Walmart+ Fuels Up, Costco Goes On-Demand & Toys R Is Back (Again) | Fast Five

Hello, I am Chris Walton and welcome to this week's OMNITALK Retail Fast 5, brought to you exclusively by the Omnitalk retail Podcast network.

This week we come to you live from Las Vegas at Grocery Shop 2026.

Omnitok contributor and host of Grocery Talk, Ben Miller joins me this week where we recorded right from the trade show floor in the Vuzion podcast studio built specifically for us by our friends there.

Thanks to Cristina Rodriguez and to the entire Vuzion team for their support all week.

Producer Ella let's start the show.

Competition drives innovation.

We can't have AI as something that people are just trying to figure out on their own.

It needs ownership.

They've got the most compelling offers in that arena right now in the U.S.

In my opinion, this is Walmart leaning into Save Money Live better.

I'm going to make this a question on my Shop Talk panel next week in Nashville.

Chief AI officer, overhyped or underhyped?

So that's a 41% increase.

There are 1500 seasonal spirit Halloween pop up stores in the US and Canada.

You're cooking.

Let them cook.

Ben Miller, Grocery Shop 2026.

How you holding up, my friend?

I'm doing really good.

I'm doing really good.

How are you?

I'm doing great.

I'm doing great.

You did well this morning, too.

What's been the highlights for you so far?

Was it you being on the main.

Stage, opening the show with the CEO of Instacart?

That was pretty good.

That was pretty cool.

That was pretty cool.

That was good.

Was that a feather in the cap?

It was a feather royally in the cap.

No, no.

It's been a good start, hasn't it?

You know, I haven't slept much, I've had lots of caffeine, but it's been busy.

We've had loads of retailers through the booth, haven't we?

Yeah, we have.

We've had a lot of good retailers.

We had Mark Williamson from Costco, Brian Moynihan from Albertsons, Yael Cossett from Kroger.

Yeah, Cossett from Kroger.

Brian Hamburger from Instacart.

This is just day one, morning one.

Yeah, right.

It's not even a feather in your cap, Ben.

I think the right word would be plumage.

You have plumage in your cap for from what you did when you got to kick off this show.

So.

But my big question, which I know most omnitok fans listening want to know, is what's it like to share what is probably a 3 by 10 enclosed glass podcast studio with yours truly.

Look, it's okay now.

Ask me again on Thursday.

Well said.

Well said.

Yes, yes.

Hopefully we can still stand each other.

By the end of the day.

Yeah, but this seems like we're doing all right so far.

All right, well, let's get to this week's show.

Without further ado, this week's show is brought to you, of course, with the help of the A and M consumer and retail group, Miracle Corso, Ocampo Capital, Valak and RNS Logistics.

All right, Ben, in this week's Fast Five, we've got news on Doordash and Uber Eats delivering from Costco warehouses nationwide.

Harps food stores.

Naming its first ever Director of AI Strategy and Innovation, Toys R Us opening 120 new standalone stores in time for the holidays.

Meta Lab.

The store concept behind Meta is AI Glasses, nearly doubling its store footprint.

And everyone's favorite A and M er, Chad Lusk joins us for five insightful minutes.

But we begin today with Walmart plus putting more gas savings into its members pockets.

Headline number one is course brought to you as it always is with the help and support of the A and M Consumer and Retail Group.

The A and M Consumer and Retail Group is a management consulting firm that tackles the most complex challenges and advances its clients, people and communities toward their maximum potential.

CRG brings the experienced tools and operator like pragmatism to help retailers and consumer products companies beyond the right side of disruption.

All right, Ben, let's get this party started.

Walmart plus is adding Citgo as its core gas savings benefit, growing the program from 13,000 to more than 17,000 participating stations nationwide, with 10 cents off per gallon and no change to its $98 annual membership price, according to Walmart's corporate news release.

Adding Citco lifts the number of participating fuel stations by roughly 30%, with the biggest access gains in parts of the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast where Citgo is strongest.

Walmart says members who use gas savings, who used gas savings, excuse me, at least weekly saved an average of over $100 on gas last year, which is more than the cost of the $98 annual membership fee from that one benefit alone.

To redeem at Citgo, members activate the benefit in the Walmart app like a Club Citgo account and enter the phone number tied to that account at the pump.

Members can also stack Club Citgo rewards on top of the Walmart plus discount.

All right, Ben, what do you think of this latest gas savings benefit from Walmart?

And do you think it's More of an offensive or a defensive reaction to our friends at Costco.

You know Chris, I had a little bit of a, I went a bit deep on this one.

Did you?

Yeah, I love when you go deep.

Because what I wanted to know was genuinely what is the impact of gas inflation in the US right now?

All right.

