Week 5 of Podcast Recommendations: More Retail Episodes

I’m in Week 5 of 12 of my summer podcast recommendations.?On this list, the first three are about retail and the other three are not:

“Transformco.”?Where We Buy with James Cook. Sears may be dead, but its real estate lives on.?It is being redeveloped, resold and refinanced by a company called Transformco. Listen carefully because what Transformco is doing now for Sears is likely what will happen to many office buildings in downtown areas that are now sparsely occupied. James Cook always has great content for anyone interested in retail real estate.?(~30 minutes)

“Winner Sells All.”?Future Commerce. Jason Del Rey ’s book on the Amazon-Walmart rivalry just dropped last week and hosts Brian Lange and Phillip Jackson get some good details that didn’t make it into the story (eg eCommerce in India).?There’s another good longform video interviewing Jason from Omni Talk Retail as well. (<1 hour)

“Convenience, Community and Equitable Pricing: Interview with Derek Gaskins of Yesway.” Let’s Talk a Little Shop with Stephanie Beringhele.?Do you ever go “How do I not know about this brand/person/company already?”?That’s what I thought when I discovered this podcast from Stephanie Beringhele which, while infrequent, showcases some little-known gems in retail.?Yesway for instance is a rapidly growing c-store chain with 400 locations that is famous for its burritos.?The episode on Kitty Hawk Kites is a good listen too.?(<30 minutes)

“We Don’t Need the Apple Vision Pro w/Brian Merchant.” Tech Won’t Save Us.?If you’re an Apple device/brand lover, you’ll find this annoying.?Listen to Jason & Scot’s latest episode instead because that has the bull case for the Vision Pro.?But if you think AR and VR are silly and/or useless, this episode will resonate with you.?(1 hour)

“Atomic Habits.” If Books Could Kill.?Hosts Michael and Peter take best-sellers and tear them apart because what’s not to love about a little critical thinking.?If you loved Atomic Habits, you’ll definitely be offended.?But for everyone else, it’s a funny synopsis of one of the best-selling self-help books in years. (1 hour)

“The Pandemic Paradox: A Dialogue with Scott Fulford.” Converging Dialogues. Host Xavier Bonilla has long episodes but this interview with economist and professor Scott Fulford addresses an important outcome of the pandemic that I have found is almost taboo to discuss—that the average US consumer fared better by 2022 then they did in 2019. ?Yes, commercial office buildings and public education went to pot, but there are a few silver linings from the massive government stimuli and widespread shutdowns.?(2 hours)