e-commerce, rooted in modern architecture and API-driven platforms. He explains how Scale enables organizations like Manchester United to integrate diverse digital offerings, from merchandise to content subscriptions, fostering deeper fan engagement and loyalty.

The conversation also explores broader retail trends, emphasizing the significance of loyalty programs, unified commerce, and agile technology to meet evolving consumer expectations. With a record-breaking Black Friday and ambitious plans for international growth, Manchester United and SCAYLE exemplify the potential of combining heritage with cutting-edge technology to deliver unparalleled customer experiences.

Tune in for a compelling discussion that showcases how innovative partnerships are reshaping the business of sports and retail.

This episode is brought to you by SCAYLE, the world's fastest growing enterprise commerce platform. 

Manchester United

Commercial Director Venue & E-Commerce

Patrick Jenkinson is responsible for revenue across direct-to-fan products at Manchester United. He oversees a broad range of business units across the physical and digital realms including retail, content, and subscriptions, serving one of the biggest fan audiences in sport. Patrick joined the club from Leeds United where he served as Head of Business Development and prior to this he was a VP at DAZN, the world's largest live sport streaming service. At DAZN, he held in-market leadership roles in Japan and Spain as well as overall responsibility for international expansion. He began his career in TMT M&A followed by sports & media private equity.

Thomas Peyer, SCAYLE

Director of Growth

Thomas is Director Growth and part of the Management Team at SCAYLE. He is tasked with growing SCAYLE's business beyond its home market Germany. Before joining SCAYLE, Thomas worked at adidas as VP Advanced Analytics, where he was responsible for all AI / ML products for the brand. Thomas spent his formative years as a McKinsey consultant and in Private Equity. He holds a MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and an MBA from INSEAD.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

Our very special guest this week is is Artemis Patrick, President of Sephora-North America, clearly one of the most remarkable brands in retail today. Artemis shares her remarkable personal and professional journey, along with the keys to Sephora's fantastic growth across the last two decades. We explore how the brand creates a harmonized shopping experience, the role of both humans and technology in delivering a memorable customer experience, and why supporting diverse voices is so important. We also get many inspiring leadership lessons and learn about Sephora's plans to update all their stores.

Before our interview, as usual, we dig into the most important news of the week, including a quick review of Black Friday/Cyber Week trends. Then it's on to earnings reports from Foot Locker (a very stalled turnaround), Kroger (meh), the two big dollar store players (losing momentum), and Chewy's (slowing sales growth as they search for sustainable profits). We also report that the Saks and Neiman Marcus deal may finally close and reveal a potential new segment.

Celonis NRF event

Our interview with Anish Melwani, CEO, LVMH North America

About Artemis

Artemis Patrick is the President & CEO of Sephora North America. In her role, Artemis is responsible for shaping the retailer’s strategic multi-year growth for the US and Canada. She is also a member of Sephora’s Global Leadership Team (SLT) and Sephora America’s Operating Committee.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

Welcome to a special episode of the Remarkable Retail podcast, featuring part two of our interview with noted retail journalists, Chantal Fernandez and Lauren Sherman, talking about their fabulous new book Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon.  Steve picks up the conversation asking about Victoria's Secret's role in elevating supermodels to new heights in the cultural zeitgeist. Then we explore the end of Victoria's Secret dominance in retail, the complicated genius of Lex Wexner, and lessons learned for retail leaders.

ICYMI, in the first part of our conversation we explore Victoria's Secret's origin and growth in the broader context of retail's evolution and from the perspective of Lex Wexner's creation of L2 Brands. We delve into how the brand became a cultural phenomenon with stores in just about every major mall and what set the stage for the emergence of the Angels, their iconic fashion shows, and the troubles that would soon befall the company.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

We welcome noted retail journalists Chantal Fernandez and Lauren Sherman to the podcast to discuss their fabulous new book Selling Sexy: Victoria's Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon. And we had so much to talk about we are releasing our interview in two parts. 

In the first part of our conversation we explore Victoria's Secret's origin and growth in the broader context of retail's evolution and from the perspective of Lex Wexner's creation of L2 Brands. We delve into how the brand became a cultural phenomenon with stores in just about every major mall and what set the stage for the emergence of the Angels, their iconic fashion shows, and the troubles that would soon befall the company.

We'll be back with Part 2 on Friday, digging into the rise and the fall of the brand and leadership lessons from Les Wexner's reign. We also get Chantal and Lauren's take on whether the company has a chance to mount a turnaround.

