Endless Aisle: Recent Episodes
NewStore
The Endless Aisle podcast takes an inside look at the world of retail from the people living and breathing it every day. You’ll hear from brand leaders, innovators on the tech side, store associates, and more. Endless Aisle is presented by NewStore.
This podcast came from a recording at Endless Aisle Live London earlier this year.
Part 1: Steve Worthy, Founder & CEO, Worthy Global Retail
Part 2: Kasey Swithenbank, Head of Retail, LUSH
Stripe (stripe.com) is a presenting sponsor of the Endless Aisle Podcast.
Bob Neville is a strategic global retail leader driving growth and innovation and transforming retail landscapes with visionary leadership and agile strategies. With over 30 years of experience, he's worked at global brands like Clarks, Under Armour, New Balance, PURE, adidas, and more.
David Blakeney is the founder of Phygital Retail, helping brands and retailers open new stores, launch physical locations for digital brands, and drive innovation and growth across their store portfolios.
Holly Worst is the VP Retail - Unified Commerce at Adyen, a financial technology platform of choice for leading companies. By providing end-to-end payments capabilities, data-driven insights, and financial products in a single global solution, Adyen helps businesses achieve their ambitions faster.
Corinne is the Head of Retail, VP at Marine Layer. She's previously held executive and leadership roles at Drybar, AEO, Gap, and Old Navy.
Jack is the director of Insider Trends, a retail trendspotting agency. He is also a 2025 RETHINK Retail Top Retail Expert.
Kit is a writer, and author of The Retail Leader's Field Guide: How to Run a Kick-Ass Store Where Everyone Wants to Work. She is also the founder of the newsletter, The Voice of the Frontline.
The Remarkable Retail podcast is hosted by two of the NRF's 2025 Top Retail Voices, Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc.
In its tenth season, it will continue its award-winning formula by giving hot takes on the week's most important retail news and by featuring guests who are on the leading edge of what's new and next in commerce today.
Jason Lerman, a strategic leader and recent MBA graduate from Syracuse University, currently serves as the VP of IT and Systems at UNTUCKit, a leading apparel brand.
Kaleigh is a freelance writer covering ecommerce and SaaS companies, she is also a Forbes retail contributor.
This podcast came from a recording at Endless Aisle Live London earlier this year.
Part 1: Survival Guide: Meeting Customer Expectations
- Moderators: Ian Scott, Marcus LaRobardiere
- Chris Rigg, Ellis Brigham
- France Theanne, Frasers Group
- Lee Broomhead, HUGO BOSS
Part 2: Personalization & Loyalty: K.I.S.S.
- Moderators: Ian Scott, Marcus LaRobardiere
- Alexandra Dinsdale, formerly of Sweaty Betty
- Gianfranco Cuzziol
This podcast came from a recording at Endless Aisle Live London earlier this year.
Part 1: The Greatness of GANNI
- Moderator: Phil Granof, CMO, NewStore
- Anders Madsen, GANNI
- Sophia Wood, GANNI
Part 2: Footwear Panel
- Moderators: Ian Scott, Marcus LaRobardiere
- Meriel Neighbour, Clarks
- Mitchell Vergeer, Axel Arigato
Rushi Lala is the founder and managing partner of AbsoluteLabs, a firm that specializes in helping consumer brands innovate, adapt, optimize, and achieve breakthrough results.
David Tannous is the VP of Analytics and Technology at Shoe Palace.
Joe Shasteen is the Global Manager, Advanced Analytics at RetailNext.
Volker Dick is the head of retail experience at C&A. A strategic thinking empathic retail leader with more than 20 years of extensive global experience in retail innovation, retail concept development, and multi-country rollouts. He's focused on transforming the customer experience from brick-and-mortar environments to a digitally enhanced multi-touchpoint customer journey.
Kasey is the Head of UK&I Retail at LUSH leading the UK and Ireland market with 106 shops and more than 2000 employees. With over 13 years of experience in the cosmetic retail industry, she's developed a deep expertise in retail strategy, retail marketing, product launches, and product forecasting.
Lee is the Retail Director, Northern Europe for Hugo Boss. He is an accomplished retail professional with over 15 years of domestic and international experience, managing growth in luxury and premium fashion.
Morten is the EVP of Technology at Bluestone (http://bluestonepim.com), working alongside global brands to achieve their digital ambitions. With over two decades of expertise in e-commerce and IT, he's a frequent speaker at industry events and a podcast guest. He also serves in various capacities within the MACH Alliance, including as the Head of the Technology Council. And presently is the senior member of the Admissions Panel.