Oh, all right.

So I looked at, I looked at what was the average price for a gallon of gas this time last year?

So 20.

So yesterday 21st of September in the U.S. so according to the AAA it was $3.18 a gallon.

Okay, 318.

I don't like where this is going.

Already by the 3rd of September this year that average price was already at 4 14.

Okay, okay.

So 318 to 414 Monday this week, yesterday 444.

Okay, so that's a 41% increase year on year.

We've had so many conversations already.

This show about affordability and gas for so many people is a non negotiable.

You needed to get to work kind of.

Yeah, yeah, you need to get to work.

You need, you to need no getting around it.

There is no getting around it.

So for me this is great.

This is Walmart leaning into save money, live better because they've identified what is one of the key things that's driving affordability challenge for households across the US at the moment.

And they're saying we know we get it and we are prepared to go outside of our ecosystem to help you for it.

So for all of that, I love it.

Yeah, I do too.

I think, I think it's really, really sharp.

I think, I mean the way you just extrapolated that, Ben, I think the words I would use is common sense.

Like it just makes common sense for Walmart to do this because the savings are so compelling when you stack it up to the cost of a Walmart plus membership.

Like I actually think the savings reported in the headline are probably low if you're actually getting a lot of gas through this membership program over the time.

You know it doesn't take that many gallons to get to that level.

So you know what's interesting to me is what you said and it's that Walmart is now extending outside of its four walls yet again I might add, especially when you think about the subway Papa John's Dunkin Donuts extensions too to bring value to their customers.

So it's all about marketplaces and membership value.

You know, that's what retail's all about.

That's where the future of E commerce lies.

And you Know, if I get right down to it, Ben, I want to get your thoughts on closing on this too.

I mean, to me, Walmart, Amazon, DoorDash, maybe Instacart too, because they're kind of in the membership marketplace model too.

They've got the most compelling offers in that arena right now in the US in my opinion.

Yeah, I do not disagree with that.

I think the one thing that I do disagree on, I think they might have slightly over exaggerated the value over a year.

Oh, really?

So I've done some math.

You did.

And I think look, for a 15 gallon mid sized car, you're saving $1.50.

A $50 each time you save takes a lot of $50s to add up to $100.

So lots of people have got bigger cars, lots of people use more gas.

I think they slightly overex it.

So that would be my sniff the press release comment.

But let's put that to one side.

At its heart, this is good.

Well, we're not driving those small European cars over here, Ben.

We're driving those Ford F150s over here in the US so.

So, you know.

Yeah.

All right.

As someone that's owned an electric car for the last six years, I.

This is a whole mystery to me, Chris.

Right, right, right, right.

Absolutely.

All right, let's keep going.

Ben, you got the next one right?

Yeah.

Headline number two, and this is brought to you by Miracle, the catalyst of Commerce.

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All right, Chris, here we go.

Headline number two.

So, speaking of Costco, Costco is now available for delivery nationwide through both DoorDash and Uber Eats, putting nearly all of its US warehouses onto the two major platform delivery apps for same day and schedule orders.

That's two more major delivery apps on top of their long term existing relationship with Instacart.

So per the Associated Press, Doordash says Costco was amongst the most searched for retailers not yet on its US platform.

And the launch covers nearly 360 locations across 47 starts, states and Washington D.C. instacart, as I just mentioned, has been Costco's main US delivery partner since 2017.

But Costco CEO told investors in May that US same day delivery is growing faster than the company's overall digital business and it is common amongst its highest spending members.

Okay, Chris, are you surprised at all that Costco is now delivering through all of the big three marketplaces.

Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber Eats.

Oh, my God.

There's a lot of meat on the bone on this one, Ben.

I think, I think number one, strange bedfellows for sure.

Like, it makes me, when you actually get to the actual logic of this, it makes me wonder, like, why wouldn't you just go on Amazon too?

You know, if you really think about it.

But, but, you know, that's never going to happen, so.

But, but that is.

The logic here is like, you're saying our customers want us to be on these marketplaces.

They want delivery through these marketplaces.

They want us to deliver Costco to them via them.

So let's be on them and let's plug into them.

So, like, in theory, the logic is very similar, but yet for some reason we don't ever go there.

But.

So anyway, I just wanted to say that up front because I think it's really interesting when you step back from it.

Yeah.

But at the end of the day, to answer your question, I think we're going to see a lot more retailers go in this direction because I don't see.

I don't see why you're.

Why you're not going to do it.

I've been hypothesizing about it since 2017.

The first, the first that came to me was I had a call with the guys at Delivery Solutions, which I used to be an advisor for.

They were later purchased by ups, and they said, Chris, like, why wouldn't the retail community do this?

Because it gives them competitive leverage to, you know, be on more marketplaces.

