Shownotes
This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Lightning Round segment closes out the show with rapid-fire questions, chaotic travel stories, and some very spirited retail debates.
Chris Walton and Kathryn Mazza discuss creator loyalty, dream podcast guests, unexpected Des Moines growth, bizarre airport behavior, and whether Target’s latest moves deserve praise or criticism.
There’s also plenty of laughs along the way, including travel horror stories, strong opinions about brand love, and one especially heated Target argument.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here: https://youtu.be/W5Ei9Mjru4c
#LightningRound #Target #RetailNews #PodcastClips #RetailMedia #CreatorEconomy #RetailTechnology #FastFive #OmniTalkRetail #TravelStories
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Transcripts
Let's go to the lightning round.
Speaker A:My first question for you is.
Speaker A:This was a great one.
Speaker A:A canine named Nitro.
Speaker A:Yes, that's real, folks.
Speaker A:A canine named Nitro at the Philadelphia International Airport, alerted officers to more than $44,000 in unreported cash after flagging.
Speaker A:After flagging.
Speaker A:I should say, not flaggling.
Speaker A:Flagging.
Speaker A:A traveler preparing to board an international flight to Mexico.
Speaker A:Catherine, I am curious, and I'm curious what you're going to tell me here.
Speaker A:What is the most contraband thing you have ever tried to sneak through security?
Speaker B:Yeah, this is one of my fondest but yet scariest memories of traveling for business.
Speaker B:So I had a vendor, and this was pretty recent, too.
Speaker B:This was maybe a year and a half ago.
Speaker B:I had a vendor give me a miniature solo stove.
Speaker B:And so it was kind of like a miniature, like, fondue kit, slash s'.
Speaker B:Mores.
Speaker B:And so it's this cute little miniature solo stove grill.
Speaker B:The gel, like, compartment that goes in the middle, that's the fuel and the little fondue sticks.
Speaker B:So I'm going through security, and then, sure enough, then my bags held up and they're like, hey, can somebody tell me whose carry on is this?
Speaker B:I go, it's mine.
Speaker B:They go, you're going to have to come over here.
Speaker B:And I didn't get to go to the area where you go if you just have water in your bag.
Speaker B:I went to, like, the head of security and they said, listen, you know, our cameras or whatever picked up something that is, you know, metal.
Speaker B:It's circular.
Speaker B:There seems to be maybe some type of fuel in the center of it, and there's something sharp.
Speaker B:And I'm like, well, when you tee it up like that, yeah, this is a problem.
Speaker B:And clearly I was not thinking this through.
Speaker B:So they took it out.
Speaker B:They realized it was a miniature solo stove.
Speaker B:The little gel fuel thing, the sticks for the fondue or marshmallows, and they took it away.
Speaker A:They took it away.
Speaker A:You couldn't check it or anything.
Speaker A:They're just like, you're out.
Speaker A:It's done.
Speaker B:Like, it's gone.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:They said.
Speaker A:They said so long to the sterno and the solo stove.
Speaker A:They're like, it's over.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, that's great.
Speaker B:We're going to stick with the airline topic.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker B:You travel a lot.
Speaker B:We all get stuck next to some interesting folks or see some interesting things while spending time at the airport.
Speaker B:What is the craziest thing you have ever witnessed a fellow passenger doing?
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:I've seen a lot of Crazy things.
Speaker A:One of which is which.
Speaker A:One of which I'm not going to tell because this is a family show.
Speaker A:But I've got a really good thing that happened to me recently in London.
Speaker A:I was walking through the main terminal at Heathrow, and you know those water bottle things where, you know, you fill up your water bottle?
Speaker A:There was a woman there who was using that as a drinking fountain.
Speaker A:Like, she had her face pressed up against, like, up against the thing to trigger it, and using it as a tricky fountain, which is why to this day, I refuse to refill my water bottle in an airport.
Speaker A:Because I guarantee you, she has 10,000 people.
Speaker A:If she is doing it, so are 10,000 other people.
Speaker A:So that's.
