As a world traveler I have been lucky enough to experience retail from most of the corners of this planet and recently I have been requested to give my opinion on which place (or city) could be a prime example of a good relationship between community and retailers. I didn’t hesitate to mention Detroit as my top of the list. It was an easy pick because in my ten years of studying the “anthropology of retail”, I have rarely seen such a turn around like the one happening in the former economic capital of the Midwest. I remember I had the chance to visit this city for the first time some years ago, right in the middle of its crisis and, very recently, after reading some news, I have convinced a group of European retailers to come back with me and see the changes I heard about. I was curious to discover how much of it was real.

 

Well I have to confess what we found surprised all of us. We discovered a city revitalized by the effort of all its citizens (from the big guys to the normal people) to put Detroit back on track. And It worked. We were Impressed by the turnaround of almost everything, from the market to all the stores in downtown. From the Whole Foods Market store on the southern border of Midtown that is now a symbol of the game – changing initiatives, to all the groceries visited outside the Central city.

 

However, I have to confess that what we loved most was the pride we found in every store visited and the will to transform the city. We know that Detroit is only halfway in, but the impressive effort made to give new life to the city was a lesson for all of our retailers, that know very well how important is their role in their community and we felt we needed to contribute, as well.

 

As a result of our visit we invited the CEO of Shinola, Tom Lewand to speak to our European Summit in Italy and to share the story on how and why this company placed its bet on Detroit. He explained how much the sense of community and the principle of “doing well by doing good” can really drive the success of your business, as well as positively affect the city where you choose to plant your roots.  Europe still views Detroit as a city in crisis and we need to keep continuing to spread the word and let them know that this city is back in business, ready to write a new chapter about how to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, ready to welcome international retailers.

 

About Massimo Volpe
For 8 years Massimo was the director of POPAI Italy; as of 2012 the European development director of POPAI Europe; and as of 2014 VP of POPAI Global. Today he is in chairman of FIRAE and GM of Retail Institute Italy. He is currently resides in New York City and he spends most part of time on a plane discovering retail trends around the world.