REMARKABLE
RETAIL PODCAST
LISTEN TO THE LATEST EPISODE
Oct 06, 2026
Consumer Spending Still Defies Gravity, Luxury Retail Winners and Losers & Untangling AI Shopping Agents
Consumer spending keeps defying gravity, even as sentiment hits a 12-year low and mortgage rates climb. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc dig into Nike's struggles, Sephora's move into Marks & Spencer, and a luxury check-in on two of Steve's predictions, from the fragile Saks-Neiman reset to Hermès and Coach pulling ahead. Plus: Walmart's pledge to "price the product, not the person," and Steve's four types of AI shopping agents and why trust will pick the winners.
TOP EPISODES
Dec 02, 2025
Jason Buechel, Whole Foods CEO/Worldwide Head, Amazon Grocery, Plus Kohl's CEO Shake-up, eCommerce's Rewiring, and Sears' Last Christmas
Jason Buechel, CEO, Whole Foods Market and Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores joins the pod to outline Amazon’s bold grocery ambitions. In the news segment, hosts Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc kick off this episode analyze early holiday results, the explosive rise of agentic AI, and a new CEO appointment at Kohl’s amid continued poor results. They also dig into the rewiring of e-commerce and Google's new Gemini release.
Mar 17, 2026
"Good Bookstores Selling Good Books" Our Interview with Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt
This week on the Remarkable Retail podcast, Michael LeBlanc and Steve Dennis break down the retail news shaping the global economy—from the Iran war’s impact on oil, freight and food prices to Kohl’s disappointing earnings, Dick’s Sporting Goods continued growth, and another wave of store closings at Saks Global. Then they welcome James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, who explains how empowering local booksellers, transforming store culture and investing in people helped fuel an unexpected bookstore renaissance.
May 05, 2026
Episode 300: Pete Nordstrom on Culture, Customer Obsession, and Playing the Long Game
In this milestone 300th episode, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc sit down with Pete Nordstrom for a wide-ranging conversation on 125 years of retail excellence, omnichannel leadership, and what it takes to stay relevant. Plus: inflation, energy prices, consumer confidence, and standout earnings from Amazon, Starbucks, and Wayfair
PAST EPISODES
Oct 06, 2026
Consumer Spending Still Defies Gravity, Luxury Retail Winners and Losers & Untangling AI Shopping Agents
Consumer spending keeps defying gravity, even as sentiment hits a 12-year low and mortgage rates climb. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc dig into Nike's struggles, Sephora's move into Marks & Spencer, and a luxury check-in on two of Steve's predictions, from the fragile Saks-Neiman reset to Hermès and Coach pulling ahead. Plus: Walmart's pledge to "price the product, not the person," and Steve's four types of AI shopping agents and why trust will pick the winners.
Sep 29, 2026
Seth Godin: Solving the Unsolvable, Plus Costco Surges & the AI Backlash
The Remarkable Retail podcast Episode 313 opens with the news: Costco's fuel-boosted gains, J.C. Penney's deepening slump and Stitch Fix's stalled turnaround in the return of the Wobbly Unicorn Corner. Then bestselling author Seth Godin is back on the podcast to discuss his new book, The Knot, on why organizations get stuck and how telling the truth untangles them. Plus Adobe's holiday forecast, Neiman Marcus closing its historic downtown Dallas flagship, and on our radar screens AI's mood swing, Canadian & Chinese beer and the state of U.S.global trade.
Sep 22, 2026
The Race to the Doorstep Escalates, Plus Bloomingdale's Record Comp & Diesel Drama
The Remarkable Retail podcast turns six. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc mark the milestone by discussing the Fed's latest move to increase interest rates, record diesel prices, and early holiday forecasts from Deloitte and Bain. They also explore Bloomingdale's record 11.3% comp, Coresight's store opening and closing data, Toys R Us expansion, and earnings from Inditex and Kroger. Steve unpacks his Substack article on whether the race to the doorstep is a race to the bottom, and the “On The Radar Screen” segment covers the Target Beauty Studio launch and the ROI of AI.
Sep 08, 2026
Lululemon Slides, Five Below Sizzles & Anthropic Enters Commerce, Plus Guest co-Host Anne Mezzenga Goes Undercover
Guest co-host Anne Mezzenga, Founder & CEO of Retail Field Report, joins Steve and Michael for a macro check on fuel, rates and tariffs, then earnings from Five Below, Victoria's Secret, Lululemon and Kohl's. Anne takes us inside her flex retail shifts, hospitality-first store roles and a Target walk with executives, before the trio debates Anthropic's Claude Commerce Agents and Shein's Hong Kong debut. On the radar: Quince's brick-and-mortar ambitions, and JBS's beef imports — boon or burden for grocers?
Aug 25, 2026
Walmart Stalls, Target Stirs & Amazon Flies, Plus Bain Capital's Scott Friend and VMG's Indy Guha
Walmart posts its weakest U.S. comp in six years, Amazon takes flight in 500 U.S. cities, Target shows early signs of life, Ross runs hot, and Simon Property Group proves great malls are thriving. Then, live from the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York, Steve and Michael talk venture capital, AI, and brand durability with Scott Friend, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures, and Indy Guha, General Partner at VMG Partners. Plus, on the radar screen rising Treasury yields and Canada's Roots sold to Marquee Brands, paving the way for global expansion.
Aug 11, 2026
Amazon Surges, Luxury Splits, Wayfair Surprises, Plus Wharton's Kartik Hosanagar on Why AI Is the Customer Now
Amazon posts numbers that should worry every competitor. Shopify keeps surging. Luxury proves anything but evenly distributed. Steve and Michael break down Wayfair's turnaround, Warby Parker's mixed quarter, tariff rebates, and whether live selling has finally found its moment. Plus: live from the CommerceNext Growth Show, Wharton's Kartik Hosanagar argues AI isn't a new channel, it's a new customer — and why retailers have to pick between efficiency and meaning and not get stuck in the murky middle.
Jul 28, 2026
Ulta Beauty's Amiee Bayer-Thomas on Why Stores Are Queen, Plus Wayfair's Big-Box Bet and Shein's Hong Kong Pivot
Recorded live at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York, Ulta Beauty Chief Retail Officer Amiee Bayer-Thomas explains why stores are queen, how 47 million loyalty members shop, and what a Gen Alpha study reveals about AI natives. Plus: a new tariff regime, strong June retail sales, grocery's unit decline, Albertsons' 20% stock drop, Wayfair's store expansion, Shein's Hong Kong IPO, and why flat population growth turns retail into a share fight.
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