The Voice of Retail

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of July 29, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, [and I’m Dave Rodgerson, guest host for this episode] and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. So it’s the hazy, crazy days of summer and what better time to invite friends and colleagues from the retail industry to join me on The Voice of Retail and share perspectives about the retail news of the week! [Well thanks Mike for the invite, looking forward to delving into Retail This Week!] But first, We kick off with a most excellent round-table interview recorded live at Retail Council of Canada’s #STORE2019 in the Purolator Inc. podcasting studio with retail tech gurus and Q Division leaders and fellow podcasters Manolo Almagro, Ben Gauthier with Michael Arnett from Stratacache. We talk Golidie-Locks retail tech: over-hyped, under-hyped, and tech that’s just right. Then Dave and I will look at the retail news of the week, but first, let’s listen to my interview with Manolo, Ben and Michael Thanks to Manolo, Ben and Michael for being such good sports and 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 Until next time, have a great week! The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

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 The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of July 15, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode I interview two of retails biggest thinkers and most strategic advisors for their thoughts on modern retail and what it takes to compete and win profitably. First up is David Poirier, Founder and CEO of The Poirier Group - we look back at a bit of retail history through our mutual lens as former Hudson’s Bay executives (Dave was CIO of HBC, I was Director of eCommerce and CRM), the nature and pace of change in retail technology (hint: don’t buy the Pink Pill), moving to agile processes, helping retailers understand how the work gets done, sustainable results and the right metrics. Next my interview recorded in Vancouver at the Consumer Goods Global Summit with Ted Salter, Partner, Canada, Advisory Services, EY. We talk about his vast experience working with retailers at the most senior levels and helping them move beyond being efficient, helping them imagining the future consumer with customer “hackathons”, creating future worlds, un-freezing the worldview and Ted’s response to my “if you had a Billion dollars, what would you do?” retail question. Finally we check in with Canadian Retailer Editor-in-Chief Sean Tarry who fills us in on the latest edition of Canada’s only magazine dedicated to the retail industry, this edition dedicated to retail sustainability but chock full of other great content from you’ll hear all about including must-read articles from contributors including Retail Insider’s Craig Patterson and interviews with retail brand gurus Joe Jackman and Tony Chapman. Next we’ll cover off Retail This Week including Aritizia’s new loyalty program, Bezos climbs to the top of the thunder dome to celebrate a record breaking Prime Day(s) sales result, Reformation comes to Canada, Father doesn’t know best in Turkish eCommerce, Charming Charlie closes the book on all of it’s 261 stores, Fred’s closes 129 and Dean and Deluca is just eerie now, and Zara going 100% sustainable fabrics by 2025. But first, let’s listen to my interview with David Poirier Thanks to Dave, Ted and Sean 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 Until next time, have a great week! The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of July 8, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode, the “thee amigos”; myself, #STORE2019 main-stage keynote speaker and Forbes contributing writer Steve Dennis and retail strategist Carl Boutet mix it up in the Purolator Podcasting Studio after the Excellence in Retail gala awards. We talk tech, north-south retail, the collapse of the middle, bifurcation, success at the high-end, the world’s slowest liquidation sale, the customer trapeze, and retail success stories. Then an interview with retail brand marketing legend and Retail Council of Canada Retail Hall of Fame member John Torella who between being the CMO for Eaton’s, then on the agency side, and finally almost 30 years advising retailers at the highest strategic level, reflects on a rich career and the changes and pace of chance in the modern retail environment. Next we’ll cover off Retail This Week including Vancouver becoming a global launch pad for international retail brands, Empire fights back with innovation, swapping chairs at Giant Tiger, Korean brand Innisfree launches retail in Canada, Lululemon’s new 20,000 square foot Chicago store, Microsoft retail learns from 5th avenue for Oxford Circus store, Bad Boy getting bigger and badder, AI powered retail sustainability, and how green is your shipping. But first, let’s listen in to my up close and interactive chat with Steve Dennis and Carl Boutet from Purolator Podcasting Studio right after the RCC Excellence in Retail award gala. Thanks to Steve, Carl 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 Until next time, have a great week! The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of July 1, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode…live from the main stage at RCC’s #STORE2019 conference my exclusive interview with Walter Robb, former co-CEO of Whole Foods. We chat about the nature of consumers on both sides of the border, the zen of Amazon then, now and in the future, the current state of grocery retail across North America and trends for the future. Then a return visit from Michele Sexsmith Senior Vice President Retail, Retail Estate and Entertainment sectors with Environics Analytics talking about using modern data and sophisticated mobile-based analytics to help guide retailers in their site selection and understanding customer insights. Next we’ll cover off Retail This Week including Ontario celebrating with a 50, can the Goose continue to soar, Amsterdam’s HEMA in Canada, Dollarama goes south (American), Canopy/Tweed/Tokyo Smoke CEO Bruce Linton outside and talking, SportCheck more inclusive, Man/Sask testing same day cannabis delivery, Ireland’s Primark celebrates 50 & 372, Robots rub off on the humans at Amazon warehouse, and Galen Weston gets serious on sustainability at the Consumer Goods Forum global summit. But first, let’s listen in to my interview with live from the big stage at #STORE2019 with Walter Robb Thanks to Walter for generously giving me the thumbs-up to put our interview on the podcast, Layla at CAA for helping me pull this episode together, and Michele for being my special guest. 