Episode Details

Our special guest this week is Lee Bird, CEO of AtHome, the Home Decor Superstore that has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years growing to nearly 250 stores in 40 states. Lee brings a wealth of experience to his current role, having held leadership positions at a few brands you might have heard of, including Nike, Gap, Old Navy, and Ford.

We dig deep into AtHome's incredible transformation from Garden Ridge, a struggling regional chain, to a re-branded national powerhouse. Lee takes us through the testing and customer insight that drove the new vision and re-concepting, while detailing the foundational elements that have provided critical to their success. We also explore the lessons learned from the pandemic and how AtHome is navigating current challenges with the supply chain, inflation and labor shortages.

But first we kick-off our jam-packed episode with some personal news, celebrating Steve's book being selected as a Kindle Monthly Deal. For a limited time only you can buy the ebook version of Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption for just $1.99 in both the United States and Canada. We also congratulate Michael on his Voice of Retail podcast reaching the 300 episode mark.

Then we briefly recap Steve's whirlwind tour of new store concepts in the DC area, including Bloomie's (Bloomingdale's new small store format), Amazon Fresh and the first Whole Foods Store featuring Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology.

We move on to dissect the hot retail news of the week, including Amazon's very disappointing earnings, "the death of irony"--also know as Meta's new physical store designed to sell the Metaverse--before pondering whether the merging of a slightly better than average retailer (Kohl's) with a struggling one (JC Penney) makes any sense whatsoever. 

About Us

Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his       website.    The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book  Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at  Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a      Forbes senior contributor and on       Twitter and       LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel      here.

Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus  Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  ,