IMRA '96: the first chapter in a changing retail story - International Mass Retailing Association - Column

Discount Store News, June 3, 1996 by John Failla

After attending 14 IMRA annual conventions, it's easy for me to acknowledge this year's as the most successful in recent memory.

From a retailer attendance standpoint, Kmart's active and very visible support provided a tremendous boost to the event. An army of Kmart merchandising executives, including U.S. stores president and gmm Warren Flick and chairman Floyd Hall made maximum use of the many opportunities to meet with vendors at the convention. In fact, Warren and Kmart's senior vp of vendor and product development Bill Underwood were two of the last retailing executives to leave the floor of the merchandise show on the last day.

Kmart's active support was in addition to the ongoing support and involvement of both national and regional chains alike. Wal-Mart, as always, showed why it is acknowledged to be one of IMRA's biggest supporters. And Tom Hendra, senior vp of merchandising at ShopKo, demonstrated once again how he and his company get maximum benefit from their time at IMRA. It was a shame, however, to see both Venture and Bradlees choose to stay away from this year's event. The irony is that both of these companies were in a position to benefit from the support of the leading suppliers that attended IMRA and the quality programming that attendees were treated to.

Beyond just the caliber of attendees, the programming at this year's event was outstanding. IMRA has made great strides in delivering information that will help its members deal with a changing retail environment.

An example of this cutting-edge programming was the opening keynote session that featured Andrew Grove of Intel. While some attendees that I spoke with were preoccupied with the technical glitches in Grove's session, many recognized how they were being given a fantastic opportunity to preview new technologies that are going to have an impact on both consumer and retail markets. While the New York Times and Business Week are just starting to feature stories on how telephone calls made over the Internet ("Internet telephony") will impact the telecommunications industry, IMRA members got a sneak peek at how both voice and video will be transmitted over regular phone lines within the next six months using $1,500 personal computers.

In spite of the terrible press in business and consumer media that discount retailing received during the second half of 1995 and the first quarter of 1996, there was a tangible air of optimism at this year's IMRA convention.

Today's IMRA leadership--both president Bob Verdisco and chairman Joe Ettore--have a great deal to be proud of. IMRA is on a roll, and it is in large part due to their efforts and the tireless efforts of IMRA's headquarters staff, as well as the many retailers that serve on IMRA's board of directors and committees.