The Retail Focus Podcast

Walmart and Amazon appear to be at odds again, as Walmart reportedly places pressure on vendors to move away from AWS platforms. We discuss that, another sporting goods retail rescue, and possibilities of a REIT spinoff at Hudson’s Bay. Our interview guest is Sarah Jaffe, who published an extensive article on Racked.com this week regarding the current state of the U.S. retail employee.

We lead off our show with perhaps the biggest story in retail so far in 2017, as Amazon acquires Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion dollar deal. As we wade through the hyperbole, we assess Kroger’s tough week (at least on the stock market) and Walmart’s new e-commerce acquisition in Bonobos. Our interview guest is Mlive business reporter Shandra Martinez, who sheds light on Meijer’s new small footprint store concept in Grand Rapids.

Although the stock market hammered Duluth Trading Co. earlier this week, we take a deep glance into why there are still plenty of reasons for optimism surrounding the up-and-coming retailer. At Home storms past expectations and reveals their future brick and mortar growth plans, Tailored Brands releases financials that aren’t as bad as expected, and Nordstrom explores possibilities of going private.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet leads our show as they once again surpass expectations in many financial categories. We then explore Sycamore Partner’s claims against Family Dollar and Dollar Tree after Dollar Express failed to achieve independence before looking at an ambitious new last-mile delivery plan Walmart unveils at their annual shareholders’ meeting—and the kinks that they may need to smooth out prior to nationwide adoption.