Speaker A:That's my story, Catherine.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, that, that's certainly.
Speaker B:That's an interesting one.
Speaker B:I guess you, you see it all.
Speaker B:You think that, like, okay, we're moving away from water fountains that were historically gross.
Speaker B:Now those are ruined, too, for you, Chris.
Speaker A:Yeah, right.
Speaker A:And probably many people listening to this show are now like, oh, God, that's so gross.
Speaker A:I'm never refilling my water bottle again.
Speaker A:Imagine.
Speaker A:I imagine if you like the humor on this show, that's probably, you're probably like, yep, that's me.
Speaker A:All right, next one.
Speaker A:Hy Vee is located in the place of birth.
Speaker A:Of place of my birth, Des Moines, Iowa.
Speaker A:Katherine, what is the one thing about Des Moines that would surprise most folks to learn or that also surprised you upon being there?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So, you know, coming from spending my entire life on the east coast, when I told people I was moving to Iowa and west of Des Moines, you know, they just said, oh, it's all cornfields.
Speaker B:And I will say, yes, there are cornfields.
Speaker B:But this area is growing and booming like you would not believe.
Speaker B:Just the commerce coming in, all of the restaurants and shopping, residential housing is going up every.
Speaker B:Everywhere There is, there is something going on where people are either they were from the Midwest and now they're coming back, or people from the coast are coming to Midwest for a different lifestyle.
Speaker B:But the area is, is growing and, you know, and there's parts like, it's quite bougie.
Speaker B:There's some really expensive houses going up.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I kind of think of Des moines like Minneapolis 20 years ago.
Speaker A:Like, you know, it's like the, it's like the, the place with Midwestern route where people, you, to your point, people had Midwestern roots.
Speaker A:They want to come back to Midwest now.
Speaker A:Now we're heading into Des Moines and Iowa.
Speaker A:And you know who I mean, who can, who can blame that?
Speaker A:Because, you know, it's, it's heaven.
Speaker A:You know, like Field of Dreams says.
Speaker B:Okay, Chris, if you could pick one person in the world to be your next guest, who would it be?
Speaker B:And I mean anyone in the world.
Speaker B:Who do you want on your show?
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Anyone in the world to talk retail technology headlines.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:This is such a good question.
Speaker A:I told you.
Speaker A:Oh, man.
Speaker A:No one's ever asked me this.
Speaker A:No, no.
Speaker A:It's so funny.
Speaker A:No one has ever asked me in the eight year history of doing this show, who would my ideal guest be.
Speaker A:No one's ever asked me that.
Speaker A:This is great.
Speaker A:I think, you know, I'm gonna keep it in the retail family.
Speaker A:I think, you know, my ideal guest would be John Furner because I man crush over him.
Speaker A:But there's no doubt in my mind that he cannot comment on other retailers right now.
Speaker A:So it's just never going to happen.
Speaker A:So I'm going to give you my second choice.
Speaker A:My second choice would be Jeff Bezos.
Speaker A:He's got the time.
Speaker A:He could even remote in from his yacht.
Speaker A:Lauren can come too.
Speaker A:Catherine.
Speaker A:I'm fine with that.
Speaker A:So Amazon pr, if you're listening, let's make this happen.
Speaker A:Let's make this happen.
Speaker A:Let's.
Speaker A:Let's remote Mr. Jeff in from his, from his yacht in the Mediterranean or wherever the hell he is.
Speaker A:And let's talk some retail.
Speaker A:Retail headlines.
Speaker A:Because I can't think of anyone better suited or more knowledgeable on that subject than him.
Speaker A:Am I wrong?
Speaker B:Oh, no.
Speaker B:I mean, can you imagine the number of people that would be tuned in to that episode?
Speaker B:Chris?
Speaker A:Oh, my God.
Speaker B:In the podcast hall of fame.
Speaker A:Oh, my God, yes.
Speaker A:I could easily imagine it.
Speaker A:Yes, yes.
Speaker A:Maybe one day.
Speaker A:One day.
Speaker A:One day, maybe it will happen.