AbsoluteLabs (http://absolutelabs.co) provides technology consulting and digital transformation services to leading brands across customer-centric industries. They have deep expertise and understanding of complex business challenges and deliver tailored solutions to empower companies to stay relevant, agile, and innovate in a digital consumer era.
Casey Drake is the VP, Sales at Endear, a company focused on helping retail brands drive sales in-store and online through clienteling.
Steve Worthy is the founder and CEO of Worthy Retail, a firm that specializes in equipping retail leaders to elevate themselves and the industry they love.
John Boline is the VP of Store Design for Starbucks. In his role, he leads Starbucks and its partners at a store-by-store level to deliver an elevated platform for connection over coffee.
Michael Scholz is the VP Product & Customer Marketing at commercetools, the leading composable commerce platform, allowing companies to dynamically tailor and scale shopping experiences across markets.
Austin Lowry, co-founder and chief strategy officer of ChangeCX, an Icreon company. ChangeCX is a full-service Omnichannel firm specializing in innovation and transformation for retailers and brand manufacturers, and a sponsor for the 2024 Omnichannel Leadership Report.
Ron Thurston is the Co-Founder of OSSY, a full-service retail recruiting platform connecting retailers, candidates, and solution providers. Brian Librach is the author of The Retail Leaders Roadmap and founder of the wellwisher company.
Michael Saldãna and Sandra Scibelli head up the retail team at UNTUCKit. Michael is the Sr. Retail Operations Manager, and Sandra is the Head of US Retail.
Brian Himstedt is the VP of Technology & Business Analytics for the Kansas City Royals, an American professional baseball team and member of Major League Baseball.
Chris Sell is the cofounder, and co-CEO of GrowthLoop, a composable customer data platform (CDP) that empowers marketers to build audience segments, orchestrate cross-channel journeys, and measure results through the data cloud.
Peter Clark is the CTO of Lorna Jane, an Australia-based retail brand founded in 1989 by fitness instructor Lorna Jane Clarkson, one of the first pioneers of the activewear category.
Kit is a freelance writer and author of The Retail Leader's Field Guide. She's a voice for the frontline worker, sharing tips and commentary on retail and store operations, leadership, coaching, and more. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kit-campoy-you-got-this/
James is the CIO of AllSaints. Previously, he held similar roles at Deckers Brands and Alfred Dunhill.
Gianfranco works for Natura &Co and is the International CRM and Personalization Lead for Avon. In his career, he's successfully traversed the agency and client-side divide, specializing in CRM, data, and business transformation with a track record for both setting and delivering customer strategy with a focus on the customer, and business objectives.
Gavin is the director of digital and ecommerce at Creed, a luxury fragrance brand. He has extensive product development and sales & marketing experience across a wide variety of business categories, mostly within the luxury and premium sector. During his career, he's worked with brands like Farfetch, Liberty, Creed, The Wine Society, Laithwaites, Harvey Nichols, and Auto Trader.
Chris is the retail director for Ellis Brigham Mountain Sports. In his role, he leads strategy and drives performance in large multi-site operations. The retail landscape is evolving, and he's passionate about delivering real change in the modern retail landscape ensuring customers keep shopping.
Sonal is the Chief Content Officer for The Lead, and the former VP, Content Strategy for Shoptalk. She's also worked on the brand side with eBay and Macy's, and prior to that wass an analyst at Forrester covering the media industry, specializing in paid content, music, radio, and audio devices.
Kris is the Sr. Director, Market Development - RFID at Avery Dennison. Kris is focused on driving RFID market development and strategy through managing relationships with retailers and brands to define, prove out, and implement RFID solutions in their business.
Corin is the director of global profit protection. risk for adidas. He was also the global corporate investigations manager at Burberry. Prior to his life in retail, Corin's background was in law enforcement.
Kaitlin is currently the Sr. Director of Sales and Clienteling at UNTUCKit. She's held similar roles at REISS, and Bloomingdale's, and is a graduate of Parsons School of Design.
Greg is the owner and founder of Easymoc, a shoe company based in Lewiston, Maine specializing in small-batch, handsewn moccasins. He's also the co-founder of Flatwing, a fly fishing company slinging flies and supplies. Previously, Greg worked for brands like Clark's, Huckberry, Timberland, Puma, and more.
