The Voice of Retail Exclusive interview with Andy Palalas of High Tide talking cannabis retail, catching up with Lauren Freedmen on eCommerce merchandising trends (part 1)
Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of March 25, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Stream Commerce, North America’s fastest growing Shopify plus agency, learn more at Stream Commerce dot com.
In this episode an exclusive interview with Andy Palalas, Chief Revenue Officer of High Tide talking about their family of retail stores, and particularly their CannaCabana retail cannabis store as it grows in Alberta and the eve of expansion to an open Ontario market.
Next part one of a two part interview with Lauren Freedman, President of the eTailing Group. Lauren literally wrote the book on eCommerce merchandising two decades ago with her landmark book “It’s Just Shopping”. We chat about the current state of eCommerce merchandising and customer expectations, and about the insights Wiseplum gathered in the Understanding the Canadian Consumer study.
Then of course I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week, including the Sobey family donation to retail education, the Landmark $100-million gift to the University of Toronto from Gerald Schwartz and Indigo CEO Heather Reisman , ontario cannabis store opening update, Holts beautiful new expansions and another one bites the dust with Steve Dennis.
It’s a milestone couple of weeks in Canada - RCC had their first Retail Cannabis forum, and Ontario opens up bricks + mortar retail.
The RCC Retail Cannabis forum was a great morning, with Westleaf presenting their Prairie Records innovative cannabis store format, my panel covering in-store experience (check out the special edition of TVOR as I taped the panel), hiring advice both at the associate and executive level, and beating any stigma that might associate itself with the category - basically, be a great neighbour ! Good advice pretty much anywhere anytime!
As part of my ongoing coverage of the roll out of retail cannabis, and Courtesy of my friends at Environics Analytics CannabisInsights, powered by Vividata, I share some really interesting insights about two markets, Edmonton and St. John’s
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I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or on LinkedIn
Join me again next week for part two of my interview with Lauren Freedman, and an exclusive interview with Frank Monteleone, Senior Vice President of HR for Rexall as we discuss digital strategies for attracting talent.
And we’ll see how the Ontario Cannabis roll-out went.
Until then, 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.