That makes it a negotiation.

They can also white label the service.

I don't know to what extent Costco's going to be on the marketplaces versus white label delivering through all these.

But that allows you to pit the providers up against each other for the actual orders themselves, like, who wants this order?

Bid it out, you know, the whole thing.

So it's just a whole nother thing to me of it's no different than a product negotiation as a merchant.

You're just doing that the same way with the delivery partners, too.

That's my take, Ben.

So I love it for that reason.

I think it's really smart by Costco to finally branch out.

And I was talking to some other grocers too, here yesterday that had previously been in that same boat, and I think a lot of people are taking this approach now.

Yeah, look, from a Costco perspective, we just had Mark from Costco, he's been in the standard he was talking about.

They always think about the members first.

So if their members are on the platforms, then it's a logical expression.

So from a Costco perspective, it's been coming, they've been trotting with Uber Eats, they've been slowly expanding, as you say, it feels inevitable.

I think the really interesting wrinkle is to look at it from the other perspective.

Okay, okay.

So if you're a shopper, you now have DoorDash, you've got Uber Eat, and you've got Instacart, and you've got to make a choice of which of those marketplaces you're going to do your shopping on.

Competition drives innovation.

So you're going to go to the marketplace that provides you the best service, that provides you the most compelling customer experience.

That perhaps is the one that's investing the most in AI, in the user interface, in the apps, the one that is connecting the most of the store together as possible.

So I can see the next level of innovation coming from these marketplaces because of this competition that you've just spoken about.

Yeah.

And you know who wins in that ultimately?

The shopper.

The shopper and who else?

Costco.

Costco wins in that battle too, because they get the benefit of that innovation and they get to allow the customer to decide where they ultimately want to shop.

So, yeah, it goes back to what I said on marketplaces too, right, Ben?

Like that shows you the power of having the marketplace and having a marketplace that is formidable from a technology innovation standpoint too.

Which we're going to talk about no doubt, later on as well, I'm guessing.

All right.

Headline number three is brought to you by Corso.

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Headline number three.

Harps Food Stores has promoted Will McDonald, a longtime Harps employee and former meat and seafood category manager, to director of AI Strategy and innovation in a newly created role.

According to Grocery Dive, McDonald's job is to find ways harps can use AI to improve processes and efficiency and to help the grocer adopt new AI capabilities faster.

This is a first.

This is his first, excuse me, exclusively tech focused role.

He joined Harps part time as a College student in 2014.

God, that makes me feel old.

Entered the management Training program in 2016, held management and category Analyst roles and became meat and seafood category manager in just 2023.

Ben Harps joins Kroger and Ahold Delez USA in hiring AI specific executives to help navigate the fast evolving technology.

Ben, are you pro or con?

The idea of AI executive leadership roles And I have no idea where you're going to go with your answer on this one and I can't wait to hear it.

So I guess thinking about this, I absolutely wanted to ask that question.

Answer the question that you've just asked.

Right.

Yeah.

I don't necessarily talk about Harps actually to step back.

Yeah.

Because it's something that we've heard a lot.

You know, we've been talking to retailers about this.

You and I were in Paris last week for a nurse European show.

It's a topic that came up a lot.

So there's a couple of things.

What have we heard?

So number one, if you.

The scaling of AI across the retail operation is the hardest thing.

You know, it's something, it's very apt the course of a sponsor in this particular question because that getting beyond trial phase is one of the hardest things.

We can't have AI as something that people are just trying to figure out on their own.

It needs ownership.

So firstly, is it really important that there is ownership within a retail organization to unlock the benefit?

Otherwise it becomes scattergun of lots of trials that don't add up to anything.

So that I'm fully on board with.

It needs dedicated focus, it needs governance, it needs prioritization.

The key for me in the whole process.

And look, I don't mind how they structure it, what they call it, but it can't be tail wagging dog.

Okay, okay.

So it can't be.

We've got.

Let's do AI.

It's got to be what is the business challenge?

What is the business problem?

And then how is AI the right answer for this?

So that's kind of why, coming back to this story, I think it's interesting.

The Harps and I don't know the Harps business.

No.

Yeah.

But they've got an individual from the business doing that.

So look, I don't hate that because I think it's great that you've got somebody, however you structure it, whatever level it is, having somebody with that business knowledge who can help look at business problems and then think about how we prioritize AI to get after it.

That I think is the thing that feels really important to me.

But what do you think?

Okay, so you're bringing up some new wrinkles.

Okay.

I Love this.

So.

So there's.

Okay, so I want to make sure I.

So generally speaking, I think you're pro.

The.

The executive elevation of AI.

Yes.

In a leadership role.

Yes.

I don't want to put words in your mouth, but yes, that was what I took from that.