Mark is the global operations lead at Faherty Brand. Previously, Mark has held a variety of retail operations roles at Vince, Ralph Lauren, Victoria's Secret, and more.
Niall is the VP, Technology at the LEGO Group. He also sits on the Advisory Board for the MACH Alliance. Prior to LEGO, he worked at ACCO Brands, Toys-R-Us UK, and Uniqlo.
Jeena Sharma covers retail and consumer trends at Retail Brew. She was previously the beauty editor at Paper Magazine and a fashion and beauty writer at Nylon.
This Endless Aisle episode was co-hosted with Ian Scott, Retail Rethink Top 100 Influencer, and Consultant.
Ian Scott is a Retail Rethink Top 100 influencer and an independent retail consultant, with over 20 years of experience within the retail display sector. His work has included the design and implementation of retail stores and displays, store research and behavioral psychology, and global innovation and trends.
Thomas Mulreid is the head of sales for Orium (formerly MyPlanet), North America's leading composable commerce consultancy & systems integrator. He is an expert and leading voice on Composable Commerce, Headless Commerce and Data Strategies on LinkedIn.
Polly Wong is the president of Belardi Wong, a leading direct marketing firm, working with more than 300 retailers and best-in-class brands. Previously, she held leadership roles at Williams-Sonoma, RedEnvelope, Eddie Bauer, and more.
Liza Amlani is the principal and founder of Retail Strategy Group. She is the go-to expert in merchandising, product creation, and accelerating speed to market and is one of RETHINK Retail's Top Retail Influencers of 2022. With over 20 years of retail insider experience, we help companies in the retail space dramatically improve profitability and increase organizational effectiveness. (https://www.themerchantlife.com/)
Jennifer is the senior manager, retail platform strategy & commercialization at Orium. Formerly known as MyPlanet, Orium is North America's leading composable commerce consultancy & systems integrator. She is also a strategic advisor for Tomorrow Retail Consulting. Additionally, in her career, she spent time working in various capacities for retail brands like Hudson's Bay Company, Target, Walmart, Mango, and more.
Amanda McLaughlin is the Sr. Manager, Content Marketing at NewStore. She led the launch of the 2023 Omnichannel Leadership Report, now in its eighth edition. The report analyzed over 300 brands and their omnichannel shopping experiences across mobile, online, and in-store. https://www.newstore.com/resource/2023-omnichannel-leadership-report/
Tony is the founder and Chief Cheerleader at Hammitt (https://www.hammitt.com/). After earning his MBA, Tony spent over a decade managing successful businesses in construction, real estate, and home finance sectors. In search of a venture that celebrated his creative passions, Tony took the reins at Hammitt in 2008, overseeing its transformation from a best-kept hometown secret to a digital and retail phenomenon. Tony is a philanthropist, speaker, mentor, and lifelong entrepreneur, but mostly, he loves experiencing the zest and wonder of life.
Andy is the co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer for Clutch (https://www.clutch.com/). He's responsible for product vision, corporate strategy, and the overall commercialization of our Consumer Management platform, as well as, its consumer-facing mobile wallet application "CLUTCH Shopping" (iOS & Android).
Thijs is the General Manager, Consumer Apps at NewStore. Previously, he is the founder of Touchwonders, and Highstreet Mobile.
At Touchwonders, he built best-in-class apps for tablets and smartphones with the belief that simple, smart and delightful software can make life better. He worked with companies like ING, Rabobank, Volkwagen, Audio, Zoover, and many more. In 2014 he launched Highstreet Mobile: a SaaS mobile retail platform for fashion and lifestyle brands. At Highstreet the mission was to help brands to improve customer experience on the couch, on the go, and in their brand stores through amazing native mobile apps. In 2021 Highstreet was acquired by NewStore Inc. and our platform is now an integral part of the NewStore Omnichannel Platform.
As referenced in the interview, a link to the Sports Illustrated video: https://youtu.be/ntyXvLnxyXk
August Kuhling is an Operations professional with over 15 years of progressive experience in a variety of high-level roles. August enjoys a challenge and has built a diverse body of experience that spans E-commerce operations, omnichannel retail, large-scale fulfillment/logistics, and high-level brick and mortar retail leadership. In each of these neighboring industries, August has seen success, growth as well as regular increases in scope and responsibility. There are very few leaders with a body of experience that demonstrates true "end to end" ownership and understanding of the retail landscape. August is a unique subject matter expert, and can leverage this expertise to drive continuous improvement, process development and large-scale team building. August has led teams as large as 40+ salaried leaders and 800+ associates, but he has also led small, specialized and cross-functional teams.
