Shopping With Steve

I want to emphasize the importance of retailers (in this case, Walgreens) partnering with brands to enhance the shopping experience.

As I studied the value channel across a few prominent retailers, I couldn’t help but consider the impact this rapidly growing segment is having on major manufacturers and traditional retailers.

When I began authoring this column, I never thought I’d refer to a convenience store as a destination or an experience. The opening of three Wawa stores in Miami has changed that.

A recent ranking by Morning Consult of the “most loved brands in America” (based on analysis of more than 400,000 consumer/shopper interviews) revealed The Home Depot as No. 5 and Lowe’s as No. 11.

Steve Frenda not only examines the traditional shopping trip at a newly remodeled Super Target, he also show how the shopping experience can be combined with the pickup (or delivery) of staple items.

IKEA is a furniture store chain from Sweden, and about 10% of its 424 stores are located in the U.S. These are incredibly large, high-volume stores that make IKEA the largest furniture retailer in the world.

Thinking of Wegmans’ history, it truly was the first supermarket chain to emphasize experience. Today, its model is emulated by many operators.

We talk about “experiential retail” a lot these days. Well, look up that term and the Abt Electronics logo just might be there.

When you walk into a CVS/pharmacy y mas in the Miami area, you know you are not in your padre’s CVS.

Woodman’s, a 16-store supermarket chain out of Wisconsin with stores in Northeast Illinois, is something of a secret unless you live in that area.

At the Path to Purchase Expo in early October, we noticed that beauty/cosmetics retailer Sephora was mentioned repeatedly. Later in the month, we paid a visit to a store. See what we found.

Talk about reinventing brick-and-mortar retail and creating an experience that shoppers will find appealing. Restoration Hardware (or RH) has now opened 17 design galleries across the U.S. and Canada that are nothing less than spectacular.