Total Wine & More has grown into the country‘s largest independent retailer of fine wine. 

CEO Troy Rice shares the core trait he seeks to instill in every employee and that he’s also seen emulated by his personal mentors, legendary Home Depot Founders Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank.

Once you hear Troy’s story, you’ll double down to make sure to foster this key trait in yourself and your team. He shares how it improves productivity, process, and the customer experience!

𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐞 & 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚‘𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞®—was founded in 1991 when brothers David and Robert Trone opened their first wine store in Delaware. Now they’ve grown to 249 stores across 27 states and continue to open on average 15 stores each year!

Their typical store carries more than 8,000 world-class wines from every wine-producing region in the world. In addition, Total Wine & More carries more than 2,500 beers, from America‘s most popular beers to hard-to-find microbrews and imports, and more than 3,000 different spirits from every price range and category. 

Troy joined them in 2017 as Chief Stores Officer. During his tenure, he led the Stores Organization to achieve significant milestones, including:

Leading the stores team through the pandemic. 

Rapidly innovating processes to enable the digital business. 

Developing talent to fuel growth. 

Supporting real estate initiatives with new stores and an extensive modernization plan. 

Driving laser focus on the customer experience.

Prior to joining Total Wine, Troy held senior leadership positions with Office Depot, Toys R Us and The Home Depot. 

At Office Depot, as COO and President of Retail he led the retail merger of Office Depot and Office Max. 

At Toys R Us, as EVP of Stores and Services he led their omni-channel efforts and was an early adopter of many of the services retailers practice today. 

Troy spent 16 years with The Home Depot beginning as a manager trainee when they had 135 stores and he held roles of increasing responsibility culminating with the role of Division President, Northern Division with over 600 stores and $24B in revenue. 

Troy grew up in retail working at his father’s grocery store where the values of customer service, teamwork, and work ethic were instilled in him at an early age.

LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/troy-rice-b78aaa1/

Company Link: https://www.totalwine.com/

What You’ll Discover in this Episode:

From railroad to retail executive: An inspiring career journey.

A deeper look at why retail has him hooked for life.

Inside the first Home Depot Leadership Program: A career-changing experience.

Leadership lessons from legends: Learning from Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank (Founders of Home Depot).

The personal motto that guided his career success.

A work-life balance strategy.

Parenting and business: When to talk to your children about your career.

Pandemic pivot: How Total Wine's strategic shift led to accelerated success.

What beverage should you serve at a Board dinner?

Who founded the Cosmo?

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