🕔 Fast Five | Gap Turns Employees Into Influencers, Grocery Keeps Sinking & Albertsons Breeds Canaries

Hello Omni Talk Fans! This week’s Fast Five felt like an old Turning Leaf wine commercial, as we welcomed Josh Hahn to the show.

Josh spent 20 years in corporate retail across Sports Authority and Meijer before joining J Recruiting Services, and by the end of the podcast, it was like new friends became old friends (minus the wine, of course).

Josh and I got on like a house on fire as we discussed:

• Gap Inc. turning its own employees into paid brand influencers: I’ve been saying for over a decade that retailers should put their merchants out front on social media, and Gap finally did it. Josh and I got into why the people who actually know the products (not the pundits) might be the best marketing a retailer has.
• David’s Bridal’s new outlet shop-in-shop: Two guys who have collectively never set foot in a bridal shop debated whether mixing bargain racks with designer gowns under one roof makes sense. I think we held our own though.
• Grocery unit sales falling for a fifth straight month: Josh brought the receipts from his Meijer days on this one. We got into SNAP waivers, GLP-1s, and why “deflation” might be the only thing that saves the grocery industry.
• Hy-Vee’s new 30-minute delivery rollout: We discussed whether this move is table stakes or a genuine differentiator? Josh said it’s both, and I was inclined to agree.
• Albertsons’ ACI Edge restructuring: 11 divisions collapsing into four regions, a forecast cut, and a slide I built with Google Gemini that made me question how Albertsons competes on price long-term.

There’s all that, plus this month’s OmniStar award, Josh’s go-to margarita order, our takes on which celebrity needs to embrace baldness, and how a taco shop somehow won a french fry ranking.

Listen to This Week’s Fast Five Podcast

Be careful out there,

— Chris and the entire Omni Talk team

P.S. What do you call a grape that is an anti-diuretic?

Pinot More.

P.P.S. Starting today Omni Talk is on a two-week vacation. We will return on August 17th because, as my high school English teacher used to say, “Vacations are meant to be vacated.”