S4:E9 Department Stores 2.0: Building Experiences for Tomorrow In this episode, hosts Ricardo Belmar and Casey Golden bring back the original Retail Avengers team for a highly anticipated reunion. What discussion could bring the team back together again? The current struggles and future opportunity for department stores! Welcome back Jeff Roster, Shish Shridhar, and Brandon Rael to explore why these once-iconic shopping destinations have lost their appeal and what innovations can bring them back into relevance. Key themes include the use of AI, retail media, and enhancing the human connection in shopping. The team covers detailed insights such as the need for improved customer data usage, creating engaging in-store experiences, and leveraging technology to empower store staff. The conversation also touches on successful strategies from other retailers like Target and the importance of loyalty and community in retaining customers. If you’re wondering how (or if) department stores can return to relevance with consumers, this is a can’t miss discussion full of insights and recommendations! Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://retailrazor.substack.com Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/RRShowYouTube 00:00 Show Introduction 04:28 Retail Avengers Reunion - The Future of Department Stores 06:36 The Decline of Department Stores 14:01 Challenges and Opportunities 18:23 Future Strategies and Innovations 32:39 The Decline of Department Stores 33:52 The Marketplace Model for Department Stores 38:10 The Role of Technology in Retail 4 3:14 Creating Human Connections in Retail 46:38 The Future of Retail Experiences 55:37 Leveraging Technology for Better Retail 01:01:42 The Role of Department Stores in Modern Retail 01:03:57 The Balance Between Technology and Human Interaction 01:07:01 Show Close Meet your hosts, helping you cut through the clutter in retail & retail tech: Ricardo Belmar is an NRF Top Retail Voices for 2025 and a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert from 2021 – 2024. Thinkers 360 has named him a Top 10 Retail Thought Leader, Top 50 Management Thought Leader, Top 100 Digital Transformation Thought Leader, and a Top Digital Voice for 2024. He is an advisory council member at George Mason University’s Center for Retail Transformation, and is the director partner marketing for retail & consumer goods at Microsoft. Casey Golden, is the CEO of Luxlock, a RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert for 2023 and 2024, and Retail Cloud Alliance advisory council member. Obsessed with the customer relationship between the brand and the consumer. After a career on the fashion and supply chain technology side of the business, now slaying franken-stacks and building retail tech! Includes music provided by imunobeats.com, featuring Overclocked, and E-Motive from the album Beat Hype, written by Heston Mimms, published by Imuno.