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 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 The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to The Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit special edition of the Voice of Retail I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. An elite organization that brings consumer goods retailers and manufacturers together globally, the Consumer Good Forum’s Global Summit is a CEO-led group that aligns the world’s retailers and consumer goods manufacturers together, alongside other key stakeholders, to secure consumer trust and drive positive change, including greater efficiency. Check out this recent article: http://www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/galen-weston-to-the-food-industry-lets-get-serious-on-sustainability-88156 This year their Global Summit was held in Vancouver in June, and since I was in the neighbourhood (Victoria giving a keynote presentation on the state of global grocery eCommerce) I grabbed a Harbour Air float plane from Victoria for the fun and picturesque half hour flight over to Vancouver harbour. Highly recommend taking this trip if you have not had the opportunity btw. At the Global Summit I had the opportunity to mix and mingle with about 900 of the biggest thinkers and the brightest minds in retail, brand and strategy game, so of course took the opportunity to do some chitting-and-chatting for The Voice of Retail on and around the conference floor, in the media room and even on the EY thought-leader”ship” yacht parked behind the Vancouver Conference Centre. First up a conversation with Kristina Rogers, Global Consumer Industries Leader: Consumer Products, Retail, Agribusiness. Based out of Chicago but born and raised in Canada, Kristina is responsible for global business leadership across multiple consumer industries and we talked about global eco-systems, risk and the nature of innovation. Next, two global Canadian loyalty leaders who speak on an international stage: Caroline Papadatos, Global Loyalty Consulting Leader for Loyalty One, and Bryan Pearson, CEO of Loyalty One and a frequent (and frequently quoted) contributor to Forbes and thought leader in the loyalty space. In a wide ranging interview we talk about Big L loyalty and Little L loyalty, what has changed in the loyalty space in 25 years, the nature of modern retail loyalty & technology and the richness of the tools. You can reach Caroline at CPapadatos@loyalty.com and BPearson@loyalty.com Lastly, and interview with two retail strategists as we talk about their thoughts on the latest in retail brand marketing strategy and consumer insights. This interview was recorded on the EY yacht parked in Vancouver Harbour, so the background is pretty noisy with Harbour Air flights coming and going, but stay with us as the conversation is really worth it. But first, here is my conversation with Kristina Rogers from EY: That’s a wrap on this special Consumer Goods Global Summit edition of The Voice of Retail, 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 Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn Until next time, have a great week The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of June 24th, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode…If you are a retailer in Canada and the name on your call display commanded your attention - Marina Strauss joins me on her last day at the Globe & Mail as their veteran retail reporter as we turn the mic around with a look back at her rich career covering the retail beat, the state of retail in Canada, advice to retailers on dealing with the business media and plans for the future. Next live from the Purolator Podcasting Studio at STORE2019 in late May an up close interview with global retail strategist Carl Boutet, Chief Strategist and Board Advisor for Studio RX based in Montreal. We talk about his background in retail, travel to Egypt to share retail best practices, and views on the state of the retail nation in Canada and North America. Next we’ll cover off Retail This Week with UNTUCKit expanding across Canada after posting knock-the-cover-off-the-ball success at Sherway in Toronto, a look at shoppers on both sides of the border, Amazon steps up hiring for their Tsawwassen facility, Purolator’s 1 Billion dollar investment roll-out, Lulelemon’s crops for clothes, Back to School kicks off in the U.S. with two day Prime Day, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Head shops left behind, Longo’s builds meals, chronicling grocery store format changes, and five key edible takeaways (sorry, no free samples!). But first, let’s listen in to my interview with Marina Strauss Thanks to Marina and Carl for being my special guests for this episode. 