Welcome to the Voice of Retail special MJBizCon International Cannabis conference edition, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.

Held in Toronto in September 2019, the MJBizCon International brought together 2,500 Global Cannabis Executives To Learn, Grow & Connect. I took the opportunity to set up shop in their podcasting studio and interview three of the most interesting and influential participants starting off with Lara Wood, General Manager of Cannabis NB (my dad’s home province, New Brunswick). This is Lara’s third time on The Voice of Retail, so we catch up on developments over the summer, their innovative and ground breaking pop-up store, and what lies ahead for Cannabis 2.0

Next we meet Darren Bondar, President and CEO of Inner Spirit Holdings and Spirit Leaf Cannabis, one of Canada’s biggest cannabis retailers with 100 sites under development and dozens currently operating. We talk about the success of their franchise model, engagement in the community, and the important role of shop-in-shops and in-store merchandising partnerships.

Lastly we explore the consumer mindset in the U.S., Canada and globally around CBD with Kay Tamillow Director of Research, Brightfield Group based in Chicago. We deep dive into the rapidly evolving CBD market with expert analysis and package goods insight.

But first let’s listen to my interview with Lara Wood:

Thanks to Lara, Darren and Kay for being my guests , and my hosts at MJBizCon International for this special edition of The Voice of Retail …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 great 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.

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