And then the other interesting wrinkle that we need to talk about because you're highlighting it, is the internal elevation of the person to that role versus bringing in somebody externally.

Yeah.

So the two things that I keep hearing over and over again about AI is number one, it's really difficult to scale.

Yeah.

Number two, you need the context layer.

Yeah.

So I'm kind of seeing this as like a one person context layer.

Somebody who knows the business, who can then master two together.

And however you structure it, I think you need that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

This is so interesting.

Wow.

That's so interesting to me.

Like, I think I agree with you on the last part on the overarching question.

I think the jury's still out for me a little bit.

Like, I'm still waiting on the sidelines.

And I talked to my buddy last night, kind of my tech conciliary on all things technology related in retail, and he kind of said the same thing.

He's like, you know what?

I just don't know yet.

There's still so much to be learned.

And the funny thing about this HARP story is, like, you know, this is like the equivalent of the guy who, like, really knew Excel back in 2020and got, you know, just knows his stuff and, like, is probably the right person for this job to drive change at Harps too, which is kind of cool.

But I'm not.

If I step back, I'm not rushing ahead to name ahead of AI quite yet.

I think if I'm a retailer, I'm gonna.

But I'm gonna pressure test my assumptions.

Ben, I'm going to make this a question on my Shop Talk panel next week in Nashville.

I've got three retail executives on my panel next week, and I'm gonna ask them specifically point blank, Ben, chief AI officers, overhyped or underhyped, would you recommend doing it?

And I can't wait to hear what they say.

But if you put a gun in my head, I think if you're gonna do it, I think it actually sits below the COO or maybe the CIO versus, like, on its own standalone island.

That's not the way I would do it.

I agree, because I think the deployment of AI in its first and foremost iterations is about changing the operations of the company.

It's not necessarily about transforming the business model as much as it is, you know, improving the day to day operations.

So that's where I think I would put it first and foremost.

But what do you think?

Yeah, I think I agree.

I think I agree.

And I look forward to hearing what your panelists say in Nashville next week.

Yeah, it's a good panel.

All right, now let's welcome Chad onto today's program.

Joining us now for five insightful minutes is longtime friend of the show and partner and managing director at the A and M consumer and retail group, Chad Lusk.

Chad is here once again for five insightful minutes to discuss with us how retailers and brands are thinking about their assortment strategies in the evolving wellness landscape.

And Chad, if memory serves, you just led a panel at Grocery Shop on that very topic, did you not?

I did, I did.

Yesterday.

It was a great panel.

We had three members from Target, Chobani and Roxbury Fizz 4 Kids.

Nice.

Nice.

Yes.

And for those listening at home, we are live from Grocery Shop recording this episode with Chad.

All right, Chad, let's get right to it.

So what do you make of the recent trends in food and beverage related to health and wellness and particularly the impact of GLP1s?

Yeah, so listen, there's been a lot of talk recently about changes in food, but the reality is that none of these trends have happened overnight.

These have been elements and shifts that have been building over years.

At this point, we talk about them as if they are emerging signals on the spot.

But I've been in food above for the last 20 years and the intent around eating healthier and cleaner, adding better functional ingredients, not just avoiding bad ones, changing the way that meal occurrences happen over the day to.

To more frequent, smaller meals, delighting the senses, experimentation, creating new sensory experiences, all while trying to be more conscious of the cost per bite and sip.

You know, these are.

These are not new things.

Right, Right, true.

In a lot of ways.

Yeah, you're right.

But I'll give you, you mentioned GLP1s, right?

I will give you that.

A lot of them have been accelerated.

Right.

So none of these Trends started with GLP1, but the impact is, you know, is big.

Right.

Their introduction has created an inflection point.

Think of it as a massive curve bending acceleration that was already in the direction that consumers and the food and bev industry is going.

Right.

Kind of.

I like to think of the analog of E commerce during COVID Right.

Where grocery E. Comm.

Was already on the rise Albeit at a smaller base.

But Covid collapsed 10 years of future state growth into one.

So that's kind of where we are in these trends.

So it's an accelerant, basically.

It's an accelerant, yeah.

All right, so given that we're at that inflection point with the GLP1 impact and its accelerating impact on the overall industry, do you think, how are consumers, Are consumers going to behave differently?

Like, are consumers changing all that much?

There is.

So we're in Vegas right now.

So if you were to place a bet here in Vegas on the future of the food industry and the way that it's going to, would you say that the overall thematic is going to be how do we figure out how to eat more while not adding to our overall nutritional and health issues as a society?

Or how do we figure out how to eat less while giving everything that we want and need from our food?

Yes, you would be wise to put your chips on the ladder because what's happening is there is downward pressure on long term consumption overall.

