Spoiler Alert: Stop Chasing AI and Clean Up Your Store First
Join Shelley and Mark Cohen, TRR contributor and former Director of Columbia University’s Retail Studies Program, as they challenge the industry’s obsession with technology and make an unapologetic case for getting back to basics.
The Latest Retail Industry Insights and Analysis
Following the Leader Is Not Leadership
Why do results worth admiring almost never look like wins when the bet is placed? What happened along the way
Brandy Melville Is a Gen Z Outlier
For many retailers, removing fitting rooms would risk customer frustration and dissatisfaction. However, Brandy Melville has never operated like most
Kroger’s Consolidation Polycrisis
Another grocery chain, another acquisition. Now that Kroger has bought Giant Eagle, is it a smart consolidation, or a company
Listen Up
Retail Unwrapped
Our weekly podcast with Shelley E. Kohan, & guests. Available on your favorite podcast platforms.
Experience
Noises Off
Creating calm: How can retailers produce better retail spaces and experiences with a sound mind?
The State of Luxury Report Reveals Significant Findings
The State of Luxury Report has just been released! This comprehensive research report reveals that luxury is not retreating, it
The World Cup Kicks Off a Retail Windfall
Unsurprisingly, sporting goods retailers stand to benefit directly from the World Cup, including Nike, Adidas, Puma, and sporting goods chains
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Opinion
What Now? What to Do
Tariff-driven cost inflation is likely here to stay, and now, with an ongoing Iranian war, potentially explosive expense inflation is
Tariff Chaos and the Widening Gyre
How does a business leader who may have just breathed a sigh of post-Covid-19 relief in early 2026, only to
What Now? What to Do
Tariff-driven cost inflation is likely here to stay, and now, with an ongoing Iranian war, potentially explosive expense inflation is
Tariff Chaos and the Widening Gyre
How does a business leader who may have just breathed a sigh of post-Covid-19 relief in early 2026, only to
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The Retail Unwrapped Podcast
Retail insights on-the-go, with Shelley E. Kohan. Available on your favorite podcast platforms.
From Our Partners
Placer’s 10 Brands to Watch + 3 Surprises
Check out Placer.ai’s latest enlightening report on the 10 Top Brands to Watch in 2025 when it comes to retail
How LoveShackFancy and WeWoreWhat Are Crushing Consumer Engagement
Watch and learn LoveShackFancy and WeWoreWhat are building engagement and social media strategies that matter to today’s younger consumer.
Technology
The AI-Empowered Store
Join Shelley and Stephanie Cegielski, Vice President of Public Relations and Industry Education at ICSC as they dig into the
Sephora Pioneers BeautyTech
French beauty retailer Sephora is doubling down on stores while simultaneously accelerating its investment in AI, conversational commerce and digital
How Intentional Is the Social Media Divide?
It’s getting harder for social media users to hear from folks on the other side of any party line. Sophisticated
Management
Saks Global: The Robin Report Retail Miss of the Week, 6.6.26
Honestly, after four misses and counting, we’re really not trying to pick on them. But the decision by the new
Which Future Grads Will Run Your Store?
Most retail talent development programs have not adapted to today’s digital marketplace and are not cultivating the right talent. Whether
Operations
Russian Retail Is Tanking
Vacancy rates in shopping malls could rise to nearly 10 percent over the remainder of the year as Russia’s ill-conceived
Are Your Managers Mediocre?
Store managers need to do the right things more consistently. Excellence requires discipline, resisting the urge to react, instead to
How Professional Resellers Are Killing the Circular Economy
We’re entering an era in which resellers compromise apparel value, rather than enhance it.
Customers are competing for repurposed