August is a collaborative leader with experience working with and driving results through cross-departmental peers, third-party resources (on and offshore), and through his own teams, both large and small. August loves to share himself with his team, and always brings a culture of openness, communication, and inclusivity to the workplace.
Michelle is a retail success manager at NewStore. Passionate, customer-focused, and collaborative retail leader she previously held management positions at Apple and Target.
As a retail leadership executive, board member, and Amazon best-selling author, Ron Thurston loves retail. And he's proud of it. Ron has led the retail teams for some of America's most prominent brands, inspired thousands of store employees, and traveled relentlessly across the country to sit and listen to what they have to say.
Ron was also recognized as one of the Top 100 Retail Influencers of 2021 by RethinkRetail and is the Founder of TAKE PRIDE TODAY™, his platform for consulting, speaking, books, and education. (https://www.retailpride.com/)
Ron is also on the Board of Directors for GOODWILL NY/NJ, and acts as an advisory board member for several retail technology brands including FlagshipRTL, Job Pixel, Reflex Careers and more.
Amanda McLaughlin is the Sr. Manager, Content Marketing at NewStore. She led the launch of the 2022 Omnichannel Leadership Report, now in its sixth edition. The report analyzed over 250 brands and 50 omnichannel capabilities. www.newstore.com/resource/2022-omnichannel-leadership-report/
Dustin Jones is a retail leader and recognized omnichannel authority with expertise in directing global consumer-centric brand and retail strategies to drive the growth of major retail businesses, brands, and partners.
He's currently the Co-Founder and CEO of Unified Commerce Group, a company whose purpose is to acquire and operate the next generation of incredible Global Retail Brands. Unified Commerce Group targets brands who are driven by purpose, have strong digital characteristics and have proven data to support their global potential. (www.unifiedcommercegroup.com/)
Jeremy is a partner at The Maze Group. He is an accomplished omnichannel executive with more than 20 years of experience in digital and ecommerce balancing the art and science of branded commerce. He previously has held roles at The Vitamin Shoppe, Global Brands Group, Michael Kors, VF Corp, and more.
Emma Taylor is the VP of North America for Reiss. She's also one of the organizers behind Shop the Village, an event designed to celebrate retail, local businesses, and to bring people back to the West Village during June 2021 and beyond.
You can find more information about Shop the Village here: https://www.shopthevillage.nyc/
Jonathan Barouch is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Local Measure. Local Measure is a customer experience platform for the hospitality, tourism, retail, and entertainment industries allowing businesses to receive real-time customer intelligence whenever customers are on-premise, helping them to identify, understand and retain customers.
Adam is the COO of Marine Layer, a San Francisco-based apparel brand. www.marinelayer.com
Steve Dennis is a consultant, keynote speaker, and author focused on retail growth and innovation. He has been named a top global retail influencer by multiple organizations and his thoughts on the future of shopping are regularly shared in his role as a Forbes Senior Contributor. Steve's best-selling book-- "Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption"--will be released in a completely revised and expanded 2nd edition this Spring. He is also the host of the Remarkable Retail podcast.
Jeff is the founder of Shop Bréda (www.shopbreda.com), a purpose-driven marketplace that supports youth development. He is also the CMO of 9Tailors (www.9tailors.com), a renowned custom clothing for men and women based in Boston, as well as an adjunct professor at the School of Fashion at Lasell University.
Kaitlin is currently the director of sales and clienteling at UNTUCKit, and formerly its director of stores. She held similar roles at REISS, and Bloomingdale's, and is a graduate of Parsons School of Design.
Ted McCaffrey is an omnichannel enthusiast and business development consultant for Sensormatic. In his role, he helps brands realize the value of omnichannel, and solve for it with IoT using RFID.
Donny Askin is a veteran retail technology entrepreneur with over four decades of experience founding, leading, and growing successful retail technology companies. He is currently the EVP & Partner at NewMine, retail technology and consulting firm, as well as the chairman of the NewStore advisory board. Previously, Donny held founding and executive roles at CommercialWare, OrderMotion, Arigo, and more.
Erik Holm is a leader in product management. In his role at NewStore, Erik works as the Sr. Director of Product Management. Before joining NewStore, he worked at Salesforce as the VP, Product Management, he also held similar roles at Carbonite and ATG.