And then you couple that with higher scrutiny from consumers in terms of what they actually decide to eat, and the end result is there are fewer hollow bites to be had out there and consumers more asking, well, what's actually worth it?

Fewer hollow bites.

That's a nugget right there, Chad.

Nice.

All right, so then what are consumers actually saying is worth it to them?

Yeah, so a couple dimensions to this one.

Right.

So what consumers are increasingly doing is having food and beverage and they're shopping and eating being delivered based on an outcome.

Right.

And so consumers are much more likely to choose the best fit for a specific need, not the best of a category.

Right.

Those lines are increasingly blurred.

Competitive sets and share of stomach is happening across aisles, not just within aisles.

And those that are winning are stealing share kind of across right now.

That's not to say that all jobs to be done in food are the same.

There's a wide set of needs and a wide spectrum in terms of things that make that bite or sip worth it.

Right.

On one hand you have the highly functional.

Right, which is what we're talking about with nutritional density and better for you.

Right.

Let's also not lose sight of the other side.

As a guy who is in the candy industry and sweet baked goods, the emotional side, enjoyment, celebration, needing an emotional lift, connecting with other people through food, through ritual and nostalgia.

These are all worthwhile causes and needs to make that bite worth it.

The end result, at the end of the day, it's all about intention and those products that have a vague role, you know, it's hard to hide from.

Right.

This is crazy to me because like yesterday we had the Instacart CEO on stage when Ben Miller interviewed him.

We had him saying that technology is going to change the grocery industry faster and everything.

And all the things you're talking about are happening too, in addition to that.

That's right.

That's right.

And nuts.

So.

And then at the same time, which a point you mentioned, which I'd be remiss if I didn't ask this.

So this will get you out of here on this.

There's a, there's a lot of issues macroeconomically in terms of inflation and pricing right now, and consumers are more price sensitive than ever.

How are consumer, how are you expecting consumers to seek out value amid everything you've just discussed?

Yeah, there's two sides to that coin because value doesn't just exist at the lowest price point.

It exists across all price points.

So let's talk about each one in kind.

So everyone knows about the rise of private label, obviously, but this is not your parents private label.

Right.

And it would be short sighted to say that this is about price alone.

So we've done research at AM around this and about 68% of consumers say that private label quality is as good, if not better than national brands.

High 50s percentage say that the assortment and variety is just as good.

And nearly 70% say that it fits their dietary or lifestyle needs.

Right.

So outside of price, those are the three reasons why people buy food.

Right?

For the taste, for the assortment and for the ingredient panel.

And so consumers no longer need to make sacrifices in order to hit that entry price point.

And that's defining value on one end.

Wow.

But, but, but, but.

There's more.

There's always a but.

For all my, you know, premium price brand friends out there, premiumization is not dead.

Right.

Very much alive.

Consumers are still spending up.

They're just being very intentional on what they're doing.

Right.

And we see many, many examples in industry of where you have a distinctive advantage or differentiation that consumers are willing to spend up on that, whether it's in the taste profile, in the ingredient panel, the experience and splurge event that it gives you that then consumers through surveys that we've done will say it is as good a value as, as private label in terms of what you're delivering.

Right.

And so the key here is not to get stuck in that fuzzy no man's land in the middle and align your brand's value proposition against the purchase drivers that matter because the brand on the name of the box and the label doesn't mean as much as it used to.

It's the attributes that define it.

Wow.

Well, speaking of premiumization, that was a premium experience interviewing you, Chad.

So thank you, man.

That was great.

Yeah, thank you.

It's good to be here live with you.

Awesome.

Okay, Headline number four is brought to you by Ocampo Capital.

Ocampo Capital is a venture capital firm founded by retail executives with the aim of helping early stage consumer businesses succeed for investment and operational support.

Learn more at Ocampo Capital.

Okay, Chris, here we go.

Headline number four.

Headline number Toys R Us is opening 120 new standalone stores for this holiday season with the partner Go Retail Group bringing its standalone footprint to about 160 stores.

So according to Retail Dive, some of the new stores will feature creator studios.

So, Chris, that's dedicated spaces where influencers and and toy brands can make content.

And select stores will add candy shops and cafes.

Toys R Us did a smaller version of this last year, opening more than 30 stores, including flagships and seasonal holiday shops.

It is also in Macy's stores nationwide.

Chris, are you taking the over or under on seeing more than 160 standalone Toys R Us locations in 2027?

Oh, my God, Ben.

100% More.

100% More.

And you know, I did my research on this one too, Ben.

Okay, I did, because.

And the way I looked at this one is I said, okay, what's toys like?

Well, toys to me is like Halloween.

Yeah.

It's seasonal like Halloween.

