
Announcing the 2025 Robin Report Crave Retail Radical Winners
To succeed in a retail market characterized by so much choice, these five visionaries are rewriting the rules of retail by being bold and brave.
Retail insights at the intersection of now and next. Unfiltered. Unbiased

To succeed in a retail market characterized by so much choice, these five visionaries are rewriting the rules of retail by being bold and brave.

The real messes don’t come from a bad quarter or a supply chain snag. They come from the chaos no one saw coming: a political storm that drops out of nowhere, boardroom drama that spills into the headlines, an international trend that sweeps the globe overnight, or a TikTok clip that suddenly emasculates a billion-dollar brand in 72 hours.

Foreseeing issues of succession, Armani created the Giorgio Armani Foundation in 2016 (when he was 82) to ensure continuous guidance for the company’s future management and protect the values and principles that have always inspired the founder’s creative and entrepreneurial activities.

Spoiler alert: The physical store is an experiential platform that can tap into retail media network ad spending projected to reach $100 billion by 2026. In a digital marketplace, dynamic advertising platforms leverage AI-powered analytics to capture real-time customers.

In the amorphous Target environment, a separate door clearly demarcates Warby Parker from its host store and makes its customers and staff feel safe, secure — clearly in a WP space and place untarnished by a soulless big-box interior.

Retail, inevitably a zero-sum game, has had more than its fair share of players who are on the borderline. Some, like Rite Aid and At Home, have ended up in bankruptcy, while Walgreens was acquired and taken private by private equity giant Sycamore. Macy’s is perhaps the most talked-about struggling retailer, but in its most recent quarter, it beat analyst forecasts.
Haley Boehning, founder of Storyforge and former L Brands executive, understands that authentic leadership can revolutionize rethinking career growth. A natural leader, Haley has built her consulting business to help executives and their organizations forge and activate their unique brand stories based on the North Star of purpose and impact.

The question is no longer if the economic uncertainty spurred by recent government initiatives will dampen retail activity; the real questions are: by how much, and for how long?

Primark’s strategic U.S. expansion started 10 years ago and is a master plan in calculated retail growth that could fundamentally reshape America’s affordable fashion landscape. Primark has 450 stores worldwide and 33 in the States.
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