Joseph is a sales manager at Lekker Home, a home decor retailer. He has 15 years of retail experience, with a focus on innovative sales management and design blending the interpersonal finesse of leading a sales team with creative intuition and an eye for interior design.
Michael is the CEO of SmarterHQ, a Wunderkind company. SmarterHQ makes it easy for marketers to increase revenue now and customer relationships over time by powering highly personalized, cross-channel experiences. Trusted by leading brands such as Bloomingdale’s, Hilton, Santander Bank, and Finish Line, SmarterHQ activates real-time, multichannel data, identifies audiences quickly based on customer behavior and information, and automates personalized content across outbound and online channels. They have been recognized by Forrester’s Total Economic Impact study to deliver 667% in ROI. Learn more at SmarterHQ.com.
Alper Aydemir is the co-founder and CEO of Volumental, a footwear technology company. A technologist turned entrepreneur, Alper has a deep passion for building and scaling companies and solving hard problems.
Peter Stubbs is an experienced product manager with a passion for retail software. He has order management and store applications in his blood with roles at Sterling, Yantra, and IBM. Now, as the senior director of product management at NewStore, he helps brands solve retail challenges and business problems in innovative ways.
Kalim Sheikh is the senior manager of retail excellence, in his role he serves as a key partner to internal teams and external customers of NewStore.
Rachel DelGrande is the senior retail success manager, and in her role, she serves a champion and resources for NewStore customers.
Jill Manoff is the editor-in-chief at Glossy, and host of the Glossy Podcast which features honest, in-depth conversations with the brand founders and leaders moving fashion-forward.
Andrew Smith is the co-founder of ThinkUncommon. In his role, he helps brands solve problems and embark on transformational change. He's held a number of roles designing digital and physical customer journeys, frontline experiences, IT systems enhancements and transformation, channel capacity planning, retail strategy, store design and merchandising, sales planning, and customer experience, as well as behavioral economics and human behavioral focused design.
Ben is the co-founder and CCO of Personify XP. The mission at Personify XP is to help brands personalize online shopping for their customers. Personify is the first platform to focus exclusively on anonymous visitors, and its AI technology connects great products and content with visitors by automating how content and products are shown to visitors, providing unique insights into how anonymous customers shop while ensuring customer data stays private.
Lauren Bitar is the head of retail consulting and customer experience insights at RetailNext. She's an experienced retailer with a passion for creating the new paradigm of customer experience and the brand organizations that support it.
The 2021 Omnichannel Leadership Report, a critical assessment of the industry’s omnichannel competence. The report looks at over 200 retail brands and the availability and seamlessness of 14 core omnichannel capabilities–from contactless payments and store pickup to remote selling and appointment booking.
Michelle Grant is the Senior Manager, Strategy & Insights, Retail and Consumer Goods at Salesforce.
Amanda McLaughlin is the Senior Manager, Content Marketing at NewStore.
Jane Cannon is the Chief Product Officer at NewStore. She's a seasoned product leader in the OMS and POS spaces, with experience leading start-up and enterprise-level teams across many functions.
Scott Matza is the Senior Director, Product at NewStore. He's an accomplished product management leader with experience in technology and software development, specializing in the retail, hospitality, and IoT industries.
Tori Dresch is a retail operations, and strategy consultant. She's based in New York City with a passion for store and customer success. She's worked in retail for such brands as Bonobos, AYR, and more.
Ron Thurston loves retail. And he's proud of it. Ron has led the retail teams for some of America's most prominent brands, inspired thousands of store employees, and traveled relentlessly across the country to sit and listen to what they have to say.
From a part-time sales associate to a vice president of stores, Ron has put in the hard work that a retail career requires and wrote this book to share what he learned along the way.
Ron is a fourth-generation Californian, but he and his husband now live in Manhattan.
Ron Thurston’s LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rthurston/
Retail Pride Website: https://www.retailpride.com
Dave Hartenstein is a retail guy through and through. At NewStore he is the Sr. Director of Omnichannel, working closely with customers to ensure their success. Previously, Dave led major omnichannel initiatives at both Modell's Sporting Goods, and Michael Kors.
Schambach is a serial entrepreneur and commerce pioneer. He is credited with inventing the first-ever standard software for online shopping at Intershop, and later revolutionizing e-commerce by offering it as a cloud service with Demandware (now Salesforce Commerce Cloud). As founder and CEO of NewStore, he's solving the omnichannel problem facing so many retailers and brands.