Exclusive Interviews with Walter Robb, former Co-CEO Whole Foods and retail loyalty guru Rob Shields

Welcome to the Voice of Retail for the week of May 13th 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 an exclusive interview with Whole Foods former Co-CEO Walter Robb in advance of our discussion together on the main stage at STORE 2019 coming up May 29th in Toronto. We talk about his personal journey to retail leadership, perspectives on the growth and evolution of food trends and the origins and power of sustainability and organic.

Then, part two of my feature interview with Rob Shields, veteran retailer and retail loyalty visionary as we talk about the past, present and future in the retail loyalty space as Rob tells us that
“over time some things become true no matter when you ask it”. We talk about removing the friction of loyalty with his new venture Paymi.

Last but not least I’ll cover off the top retail news of the week including Home Hardware sticking to it’s strengths, the grocery battle for Victoria Day, Walmart crushes earning with the best Q1 comps in almost a decade, Whole Foods tests a new format, Canadian Tire talks global expansion via Helly Hansen, Chicos weighs buyout, Sobeys says Voila, and calling all drones in isle 5….

But first, let’s listen in to my interview with Walter Robb

Let’s jump into the second part of my conversation with retail and loyalty veteran Rob Shields - picking up where we left off last episode, Rob share insights with us from being one of the top retail CMOs in the country through to the creation of an open source loyalty program and beyond. Let’s listen in:

Thanks to Walter Rob & Rob Shields 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 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 my interview for part one of my interview with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University and frequent commentator on the grocery sector in Canada and Karl Littler Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at RCC on key issues for retailers in Canada.

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.