The Voice of Retail STORE2019 Special Edition No. 2 featuring Forbes contributor and main-stage keynote Steve Dennis, Cannabis NB General Manager Lara Wood and Purolator's Laurie Weston on the Mobile Quick Stop
Welcome to our second special STORE 2019 edition of The Voice of Retail podcast I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada, and sponsored by Purolator, Canada's Shipping Company for courier and freight, learn more at www.purolator.com
Retail Council of Canada’s STORE conference is the biggest retail conference of the year in Canada and for 2019 In partnership with with my friends at Purolator we built the Purolator Podcasting Studio and set out to interview some of the most interesting people in retail hosting retail industry leaders from across the country live on the exhibition show floor. We also followed up with a few folks who we met at STORE2019 but our schedules didn’t quite line up to get them into the studio during the action packed day and a half.
Let’s kick off this second STORE episode starting with my exclusive interview with Steve Dennis, President & Founder, SageBerry Consulting and the STORE day two opening keynote. Steve has been named a top 5 global retail influencer by two leading organizations and his thoughts on the future of shopping are regularly shared in the media and in his role as a contributor for Forbes. During a 30 year career as a senior executive at two Fortune 500 retailers--and more recently as a strategic advisor, Steve has worked with dozens of retail, luxury and social impact brands to inspire, catalyze and design their journey from boring to remarkable.
Next, a great conversation with Lara Wood, General Manager of Cannabis NB talking about her rich background, their award winning development program, the innovative, go-to-market structure of Cannabis NB and how the Province embraced the retail cannabis opportunity.
Then I followed up with Laurie Weston, Director of Retail for Purolator after they were big winners last Tuesday night at the Excellence in Retail awards in the pop-up retail category. I wanted to know how their innovative Mobile Quick Stop truck concept came about, and advice for retailers as we look toward the 2019 holiday season - top of mind stuff for retailers across the nation as we sit here in June.
Let’s get started with Steve Dennis…
That’s a wrap on the second of special RCC STORE 2019 edition of The Voice of Retail - thanks to Steve, Lara and Laurie for joining me in the Purolator Podcast Studio . if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast platform, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home to play the most recent edition.
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 of course on LinkedIn
Join me each and every Friday as I interview some of the most interesting people in retail and cover off the most important stories within the Canadian retail industry and around the world.
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.