Retail Pride Author Ron Thurston on the power of human connecting
Posted by Marcus LaRobardiere on Nov 17, 2020
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Working in the retail industry is sometimes perceived as a transient experience. Some individuals may work part-time retail jobs to support themselves through school, while others explore the industry as a way of discovering where their interests lie. Some people accidentally find their way to retail and realize it’s exactly where they’re meant to be. Regardless of the situation, the industry offers one constant to its employees: a sense of pride.
Ron Thurston, Vice President of Stores at Intermix, wanted to explore the notion of retail pride—which then turned into the title of his new book. Born and raised in a small resort town, Ron has worked in retail since his high-school days. Although his passion always drew him to fashion and retail, he encountered many types of colleagues throughout his extensive career, some of whom ended up in the industry by accident—and stayed after falling in love with it.
In Retail Pride, Ron covers the must-have qualities for retail leadership success, the perceptions and stereotypes that accompany working in the retail industry, and the factors that lead to great sales.
Ron sat down with NewStore’s Senior Director of Marketing, Marcus LaRobardiere, for an Endless Aisle podcast episode to discuss the inspiration behind his book and offer his thoughts on how we can change the industry conversation and celebrate retail pride. Read on for some highlights from their conversation, some of which have been edited for clarity.
On the inspiration for his book’s title
“When I was thinking about the concepts for the book and the title, it was originally Retail: The Accidental Career That’s Okay To Love, but turned into Retail Pride. I would venture to say most that work in retail say, ‘This was never my plan. I studied something else. I worked part-time in the mall while I was in college.’ The statistics show that a third of the country worked retail at some point in their life. So, there [are] millions of people who worked in it and many millions then stayed. [I] have people even on my team that have incredible college degrees, that they use in different ways, but they ended up in retail leadership by accident.
“It’s very common for someone to say, ‘This was not my plan, but I love it. I didn’t really ever want to run a store, but I’m just obsessed with this industry.’ That, for me, needed to be celebrated and talked about.”
How his childhood experiences shaped his interests
“I grew up in Lake Tahoe, a little resort town. All the basic retail businesses in South Lake Tahoe, my grandfather was part of, and then built custom homes. But ultimately, [he] became the CEO of a large construction company. I really learned about leadership and serving from him. My grandmother owned a fabric store in South Lake Tahoe, and she taught me how to sew. As I was growing up and I wanted to go to fashion design school, I wanted to make my own clothes. [It] really inspired my love of fabric and fashion and this idea that you can actually understand both sides of the business.”
On the importance of optimism in retail
“I truly believe that’s where the core of great service starts—with your attitude and your ability to connect and your willingness to create an environment that is optimistic. Optimistic that you don’t have a lot of traffic today, but ‘I’m going to find a way to drive business. I’m optimistic about the team around me, and I’m going to use all of these skills to get them to the place that they want to go.’”
On the role of empathy in sales
“Great sales starts with great empathy and listening. Like, ‘How are you doing? What’s happened? What has been your experience?’ The better you are at that, the better you are at listening. It’s part of the other pillar around curiosity. Learning how to listen, learning how to ask great questions, doing it in an empathetic way goes so far today, in everything that we do. When I think about great retail, it’s really empathy and the curiosity and the focus to get it done. If those three things aren’t aligned or built as the foundation, it’s going to be really hard to have successful retail—regardless of price, regardless of the customer base.”
On serving as a board member for Goodwill
“I said, ‘If I’m going to work as a board member, I want to do it in a retail business, where I can add the most amount of value.’ The part of it that I think was so special about Goodwill is it’s about their mission of removing obstacles to employment. All the donations that come through Goodwill retail are then turned into things like community centers and support networks and temp placement agencies and training seminars. So, the better that retail is doing and more revenue generated, the more they can help remove obstacles to employment.
“For me, it’s so magical to say, ‘How can I support you to have a better retail business, which in turn helps the world?’”
On changing the conversation around retail
“Often, I tell someone what I do—that I work in retail—and they’re like, ‘Oh. Well, it must be really hard.’ ‘Oh, isn’t Amazon taking all your business?’
“Eighty-plus percent of all commerce is still done in brick and mortar. So, it’s [about] changing the conversation. It’s changing the pride that happens for everyone that works in stores. It’s changing how people think about retail and the future of this industry and its perception. When I think about 2021, it’s like, ‘What else can we do together through community, through having conversations through social media platforms and organizations like NewStore?’ We can change the conversation and pay it forward.”
