Leadership - The Robin Report

Nike: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 8. 22. 26

Hey, don’t get us wrong, we’re all in favor of retailers testing new store concepts and experimenting with different formats. But how long is it going to take Nike to get anything right? The report that they are shutting down their Nike Live—rebranded as Nike Well Collective (whatever that means)—it’s another dead end for a brand that was once king of the footwear and sports apparel sectors; now it seems in a foot race to failure.

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Profile in Honor: Kimberly Shenk, Service Before Self

Management / By Deborah Patton

The first thing you learn, especially in the military, is if you make an investment and it’s not working, then you have to make tough decisions quickly and iterate. In business, as difficult as it is to make certain decisions, if it’s right for the business, it’s right for your stakeholders, and it’s right for you as a leader.

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Ryan Cohen: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 8.15.26

Management / By Warren Shoulberg

You’ve got to admit: Ryan Cohen, the CEO of GameStop, always thinks big and lives large. His attempt to take over eBay—a company at least four times bigger than his—was pretty outrageous.

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How Does The Vermont Country Store Keep Going?

Retail Unwrapped Podcast / By Retail Unwrapped

Listen in as Shelley and Eliot reveal how the Orton family has resisted the temptation compromise their values in a screen-driven, digital marketplace. Their conversation gives a voice to deeply held values, classic, wearable clothes, and a retail ethos (including a customer bill of rights) that survives the test of time.

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T Robinson: Outspoken Outlier

Management / By The Robin Report

Three companies built and sold with more than $200 million in sales. Refreshingly honest, T says part of her career trajectory is that she’s simply “not particularly employable.” She’s been disruptive her whole life, approaching everything with curiosity and imagination, never bound by how “something is supposed to be done.”

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A Point of View: The Heart of a Retailer’s Brand

Management / By Mark Cohen

The garden of retailing is littered with examples of retailers that once had a singular successful point of view but have lost their way. Oversight, if not consistent supervision, is mission critical. There is a fine line between encouraging talented and committed team members to fully express themselves in the decisions they must make while at the same time keeping everyone in the organization on the same page of the hymnal. This balancing act must encourage innovative thinking and action, while protecting the business’s underlying point of view.

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Cracker Barrel: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 7.25.26

Finance / By Warren Shoulberg

Cracker Barrel is becoming a TRR ongoing miss. Just when you thought its earnings release showing positive numbers was a good thing, a few paragraphs down, there was the classic retail pitfall that has tripped up so many companies over the years.

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The Hidden Threat of the Cyclospora Outbreak

Operations / By Phil Lempert

Who’s watching the lettuce? A market that’s learned it can shrug off a cyclospora headline in one quarter is also a market that isn’t anticipating what will happen when the agencies meant to catch contamination early are running at 75-80 percent strength. Retailers and restaurants can no longer assume FDA has their back.

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JCPenney: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 7. 18.26

Management / By Warren Shoulberg

Like many people, we want JCPenney to succeed; there are some good pros there and they have been working hard to turn this thing around. But we just saw yet another quarter of dismal financial results: sales off 4.6 percent and a net loss of $65 million.

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Kimberly Shenk, CEO, Novi: Service Before Self

Management / By The Robin Report

Kimberly Shenk has never taken the expected path. A data scientist and former Air Force captain, she has carried the military’s ethos of service before self and its belief that discipline as a habit leads to excellence into a career. She says employees, investors, and stakeholders yearn for a leader and leads with a clear vision, refusing to put a limit on what’s possible.

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