But we kick things off by digging into a very busy week of retail news, all brought to you by Scayle. Up first, we try to make sense of the Trump's planned tariffs and just what the heck is going on at Macy's. We also explore earnings new from Kohl's (terrible) and Abercrombie & Fitch (remarkable),  and wonder what this all portends for JC Penney and Target. We close with Amazon's doubling down on investment in Anthropic and an interesting announcement from Perplexity.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

"People buy the story before they buy the product."

This week we go sans guest to unpack one of Steve's "mind leaps" from his latest book: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption. In a world of infinite choice, 24/7 access, intense competition, and an epic battle for attention, more and more it's critical to "start with wow."

By improving our aim in the customers we seek to serve and by aiming higher in the value we deliver, brands can become the compelling signal amid all the noise and deliver a remarkable experience. In addition to offering up tips on how to find your wow, we get into what it takes to own the real estate of the mind and discuss examples of what remarkable brands do to create a story that spreads.

But we kick things off with our hot-takes on the most important retail news of the week, including how to avoid falling into the hype-y holidays trap. Then we take on who's winning the Walmart v. Target battle, dissect what's behind TJX's consistent ability to rise above the rest, and wonder whether Gap's earnings reveal a case of premature celebration. We also explore the potential impact of tariffs and why retailers are often telling customers to "just keep it."

Leaders Leap

Steve on Bluesky

Michael on Bluesky

The Ticking Time Bomb of e-Commerce Returns

More Retailers Are Saying 'Just Keep It.'

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

Joining us for another interview recorded live in the Bambuser remote podcast studio at Shoptalk Fall event is Joe Megibow, Casper Sleep's CEO. Joe is a veteran of both more traditional companies as well as disruptor brands, and he helps us understand the evolution of digitally-native brands, the trials and tribulations of trying to reinvent the mattress category, and how he hopes to reinvent Casper and set it on a path of profitable growth.

As usual we open by dissecting the most important news of the week including making sense of last week's US monthly retail sales report, news that the Tapestry/Capri merger is off and that 7-Eleven is looking to fend of Couche-Tard by taking the company private. We also discuss Amazon's debut of Haul, its response to Temu, before a quick dip into quarterly earnings reports from Shopify, On Running, and Home Depot. The it's deals, deals, deals as before  Vuori receives a big new investment and BNPL leader Klarna looks to go public. We wrap up with the unfortunate news that Advanced Auto will close some 700 stores after another rough quarter.

Richard Kestenbaum episode.

Joe Kudla interview

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

Joining us in the Bambuser remote podcast studio at Shoptalk Fall in Chicago is Rebecca Fitts,  SVP, Alvarez & Marsal's Property Solutions.

Hot on the heels of Rebecca's joining us on the inaugural list of top NRF Retail Voices, we do a deep dive into what's new and next for the ever dynamic world of retail real estate. Among the topics we cover is how digital disruption has shaped the physical store landscape, repurposing of malls, lingering impacts from the pandemic, the over-saturation of certain markets, and a whole lot more.

But before our fascinating interview we share our hot-takes on the week in retail news, starting with some initial thoughts on the impact of the US election. Then it's a fast-paced tour through recent earnings reports, starting with Amazon's blockbuster quarter, another solid quarter from mall owner Simon Properties and more meh from Wayfair. We also congratulate a strong move away from wobbly unicorn status for Warby Parker, before wrapping up with the race to the turkey, as Target and Walmart launch more holiday deals.

Link to Neil Blumental episode

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world. 

“The success of our brand will increasingly be determined by our ability to meet our customers' needs anytime, anywhere, anyway.”

• Arthur Martinez, Sears CEO, February 1999

You might be wondering who was the first person to lead omni-channel efforts at a major retailer. Was it Phil Phygital, Sean Seamless, Uri Unified, or someone else entirely? This week, in this encore episode, we reveal our answer.

But before we get into the heart of the episode, we pause briefly to share the exciting news that both of us we're recognized as top retail thought leaders on the inaugural list of "NRF Retail Voices." Learn more and see the other honorees here.

Then it's on to our discussion, starting with why it's taken so long for retailers to embrace the blur that is modern retail today and why so many still act as if the idea of "omni-channel," "unified commerce"--or, as I like to call it, "harmonized retail"--is a new phenomenon. 

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur.  He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. 

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google.  He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fourth year in a row, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer.  If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.