And did you know, Ben, you probably did, knowing you, but did you know that there are 1500 seasonal spirit Halloween pop up stores in the US and Canada?

1500.

I did not.

So last time I checked, 120 or whatever this number is is a far cry from 1500.

Right?

You're right, Absolutely.

Yeah.

It's a pretty big delta there.

I mean, I'm not a mathematician, you know, but that's a lot.

That's a lot.

And now, are the margins on toys the same as costumes?

No.

So you gotta figure that into this, you know, probably not, but the opportunity is, to me, in the seasonality and the comps already there.

So, you know, a disproportionate amount of the toy business falls in those last three months of the year.

So the guys at WHP Global are very, very smart.

Their CEO is very smart.

I've met him.

He knows what the heck he's doing.

So I think they're Going to continue to refine the model and they will ultimately add more until they find the right number.

I doubt it's 1500, if I'm being truthful, but I think, you know, it's definitely a lot more than the number, you know, that they're going to go with in 2026.

Yeah.

Okay.

I mean, so I've done some digging as well.

Oh, have you?

I have, I have.

Because what I wasn't sure on, and I'm going to be honest, Chris, having dug around, I'm still not sure is how many of these are going to be pop ups.

How many of these attempts, how many of these are further Macy's locations?

They haven't mentioned it, so I'm assuming none.

Yeah.

And how many are going to be permanent stores?

You know, Go Retail Group is a pop up specialist.

So there is some quotes they have not officially confirmed how many will be permanent.

Some of them will be pop ups.

In many ways I don't think that matters because I think the principle is exactly the same.

And I completely agree with you.

What we're seeing in this iteration of Toys R Us, the WHP global iteration of Toys R Us could not be more different than what went before.

Now we've seen a curated range.

These are smaller stores.

And you know what, Chris?

Do you know what I went back to?

I went back to, why did Toys R Us go in the first place?

Yeah.

Okay, so is this a good idea to bring back something that's died?

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

Which, okay, let's work with this.

Work with me, Chris.

I like where this is going a lot.

Ben, work with me.

So number one, did people stop buying toys?

No.

Number two, did people actually fall out of love with the Toys R Us brand?

No, definitely not.

Okay.

All right, well, that's two really good things.

The story that was told was Toys R Us could no longer compete with Walmart and Amazon and Target on price.

And there is truth to that.

The biggest challenge is if you look at other categories.

So if you look at what Best Buy are doing, if you look at what Barnes and Noble are doing, you know, the category of killers haven't all died.

The category of killers who died were ones that didn't invest in their proposition and didn't invest in their stores.

So what happened to Toys R Us?

They were a leverage buyout.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So 5 billion.

They had $400 million of debt repayment every year.

The business model with the large stores that can't invest in their real estate didn't work.

So that's what killed Toys R Us.

It wasn't that people stopped buying toys and it wasn't that they didn't still have this love for the Toys R Us brand.

So I couldn't agree more.

That whp this is a really smart move.

This is non levered pop up low capex working on the brand.

It's absolutely a great call.

Yeah.

All right, great.

So we're in alignment there.

Yeah.

And I got to think most of them are pop up too.

And sorry for the confusion on some of the numbers too.

Some of the reports are saying 120, some are saying 160, so apologize for that.

We'll check the numbers on that.

But roughly speaking, those numbers are pretty close together.

But net net, I think we both agree there's room for more here, potentially, given what you just said.

Right?

Completely agree.

All right, well, let's get to the last one.

Headline number five is brought to you by the lock.

Veloc is a proven e grocery technology built by grocers for grocers.

They unite proprietary software with right size automation to make same day delivery profitable.

To learn more, visit Veloc.com that's V E L O Q.com headline number five, Meta Lab.

The store concept behind Meta's AI glasses plants six new standalone stores in the coming months, nearly doubling a footprint that previously stood at eight locations according to Modern Retail.

The new stores start with Houston, which opens September 10, and are going to be followed by Atlanta, San Diego, Chicago, Scottsdale, and my favorite and yours, Ben Moynihan station in New York City.

Existing locations include flagships in Los Angeles, New York and Honolulu.

Metalab has also offered demos and fittings at Best Buy since June and is on track for 50 shopping shops there by the end of 2026.

The category is growing fast, but is still young.

For example, Circana says smart glasses revenue rose 233% in the 12 months ending just this past May.

Ben, is the future so bright for smart glasses that you're going to have to wear some Meta shades?

Oh, my word.

I truly and deeply hope not.

Really?

Really?

Really?

Really?

Oh, wow.

We're gonna, we're gonna have some, some debate on this.

Yeah.

I don't know where you stand on this, but look, I don't like it at all, Chris.

You don't and I'll tell you, you don't.