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 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 Until next time, have a great week! The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of June 18th, 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this episode an exclusive interview with Arlene Dickinson, legendary entrepreneur, founding Dragon on CBC’s Dragon’s Den, veteran investor and CEO of District Ventures Capital ( https://www.districtventurescapital.com/) based in Calgary. After working together several years during my days at The Shopping Channel, Arlene and I catch up and chat about her latest series of investments at District Ventures focussing on start-ups in the food category taking them onto retailer’s shelves with an innovative listing deal with with CircleK convenience stores. Next I sit down with Michele Sexsmith, SVP and Practice Leader, Retail, Real Estate and Entertainment Sectors from Environics Analytics talking about the marketing mix for retailers and how to leverage digital to amplify, personalize and measure customers and customer segments in and around your retail stores and more. Last but not least I’ll cover off Retail This Week including the sweet smell of success for Saje, RYU founder’s love of tribes, Giant Tiger breaks new ground, Dollarama back on growth path, Ikea turns a Paris subway into a glorious showroom, Amazon’s private label products best sellers in 22 categories, Walmart deals with Ellen, hot rental trends and the customer that use them, shades of grey - Vancouver cannabis edition, Choom cannabis opens with great fan-fare in Niagara Falls, Canna Cabana in Toronto, Shoppers offers same-day delivery in Ontario, and edibles laws finalized and ready for on-shelf around December. But first, let’s listen in to my interview with Arlene Dickinson Thanks to Arlene and Michele for being my special guests for this episode. 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 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 The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of June 11th, 2019 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 In this episode two exclusive feature interviews both recorded live in person at the Purolator Podcasting Studio at RCC’s #STORE2019. First, I chat with Kaileen Millard-Ruff, Vice President of Retail for Ottawa-based international retailer Lee Valley Tools. We talk about Kaileen’s rich background in retail, the unique culture and history of the brand, their differentiating merchandising and in-store experience. Next one of Canada’s premier retail statesman, industry advocate and thought leaders Willy Kruh, Global Retail Lead for KPMG and Retail Council of Canada’s 2019 inductee into the Retail Hall of Fame. Based here in Toronto with KPMG for 36 years, Canadian retail lead for the past 20 and global lead for the past 15, we chat about Willy’s start on sales floor with Harry Rosen, through to Willy’s reflections on the state of modern retail, and the work still to be done, particularly in Canada, by retailers to effectively compete in modern retail. Last but not least I’ll cover off Retail This Week including Hudson’s Bay going private, rare full length video interview with Amazon worldwide consumer chief, Fjallraven’s Swedish adventures in Canada, a harmonized approach to single-use plastics, Tokyo Smoke’s cross-Canada retail expansion, Walmart’s overall of jet.com, tough lessons from Tim Horton’s, Loblaw “pears” up with Toronto startup flash food and Metro launched e-grocery in Toronto. But first, let’s listen in to my interview with Kaileen from Lee Valley Tools Thanks to Kaileen and Willy for being my special guests for this episode, stay tuned for more interviews from the Purolator Podcasting Studio in episodes to come. 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 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 Until next time, have a great week! The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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. 

Welcome The Economist Cannabis Summit special 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. This special episode contains content intended for listeners 19+. Held in Toronto June 5, The Economist Cannabis Summit brought together an international roster of speakers addressing the cannabis industry from several perspectives, and true to The Economist magazine brought insights and sometimes controversy to the main stage. I was able to chat with three of the many interesting people in the cannabis industry represented at this event starting with veteran Toronto retail Robin Ellins, owner of the Friendly Stranger, this year celebrating 25 years in the cannabis culture and accessory space from his Queen Street store in Toronto. We talked about authenticity and what it will take to compete in the retail cannabis marketplace in the years to come. Next I spoke with Emmy award winning director Abbey Epstein on her documentary “Weed The People” which looks at medical cannabis in the U.S., and talk about the lessons she learned about the plant’s history of stigmatization and prospects for decriminalization in America. Last but certainly not least a rare, exclusive interview with Jim Tebrake, Assistant Chief statistician, Economic Statistics, Statistics Canada about the innovative approach Stats. Canada took to sizing the retail (black market) cannabis market and his ongoing insights measuring Canadians use and consumption and the industries production dynamics. Let’s jump right in now starting with my interview with Robin from The Friendly Stranger Thanks again to my special guests Robin, Abby and Jim for joining me on this special edition. The day concluded with a fireside chat with Vicente Fox, former President of Mexico and current board member at Canada-based cannabis company Khiron Life Sciences, sharing his observations based on ten years of focus of the cannabis space. Amongst many things, he also spoke about integrating cannabis into NAFTA and other forward looking economic, policy and political objectives. Check out this interview in BNN: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/cannabis-should-be-tied-into-revamped-nafta-deal-former-mexico-president-vicente-fox~1701077 That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, 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 Inc. and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn Until then, have a great week The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact. 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.