Special interview with retailer Sinéad Clarke at her Irish Design House, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and I talk cannabis edibles, and RCC’s Karl Littler talks tradecraft and NAFTA

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of May 20th 2019 I’m your host Michael LeBlanc and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada and sponsored by Purolator, Canada's Shipping Company for courier and freight, learn more at www.purolator.com

In this episode a feature interview with retailer Sinéad Clarke at her wonderful store the Irish Design House in Toronto. We talk about the journey that brought her to Canada and the passion she brings to her business.

Next, an interview with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and frequent commentator on the grocery sector in Canada talking about his background and approach, and discussing the upcoming legalization of cannabis edibles as Sylvain tells us that the government is “taking the fun out of edibles”

Last but not least, part one of my interview with Karl Littler Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at RCC on his journey to the most senior levels of government and advocacy and we start covering off key issues for retailers in Canada including the new Nafta (CUSMA as its know in here in Canada) agreement.

Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including grocery retailers doubling down on delivery, Endy stays the course, Roots debuts on the Magic Mile, Ontario moving closer to suds in C-stores, STORE keynote speaker Steve Dennis is waiting for the Penny to drop, with or without a silver bullet, cannabis retailers play flip that permit in Saskatchewan, and the Healthy Planet plans multi year expansion.

But first, let’s listen in to my interview with Sinead from the Irish Design House.

Thanks to Sinead, Sylvain and Karl for being my guests in this episode, now let’s hit the highlights from Retail This Week eNewsletter, biggest retail weekly in Canada and you can subscribe on www.retailcouncil.org for free.

That’s a wrap on this edition of The Voice of Retail, if you liked this podcast you can subscribe on iTunes or your
favourite podcast platform, and be sure and recommend to a friend or colleague in the retail industry. You can also ask your favourite home devices, Amazon Echo, Google home to play the most recent edition.

I’m Michael LeBlanc, Founder and President of M.E. LeBlanc and company and you can learn more about me on www.meleblanc.co or of course on LinkedIn

If you are in Toronto attending STORE 2019 next week be sure and stop by the Purolator Podcast Studio and share your STORE 2019 insights for The Voice of Retail special conference editions.

Join me again next week for the regular Friday edition we’ll have part two of my interview with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois talking about Canada’s new food guide and the impact on grocery merchants and Karl Littler as we continue to dive into the top line of key issues for retailers.

Until then, have a great week!

The Voice of Retail podcast is presented by Hale, a performance marketing partner trusted by brands like ASICS, Saje, and Orangetheory to scale with focus and impact.

Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and now, media entrepreneur. He has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.

Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions and participated worldwide in thought leadership panels, most recently on the main stage in Toronto at Retail Council of Canada’s Retail Marketing conference with leaders from Walmart & Google. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience with Levi's, Black & Decker, Hudson's Bay, CanWest Media, Pandora Jewellery, The Shopping Channel and Retail Council of Canada to his advisory, speaking and media practice.

Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Rethink Retail has recognized Michael as one of the top global retail experts for the fifth year in a row, the National Retail Federation has designated Michael as on their Top Retail Voices for 2025, Thinkers 360 has named him on of the Top 50 global thought leaders in retail, RTIH has named him a top 100 global though leader in retail technology and Coresight Research has named Michael a Retail AI Influencer. If you are a BBQ fan, you can tune into Michael’s cooking show, Last Request BBQ, on YouTube, Instagram, X and yes, TikTok.

Michael is available for keynote presentations helping retailers, brands and retail industry insiders explaining the current state and future of the retail industry in North America and around the world.