Wow.

Okay.

I'm gonna tell you for a couple of reasons.

So firstly, let me, let me look at this move in isolation.

I, I think this is meta scrambling and I think they're scrambling for two reasons.

One is they.

They are.

They're trying to get product into people's hands and this is a product that works for people to touch and feel.

So they're trying to get it out before the holidays as quickly as they can.

I also think they're trying to get it out as quickly as they can because their product is not going to be as good as what Google and Apple are going to bring to the market.

That could be for sure.

So Google are committed.

Apple.

It's all rumors, but ultimately the power of smart glasses is where they integrate with your phone.

So you're either going to have a Google run phone in your pocket or you're going to have an Apple run phone in your pocket.

The integration from the meta device is clunky at the moment.

The AI is not great if we're being really honest.

So I think they're scrambling because the product isn't going to be as good.

And I'm going to hear with a third one, Chris, before I hear your views.

I think they're scrambling because I think public opinion against a product and a category is turning.

Okay, well, let's come back to that.

Interesting.

Okay, so wait, so I want to make.

So the future is not so bright that you need to wear meta smart glasses, but is it so bright that you need to wear others smart glasses?

So this is my last point.

I think that public opinion is turning.

So I'm surprised that Google still seemed to be so convinced that they could bring in this product to market because the.

I would call it words, the creep factor.

Yeah, I think is getting so big that it's.

That I think very quickly people are getting turned off these as a product.

Wow, interesting.

Okay, let me do another thing.

Yeah, please.

No, you're cooking.

Let them cook.

Do you know that the.

Let them cook.

You're cooking.

The video and the images that are taken on a meta device, they're only in 3x4, so you can only get the aspect ratio that is designed for their social media feeds.

For Instagram, they're basically creating a product that enables you to record more content, to upload more content.

So their algo runs and they can sell more sponsorship.

That's what it is.

Their latest version of their glasses are now you and they advertise it on the principle that you can scroll your Instagram feed without people realizing it.

They talk about being connected whilst being present.

I think the world's turning against that as well, Chris.

I think it's a step too far and I Think people are starting to say that.

Wow.

Okay.

If there was meat on the bone in the earlier headline, there's like a whole hamstring on this bone, Ben.

Wow.

Okay, so tell me what you think.

No.

God, I'm trying to digest everything you just said there too.

Okay, so.

And you and I had a long discussion about the same topic at nrf.

I gotta tell you, my opinion kind of changed this weekend because I went into the Best Buy installation of meta glasses with meta glasses.

And the thing that surprised me, and I'm trying to step away from the meta, Google, Apple part of the conversation, just smart glasses in general.

The thing that surprised me is that they are getting closer and closer to the point where the glasses look like normal glasses.

Yeah.

And you and I are both glasses wearers.

Normal glasses wearers.

Long time.

They don't look like the super dorky Zuckerberg version that, you know, I went out and shamelessly bought.

Did you?

Yeah.

Never, never worn.

But yeah.

No, because they look like dorky and then they could tell when they're on.

It just.

It looks voyeuristic and it makes me feel like an idiot.

The Ray Barn tie in is super strong.

Yeah.

So.

So I was surprised at how much they're looking like real glasses.

Okay.

So now when I combine that with what you said, which I kind of go in the opposite way when I combine that with how wired in we all are getting in our daily lives a La Fahrenheit 451 and was predicted back in 1950 or whenever the hell that book was written.

Like, I can see a future where we are wearing smart glasses.

So let me give you the use cases.

Like, I wear glasses every day like you do.

Would I wear a stylish pair if we were back in.

In Paris last week and being able to communicate with my waiter just by having them on and translate what he's saying to me or look at my menu and read it for me in French, 100% I would.

And I could do that all without having to interact with the phone potentially too, in the long run.

So that's why I don't know that the phone interaction is required here.

But anyway, so my prediction is that we actually are going to see more stores, more.

More meta stores and more definitely more meta stores in Best Buy stores here in the coming years.

That's what I think.

I look forward to that.

I mean, look, when I sit back.

And think, I don't have a lot of confidence in my opinion.

I mean, when I sit back and think about It.

Chris, you've talked about these amazing use cases of having a device with you that could take photos, make videos, that can play music, that can translate things.

Well, the thing is everybody already has that in their pocket.

What they don't need is something that, that people associate with a creep factor.

There is also another incredible point of friction in this whole process, which is the lack of the optometrist, particularly at the Best Buy and I'm guessing at the Meta stores, although I'm not certain about that, but I'm guessing because it wasn't mentioned.

Right.

But you know, Warby Parker's done their physical installations and put optometrists in there.

Because if you're really gonna get to this world where like you and I can do this.

Yeah.

We need them to actually help us see.

