Steve Dennis is back from Athens, where he keynoted on the soul of the store and walked the Ancient Agora, one of the world’s first marketplaces. He and Michael LeBlanc open with a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report: consumer prices up 3.7%, producer prices up 6.3%. How much have retailers been absorbing, and what happens when elevated diesel costs work through the food chain into 2027? The winners keep winning anyway. Costco posted a 7.6% comp excluding gas on 4.7% traffic growth. Aritzia delivered a 34.5% comp with digital up nearly 70%. Uniqlo logged its fifth straight record year. LVMH did not, with fashion and leather goods down 5%. The hosts also size up Amazon’s new Bee wearables and Apple’s new home device.

The featured conversation is with Jon Blotner, President of Wayfair, who runs merchandising, marketing, physical retail and global logistics. After two decades as a pure play, Wayfair has gone from a small test store in the Natick Mall to a 150,000-square-foot flagship outside Chicago. Atlanta and Columbus are open, Denver arrives by year-end, and six more stores are planned through 2028. The early returns are hard to ignore. Illinois sales are growing 15% faster than the rest of the U.S., roughly half of Chicago store shoppers are new to Wayfair, and opening-day crowds included shoppers who bused in from Wisconsin. Landlords noticed.

Jon explains why a showroom model didn’t fit, how the Wayfair Verified program brings merchant discipline to deciding what earns floor space, and how associates with tablets connect shoppers to the endless aisle and two-day delivery. He takes on Michael’s question of whether rent is the new customer acquisition cost, and explains why he expects store shoppers to deliver meaningfully higher lifetime value. He also covers four-wall profitability, falling opening costs, the roles of AllModern, Birch Lane, Joss & Main, Perigold and Wayfair Professional, and Wayfair’s ambitions for Canada. He closes with advice for digital brands going physical, starting with why a store test demands far more planning than an online one.

After the interview, Steve, a longtime Wayfair skeptic, gives his updated take. Then the hosts turn to grocery’s mushy middle. Kroger posted flat sales excluding fuel and cut guidance, Albertsons slipped 1% and withdrew guidance, and the hosts ask whether online grocery and retail media are really additive. They close with their radar screen picks, including the US midterms and the Weston family’s purchase of Boots.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

In this special Encore episode from 2025, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc are revisiting one of our favourite conversations from last year: David Kahan, President and Managing Director of Birkenstock Americas, on keeping a 250-year-old brand relevant. Steve opens with what’s changed since: revenue up 15%, DTC outpacing wholesale for the first time, 13 new stores last quarter, and community-driven concepts in Malibu and Berlin. David then delivers a masterclass in brand stewardship and retail strategy. He traces Birkenstock’s roots from a humble German cobbler to a global fashion phenomenon—revealing how the brand’s success rests on “never deviating from its DNA.” He says every product begins with the footbed, making comfort, health, and purpose inseparable from style.

Kahan credits Birkenstock’s ongoing cultural resonance—from the Barbie movie to red carpet collaborations—to disciplined brand management and “engineered distribution.” He explains how each Birkenstock store is a unique community experience, blending tactile engagement with hyper-local curation. The conversation also touches on leadership philosophy, emphasizing humility, trust, and an unwavering focus on brand equity over short-term sales.

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.

Can consumer spending keep defying gravity? Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc open Episode 314 by untangling a contradictory economy. GDP growth is solid and spending is holding up, yet consumer sentiment sits at its lowest since 2014, the latest jobs report came in weak, inflation won't budge, and mortgage rates are the highest since 2002. As one commentator put it, the U.S. is a tortoise economy in a greyhound costume. Nike offers little relief: sales down 4%, another round of restructuring and layoffs, and a stock down 75% over five years as On, Hoka, and New Balance keep taking share. Across the Atlantic, Marks & Spencer is bringing Sephora to 100 UK shop-in-shops and online, a far more natural fit, Steve argues, than Sephora at Kohl's.

The heart of the episode is a luxury check-in on two of Steve's annual predictions. Fresh from a suburban Chicago store walk, Steve explains why the new two-level Bloomies at Old Orchard Mall delivers a sharper, more edited contemporary point of view than a traditional department store. Prediction #7, that Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus would emerge from bankruptcy leaner, meaner, and still fragile, is playing out. The renamed Exemplar Group has cut full-line stores from 69 to 49 and largely exited off-price, but still faces overlapping markets and unpaid vendors. Prediction #8, that luxury's gains would be unevenly spread, is holding too. Hermès grew 17% in the U.S. on an already large base, and Prada, Brunello Cucinelli, and Coach are surging while Kering and parts of LVMH lag. Coach's 23% jump, Steve notes, owes a lot to sharp, targeted marketing.

Walmart's promise to "price the product, not the person," timed to its electronic shelf label rollout, kicks off a lively debate about surveillance pricing, personalization, and how much retailers already know about their customers.

Then it's on to AI. Steve sorts the crowded field of shopping agents into four types: vertical agents inside retailers, like Walmart's Sparky and Amazon's Alexa for Shopping; search agents like Gemini and Perplexity; narrow specialists like Daydream; and broad life assistants, a category Meta's Muse and the startup Instinct are heating up. Cutting through the hype, he argues agents may send shoppers into stores as often as away from them, and that trust will decide who wins.

On the radar screen, Steve is watching rising buy now, pay later use and shrinking savings, especially as shoppers start financing groceries and takeout. Michael tracks Canada's push for growth abroad, with the Weston family eyeing the 1,800-store Boots chain and Couche-Tard making an $8.7 billion offer for Polish convenience chain Żabka Group.

Steve's Baker's Dozen of Provocative 2026 Retail Predictions

About Us

Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.

Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail, The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2026 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.