Editor’s Letter

Jack Trlica, Editor-in-Chief

The Pandemic Is Still Affecting Retail

There’s likely not one retailer who is unaffected by the logistical delays of getting merchandise onto ships, unloading ships in ports, transporting goods to distribution centers, and offloading at your stores. With September cooling the weather, the Delta variant is heating up the pandemic. Several more industry conferences have made the difficult decision to go virtual, as they should. Until we can get COVID under control through enough people getting vaccinated, we will be faced with this quandary for the foreseeable future. Please do your part to get this pandemic under control.

Rob LaCommare and Big Lots

Vice president of asset protection and safety for Big Lots is Rob LaCommare’s latest leadership position in his thirty-plus years in retail security. Like so many loss prevention executives, he found the industry in college when he took a part-time job in retail security stopping shoplifters. His journey included working in convenience, hardware, and apparel—all that experience is now applied to a Big Lots closeout business that has expanded significantly in recent years. His story on page 12 is one readers will find very interesting.

Kinks in the Supply Chain

There’s likely not one retailer who is unaffected by the logistical delays of getting merchandise onto ships, unloading ships in ports, transporting goods to distribution centers, and offloading at your stores. All this is happening as we enter back to school and the upcoming holiday shopping seasons. On page 26, we examine what one person called “a tsunami, created by the pandemic and the cascade of bottlenecks in the supply chain.” In this intriguing article, we’ve interviewed logistics and transportation experts as well as retailer professionals who are working diligently to solve this complex problem.

Retail Evolution and City Tranformation

The pandemic has accelerated the evolution of retail to meet the demands of mandates, social distancing, remote working, curb-side pickup, and other consumer- and business-related changes. What is really interesting is the probability that this rapid retail evolution will trigger transformations in our communities that were likely unimagined just months ago. Check out the discussion on page 40 to get a taste of how city neighborhoods and retail centers may be transformed in the not-too-distant future.

Homelessness in America

Speaking of changes to our cities, homelessness continues to be a profound problem in major US urban areas. A researcher with the Loss Prevention Research Council examines the current situation and possible solutions today and down the road. The article on page 52 certainly ties into the city transformation discussion above as communities and retailers struggle with crime, disorder, and human impact of those living on the streets. It’s an issue that many store associates as well as their customers must contend with on a daily basis. And an issue that society as a whole must address.