The Voice of Retail We put the farmer back into the Farm-to-Fork retail conversation with Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel from Saskatchewan, retailer Bob Ianson from Heritage Linens in Victoria and RCC's John Graham covers retail in the Prairie provinces.
Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of July 22nd, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this episode we head to Western Canada for three different perspectives in and around the retail industry.
First we put the farmer back in the “Farm to Fork” retail conversation with an exclusive interview featuring Cherilyn Jolly-Nagel, a farmer from Mossbank, Saskatchewan. We talk Ag-tech and how farmers can and should become a bigger part of the food conversation.
Next recorded live in Victoria I check in with retailer Bob Ianson, founder and owner of Heritage Linens and RCC long-time Board of Directors member as he gets ready to pass the torch to his daughter after 25 interesting years.
Then off to Winnipeg for the big picture perspective with RCC’s Prairie Director John Graham . We do a quick scan of the key issues for retailers based or operating in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. You can reach John on 204.926.8624 or JGraham@retailcouncil.org
Finally we’ll cover off Retail This Week with the top retail stories from Canada, U.S. and around the world including L.L. Bean opening their first Canadian store, Couche-Tarde buys into Fire & Flower, and Stitch Fix’s Katrina Lake predicts all retailers will be a tech company in ten years.
But first, let’s listen to my interview with Cherilyn:
Thanks to Cherilyn, Bob and John for being my guests this week, now let’s hit the highlights from Retail This Week eNewsletter, biggest retail weekly in Canada and you can subscribe on www.retailcouncil.org for free.
That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on Apple 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 Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn
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.