On The Front Line of the Retail Apocalypse

"Retail apocalypse" is a term we’re starting to hear frequently.
It suggests a coming meltdown of retail reality due to the impact
of Amazon and other online retailers on brick and mortar stores.
Stephine Riegel's guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Baton
Rouge are, in two very different ways, fighting it out on the
front line of retail apocalypse.


Chris Russo Blackwood is co-owner of Russo Ross, a popular
women’s boutique on Jefferson Highway here in Baton Rouge. Chris
didn’t start out in the retail sector. She was a journalist with
The Advocate and then later with In Register Magazine, which she
headed as publisher. In 2011, Chris sold the magazine and wrote a
true crime book about the murder of local businessman Ted Kergan,
then, in 2012, before the retail apocalypse got started, she and
longtime friend Susan Ross decided to take their careers in a
different direction and opened Russo Ross to offer classic,
well-made clothes at a reasonable price. 


Kevin Langley is on the other side of the apocalypse. Kevin is a
Baton Rouge based entrepreneur and entrepreneurial expert. He's
President & Co-founder of Entrepreneurs Across Borders, a
global nonprofit organization that helps high potential
entrepreneurs in developing countries, and in the retail sector
he's working with the Ebay Retail Revival program, an
anti-apocalypse initiative launched by Ebay a couple of years ago
that came to baton rouge in May 2019. The program is a way to
help small businesses learn how to compete in the digital
marketplace by training them over a 12-month period, providing
them with individualized coaching and promotional support so that
they can learn to succeed on platforms like Ebay. 


This episode of Out to Lunch Baton Rouge was recorded over lunch
at Mansurs On the Boulevard restaurant in Baton Rouge. See photos
from this show and learn more about Out to Lunch Baton Rouge
here.


Hear more about Baton Rouge retail here.


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