Remarkable Retail Podcast

The hosts take open a sweeping look at the week’s most consequential retail developments before heading live to the Narvar Podcast Studio at the NRF Big Show for a deep dive into AI, agentic commerce, and the evolving post-purchase customer journey.

The news segment explores Saks Global’s decision to close nine full-line stores, underscoring ongoing consolidation in the luxury industry and challenges in multi-line retail. The hosts ...

In this episode of the Remarkable Retail podcast, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc open with a sweeping look at the week’s most consequential retail developments before welcoming two global retail store visionaries for a deep dive into the future of brick-and-mortar locations.

The news segment begins with a tale of two retail giants: Walmart reaching a historic $1 trillion market cap milestone, signaling sustained operational moment...

The episode opens with a sweeping look at the biggest retail stories shaping January. Amazon dominates the headlines again, this time with the closure of all Amazon Fresh grocery and Go stores and a renewed reliance on Whole Foods and online grocery. At the same time, Amazon is laying off tens of thousands of employees, part of a broader wave of cuts across retail and adjacent industries, including UPS, Home Depot, and Nike. The ho...

Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc kick off their annual predictions episode with a fast-moving review of the retail news of the week. They begin with the long-delayed U.S. TikTok deal finally reaching resolution, noting how deeply TikTok now influences product discovery, cultural trends, and transactional commerce through TikTok Shops. While the platform remains critical for retailers, both hosts raise concerns around privacy, polit...

Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc kick off this episode with a sharp breakdown of the retail news that mattered this past week. AI dominates the conversation—not as hype, but as a clear shift from experimentation to real-world implementation. Steve shares observations from the show floor, noting how retailers are racing to modernize product data, digital infrastructure, and site experiences to better capture the growing wave of AI-d...

Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc open the first episode of 2026 with a clear-eyed look at the retail news shaping the year ahead. Holiday sales landed largely as expected. Online sales grew faster, but at a decelerating pace, reinforcing the continued centrality of stores—particularly as click-and-collect represented a meaningful share of holiday fulfillment. The hosts also dig into sector-level performance, noting continued softne...

I'm Steve Dennis, strategic advisor, keynote speaker, bestselling author, and host of the industry leading Remarkable Retail podcast, along with fellow retail insider Michael LeBlanc.

Discover why C-suite executives from Amazon, Walmart, Ikea, Tractor Supply, Vuori and dozens more - choose to share their growth stories on the only retail podcast hosted by two of the NRF's top voices for 2025 and 2026.

With AI reshaping just about eve...

In this special bonus episode closing out Season 11 of The Remarkable Retail Podcast and the year 2025, hosts Steve Dennis & Michael LeBlanc complete the second half of their annual predictions review—one of the most popular and anticipated episodes of the year. 

The episode opens with brief but timely discussion on two high-profile retail-adjacent experiences. First us Dennis shares insights from Amazon’s first-ever grocery analyst...

One of the most anticipated episodes of The Remarkable Retail Podcast returns as Steve Dennis reviews and grades his annual retail predictions, offering a candid assessment of how the industry actually performed as 2025 unfolded. Known for balancing optimism with accountability, Dennis evaluates where macro forces, technology shifts, and retailer execution aligned—or diverged—from expectations.

The episode opens with its regular new...

We welcome Moody's Mark Zandi, Moody's Chief Economist and one of the most influential and trusted macroeconomic voices shaping markets, policy, and business strategy worldwide. Zandi begins by explaining how today’s consumer landscape is defined by a widening K-shaped economy—an income and wealth split decades in the making and now intensified by rising asset values and post-pandemic dynamics. Households at the top of the income s...

The latest edition of the retail industry's leading podcast features an in-depth conversation with Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods Market and Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, who shares Amazon’s rapidly expanding grocery ambitions. Already surpassing $100 billion in gross sales, Amazon is leaning into grocery as a strategic category driven by frequency, loyalty, Prime stickiness, and the potential to unite all h...

Steve and Michael open this week’s episode with a deep dive into the retail news of the week, marked by sharp contrasts in performance across the retail landscape. Walmart continues to separate itself from the pack, delivering another standout quarter, as omni-channel rival Target delivers another challenging quarter. 

The news segment analyses strong results from the off-price sector as TJX and Ross Stores both post impressive sale...

Season 11, Episode 12 opens with a whirlwind week in retail news. Steve and Michael begin with the long-awaited end of the historic 43-day U.S. government shutdown, exploring what it means for holiday spending, federal workers, SNAP benefits, and travel recovery. While uncertainty lingers—particularly around health-care subsidies—the hosts note that retail may still experience ripple effects, especially among lower-income consumers...

Hosts Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc welcome David Lafitte, President and CEO of Tecovas, the fast-growing Austin-based brand bringing cowboy culture to modern consumers. Lafitte’s career journey—from corporate attorney to Chief Operating Officer at Deckers Brands (home of UGG and Hoka) and now to retail leadership at Tecovas—is a masterclass in reinvention and focus.

Under Lafitte’s leadership, Tecovas has evolved from a digitall...

Guest co-host Ben Miller, Shoptalk's VP of Original Content and Strategy joins to provide expert analysis and we interview Lauren Sherman, the acclaimed fashion correspondent at Puck and author of Selling Sexy: Victoria’s Secret and the Unraveling of an American Icon

The episode kicks off with a rich news segment, where the trio unpacks the latest forces shaping retail and the economy. Amazon’s strong Q3 earnings headline the week, ...

The News Rundown

Steve leads off with the latest tariff turmoil, as trade negotiations between the U.S. and Canada stall amid the Trump administration's response to an ad created and paid for by the Ontario government running in U.S. media whose key auto  sector is endangered by Trump trade policies. They also explore luxury corporate earnings, where Hermès continues to shine, while.  Gucci owner Kering struggles to regain ...

On the latest episode of the Remarkable Retail Podcast co-hosts Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc deliver another fast-moving episode at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and retail reinvention.

The episode opens with Steve leading the weekly news rundown, spotlighting Walmart’s groundbreaking partnership with OpenAI's ChatGPT — a move that could redefine how shoppers discover products and transact. 

They then turn to earnings...

The Weekly News Rundown

The episode opens with a fast-moving retail update. New DataWeave analytics reveal that Nike has raised prices significantly — by 17 percent for footwear and 14 percent for apparel — as tariff cost mounts, potentially disrupting their turnaround plans. Steve and Michael then examine the continuing U.S. government shutdown and its potential economic ripple effects. Despite flagging consumer confidence...

The episode begins with a deep dive into the latest retail and economic headlines that are shaping the landscape. Steve and Michael dissect the U.S. government shutdown, its ripple effects on employment, and how cost-cutting in Washington could further weaken an already fragile job market. They then examine new tariffs on furniture, cabinets, and agricultural exports, highlighting how the policies are squeezing retailers and farmer...