The Race to the Doorstep Escalates, Plus Bloomingdale's Record Comp & Diesel Drama

Michael LeBlanc (0:07)

Welcome to the Remarkable Retail Podcast, Episode 312, our sixth anniversary of the show. I think that's silver, bronze, or wood. I don't know what that is.

I'm Michael LeBlanc.

Steve Dennis (0:17)

I'm Steve Dennis.

Michael LeBlanc (0:19)

On this episode, Steve and I will be, as usual, delving into the most relevant and compelling news with insight that the retailers love to hear, including what the feds raised last week means, why the cost of diesel is making headlines, the first batch of holiday predictions, Bloomingdale as the real story, perhaps, behind Macy's.

What's happening? Brick and mortar store openings and closing. We'll spend then some time with Steve's Pardon the Disruption sub-stack post. Is the Race to the Doorstep a Race to the Bottom, which I've read several times, so I think I got what you're getting at.

Steve Dennis (0:49)

Maybe finally. That might be a problem with the writing, I think, rather than the reading.

Michael LeBlanc (0:56)

And then we'll be back with news on Inditex and Kroger and finish as usual with our very popular What's On Our Radar Screen segment. Now, Steve, you look on camera a little bit different and you sound a bit different. Where are you and what are you doing there?

Steve Dennis (1:11)

I am in a fabulous Marriott Courtyard in the North Shore of Chicago, and by the time people hear this, with any luck, my older daughter Elena will be married.

Michael LeBlanc (1:24)

She has to say yes as I understand this place.

Steve Dennis (1:27)

Something like that, yes. So anyway, that is the plan. So barring something really bizarre going wrong in the next little bit here, she will be betrothed, is that the word?

Michael LeBlanc (1:39)

Betrothed?

Steve Dennis (1:40)

Betrothed, I think.

Michael LeBlanc (1:41)

Very nice.

Steve Dennis (1:41)

Anyway, hitched, she'll be hitched.

Michael LeBlanc (1:45)

All right, well, that's a lot of fun. So let's get you on and off the mic pretty quick. Probably pretty busy in all those things that you're doing now.

I see, including things you're doing, that you've been doing a few keynotes. You got a couple coming up, but you also have a Placer webinar coming up that we should remind people about.

Steve Dennis (2:03)

Yeah, last chance here pretty much for the Placer webinar on September 29th, 1 p.m. Eastern Time.

I'm going to be speaking with RJ Hottovy, who's the head of analytics at Placer. And we've got quite a few things to talk about, everything like what's going on with malls, what's going on with the K-shaped economy, a little bit about grocery trends, so covering a lot of territory in just under an hour, I think. So look for that link in the show notes, information on my LinkedIn page. One quick mention, if you're listening to this the day it comes out, it is also the release date of our friend Seth Godin's new book, The Knot, which is really a pretty interesting book. It's about problem solving, and of course Seth puts his unique spin on it, and we will be speaking to Seth shortly, so stay tuned for that. But if you haven't gotten your hands on a copy of The Knot, go do that, and then you'll hear us talk to Seth about it in a little bit.

Michael LeBlanc (3:01)

Excellent. Well, we usually don't foreshadow our guests, but with Seth, as everything will make an exception, he's been a great guest and such great insight. This is his 200th book. He's like Stephen King, right?

Steve Dennis (3:12)

I don't know. 22, 22, I don't know.

Michael LeBlanc (3:15)

Wow.

Good for him. All right. We'll look forward to that as I'm sure will the audience. All right. Let's get right into it. Let's talk about retail stories. Let's talk about the Fed. So they raised interest rates. It got me thinking back to a much earlier episode where we were enthusiastic in what's on our radar screen that rates had dropped, and we thought that would spur housing and people moving again. But I think we're well above that magic number now, right?

Steve Dennis (3:41)

Yeah. I mean, I think it's just another example of the unpredictability that we see in the world because, yeah, it looked like, in fact, I was checking. I think it was like seven months ago where the prediction was for two or three interest rate drops.

Now we just got one, and most people seem to think we'll get another one before the end of the year. Of course, this all ladders back to inflation, not being under control, largely being driven by fuel prices because of the Iranian war, but some of the things going on as well.