The rumors are true – many young people just don’t see retail as a viable career. Four out of five young adults aren’t considering or pursuing careers in the retail industry, and this rate is even lower among those holding a college degree. Why is this a problem? As NRF president and CEO, Matthew Shay, [...]
If you could ask a retail CEO one question about your career, what would it be? That’s the framework for which our team approached the CEO panel at our inaugural student program at Retail’s BIG Show and – happily – that strategy did not disappoint. When we started planning the event several months ago, our [...]
Retail’s BIG Show can be a whirlwind experience for the brand new attendee, but even a seasoned BIG Show attendee like myself is blown away by what I see, learn and hear every year. Now put yourself in the shoes of a college student coming to the Big Apple for retail’s flagship event. Combined with [...]
It was standing-room only during the Main Street Retailing Forum, held last week during Retail’s BIG Show in New York. One of the highlights of the forum for me was moderating a session with three of our winners from NRF’s “This is Retail” video contest. While the contest itself told the stories of retailers all [...]
Spend five minutes with Kim Williams and you’ll get the sense she’s like your best friend, guidance counselor and room mother all rolled in to one. She is also an incredibly savvy businesswoman who worked her way up in a retail department store after graduating from college, took off a few years to raise her [...]
Susan Kaufman and I have quite a bit in common. We both grew up in small Central Illinois towns. We both pursued journalism before finding our true passion in retail. And, well, we both love wine. Small town retailers are making a big impact on their community, and Kaufman’s shop is no exception. She’s been [...]
We learned a lot about our This is Retail winners when we met in person this May in Washington. And even though some of us spent an 18-hour day with them soaking up everything we could learn (and trotting them all around the nation’s capital – with blisters to prove it), they still seem to [...]
As the unemployment rate stays painfully parked above 8 percent, we’re all looking for some positive news on the jobs front. Fortunately, for many of those trying to reenter the workforce, ‘tis the season to find a job in retail. Last year retailers hired 607,500 associates during the holiday season, up 7.9% from 2010 and [...]
Within retail, we know the influence and impact our industry has on everyday life and the economy as a whole. But sometimes it takes an eye-catching headline like “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women” to make other people sit up and take notice. And Forbes’ most recent list certainly did that. Among the politicians, humanitarians [...]
Ever since NRF released its 2012 back-to-school survey, which found that spending among families with K-12 students would grow 14% on average to $688 per household, we’ve been fielding questions: Does this mean the economy is coming back? Is this a surefire sign that we’re in the clear? Are consumers out shopping with abandon again? [...]