This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five Lightning Round segment closes out the show with Arizona travel recommendations, European retail innovations, retail leadership discussions, and a hilarious attempt to predict what The Rock's new cologne actually smells like.
Chris Walton and Shelley Huff discuss must-see destinations in Arizona, why European grocery stores may have the best scan-and-go experiences in the world, the retail executives they'd most like to sit down with today, and how Walmart's delivery network is reshaping convenience retail.
There's also plenty of laughs along the way, including Shelley describing The Rock's cologne as a mix of teakwood, protein powder, and truck tire, Chris comparing it to various types of rocks, and a debate over whether Sedona is actually more beautiful in person than it is on Instagram.
⏩ Tune in for the full episode here: https://youtu.be/3lV5GVTa-TQ
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Transcripts
Speaker A:
All right, let's go to the lightning round.
Speaker A:
It's June, the kids are out of school.
Speaker A:
The Grand Canyon excluded, what is the number one must see tourist attraction in the state of Arizona?
Speaker B:
Well, I would probably say Sedona.
Speaker B:
And the reason is it's one of say, yeah, Sedona.
Speaker A:
It is.
Speaker B:
It is one of the unique places in the world that is actually more beautiful in person than on Instagram.
Speaker B:
So definitely Sedona.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
That's funny.
Speaker A:
I was thinking of that answer to that question myself, how I would answer that question.
Speaker A:
And that's what I would say.
Speaker A:
Yeah, Sedona.
Speaker A:
Wow.
Speaker A:
Amazing.
Speaker A:
Red rocks.
Speaker B:
Red rocks.
Speaker B:
All right, Chris, your question is, you are about to spend three weeks in Europe.
Speaker B:
What is the one retail concept overseas that you wish America would adopt immediately?
Speaker A:
Oh, my God.
Speaker A:
I think the way that Europe does scan and go in its grocery environments is just really smart.
Speaker A:
And I don't know why that's not come over here in a way that, you know, makes any sense, like with a controlled exit, it just seems so straightforward.
Speaker A:
It's available in almost every grocery you go into for the reasons we talked about or alluded to in the robotics headline.
Speaker A:
So that would be my answer.
Speaker A:
Shelley, do you have one?
Speaker B:
No.
Speaker B:
Probably.
Speaker B:
Similarly, I also am always interested in, you know, fast checkout.
Speaker B:
I think customer service there is fantastic.
Speaker B:
So some of those concepts similarly.
Speaker A:
Yeah, right.
Speaker A:
All right, so this one's great.
Speaker A:
The Rock dropped his first ever Papa Tui.
Speaker A:
I hope I'm saying that right.
Speaker A:
Luxury cologne collection this week at target.
Speaker A:
Yes.
Speaker A:
For $40, everyone, you too can smell like the Rock.
Speaker A:
Shelley, what would you expect a Rock sanctioned cologne to smell like?
Speaker B:
This is interesting.
Speaker B:
In terms of how he's building his brand, I wouldn't have expected him to launch a cologne first.
Speaker B:
So I'm gonna go with teakwood, protein powder and maybe a truck tire.
Speaker B:
I don't know.
Speaker A:
Protein powder.
Speaker A:
That's fantastic.
Speaker A:
I was.
Speaker A:
That was funny.
Speaker A:
I was going igneous, sedimentary, you know, volcanic.
Speaker A:
Whatever rocks there are, you know, whatever.
Speaker A:
Those smell like quartz.
Speaker A:
It smells like quartz.
Speaker A:
I don't know.
Speaker A:
Sandstone.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker A:
It's so crazy.
Speaker A:
What a crazy story.
Speaker B:
It is.
Speaker B:
Well, now I. I'll have to go in and smell it to see what it actually smells.
Speaker A:
Right, right.
Speaker A:
Take a whiff.
Speaker A:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
All right, Chris, if you could have dinner with one retail CEO today, who would it be and why?
Speaker A:
Oh, man, I'd love to get.
Speaker A:
I'd love to get back on John Furniture's docket, you know?
Speaker A:
You know, I haven't seen him in a while because now he's been so busy.
Speaker A:
But, you know, that's the easy answer.
Speaker A:
You know, I think, you know, this is going to be random, but because it was in the news this week, I think I'd also like to sit down with J.J. fleeman.
Speaker A:
He's been a long follower of our stuff, but he's going to transition into Dollar General.
Speaker A:
I'd love to talk to him about the transition from how he's thinking about transitioning from traditional grocery, which he's got a long history into running the dollar stores at a time when the macroeconomic tailwind is clearly, clearly at his back.