Oh yeah, right.

There's a functional requirement here, which is also why I can't wear the ones I bought because I can't freaking see Ben.

So like, you know, and that's a real thing.

So that, that is my one caveat here where it actually might slow it down.

The other point is the growth rate that Circanas purporting.

233% I think it was.

Yeah.

Is that fast to you or does that actually sound not very fast?

That sounds not very fast because it's going to be up a small number.

Yeah, exactly right, 100%.

All right, well, let's get to today's lightning round to close us out.

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With technology that can scale your growing e commerce operations, visit rswarehousingsolutions.com alright, Ben, the Emmys were earlier this month and they crowned Widow's Bay and the Pit.

If one retailer got its own prestige TV drama, which company would make the best show and what would you call it?

Oh my God.

So you know, Chris, I'm gonna curveball this.

I'm not going to answer your question in the slightest.

What I am going to do is I want to give a call out to my incredibly talented brother in law Rupert, who was nominated for an Emmy.

Was he really?

This year.

He's a special effects producer and they were nominated for.

For outstanding Special Visual Effects.

Oh my God.

So he was out in LA two weeks ago and Stranger things Won the award.

So they didn't.

Oh, okay.

But kudos to my incredible brother in law, Rupert for his Emmy nomination.

God, your in laws are like steeped in the TV and film industry.

Oh, my God, don't I know it, don't I?

Wow.

All right, Chris, here we go.

Question number two.

You and I have both received the privilege this week of leading mainstage keynote interviews here at Grocery Shop.

So what is your all time favorite conference keynote?

Oh, my God.

That's a hard question to ask or answer.

Not easy question to ask, I guess.

Okay, I got to think.

I got to think of that across three dimensions.

Like, what's the best one I've seen?

The best one I've seen.

The most memorable one I've seen is Shea Wong of Box Box.

Yes.

That dude is freaking hilarious.

Funny stand up.

Funny retail.

Stand up.

Yeah.

And you know, he was compelling too.

The best one I've ever moderated personally, I think was the rapid Fire panel that I did with Ben Thompson and Dave Steck.

That was just my.

That was my all time favorite.

And then the best one I've ever given personally.

Okay.

Is that path to purchase on the store of the future is going to be one hell of a party, Ben.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

You have to tell me about us.

That was like 2019, though.

It was a long time back in the glory days.

Cue Bruce Springsteen.

All right, Merriam Webster welcomed looks, maxing, vibe, coding and cuffing season, which if you know what cuff I had to look up.

Cuffing season.

I'd never heard of that.

To its dictionary this week.

Is there a word you would either like to see added or taken away from the dictionary, Ben?

Yeah, I'm going for added.

Oh, I'd like to see low key added.

Low key.

Oh, that's coming.

Because my daughters use it all the time and low key, Chris, I haven't got a clue what they're talking about.

Yeah, yeah.

I can't believe that's actually not in there.

Before coughing, it would be very helpful to know what they mean.

Yeah.

Given how often my kids say that too.

Yeah.

All right, come on, Chris.

Here we go.

Question number four.

Vegas has now overtaken New York for me as the city outside my home continent, Europe, that I have visited most often.

Something I never planned for.

Sorry.

Yeah, yeah.

Chris, what is the city outside North America that you've been to most?

Oh, you're going to love this one.

London.

Yes, that's the right answer.

100%.

It's London.

Yeah.

Oh, my God.

And I'd live there if I could.

As you know, I love London.

London's the best, man.

It's absolutely the best.

Is absolutely the right answer.

Yeah, right there.

There.

There is a right answer to that question.

All right, well, today's podcast was produced and with the help and support of Ella Siriord, Happy birthday today to Anthony Mackie Schuyler asked into everyone's favorite marine biologist, Jason Alexander.

And remember, if you can only read or listen to one retail blog in the business, make it Omnitalk.

Our Fast five podcast is the quickest, fastest rundown of all the week's top news in our daily newsletter.

The Retail Daily Minute tells you all you need to know each day to stay on top of your game as a retail executive and also regularly feature special content that is exclusive to us and that we take a ton of pride in doing just for you.

Thanks as always for listening in.

Please remember to like and leave us a review wherever you happen to listen to your video podcast or on YouTube.

You can follow us today by simply going to YouTube.com omnitalkretail and if you haven't checked out Grocertalk, Ben, where can they go to find that?

Yeah, of course.

So grocertalk comes through every week on your omnitorque feed.

There's also standalone Grocery Talk feed if you just want all the content we put out about grocery.

And of course, hit me up on LinkedIn at Benmiller Retail.

All right, well, until next week, on behalf of producer Ella, Ben and myself and all of us at Omnitok Retail, as always, be careful out there.