Simons CEO Peter Simons on the future of department stores in the COVID-19 era, and Willy Kruh former Global Chair Consumer & Retail, KPMG, returns to share his wisdom and advice to help retailers adapt and survive

Welcome to the The Voice of Retail, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada, and this episode is brought to you by omNovos. Create the personalized interactions that your customers will actually look forward to with omNovos – Canada’s Retail Customer Engagement Solutions Provider. Combine all of your customer data into a single view. Learn more at www.realcustomerengagement.com 

First up on this episode an exclusive interview with Peter Simons, CEO of La Maison Simons, live from Quebec City.   Started in 1840 and still a family owned and operated Canadian department store, Peter talks about the history of this storied retail brand, the expansion out of Quebec across Canada, and brings us up to date on the current state of the business, his perspective  on the future of the department store format and tells all about their Fabrique 1840 initiative, which creates a marketplace for bespoke local creators across Canada on the Simons web site and beyond.

Next up the one and only Willy Kruh is back on the podcast.  The recently retired  Partner and Global Chair Consumer & Retail at KPMG International and frequent top ranked presented at RCC’s annual STORE conference, Willy steps back into the ring with his analysis of the current state of retail, what the COVID-19 era means from millennials and other consumers, and wise advise honed by decades of working with c-level retail and brand executives from around the world on how retailers can survive the crisis.

But first, lets check in with Peter Simons

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Thanks to Peter and Willy for being my guests on this episode, and thanks to omNovos for their support of this episode and The Voice of Retail podcast.   If you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, please rate and review, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and Company Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

Until next time, have a safe week!

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 fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, 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.