NRFF Executive Director, Kathy Mance, and Director of Retail Learning Solutions, Sarah Conrad, traveled to Alexandria, Egypt to present at a conference of 1,000 members of the Chamber of Commerce.  As part of the opening ceremony, Kathy officially signed an agreement with Chamber Chairman Ahmed El Wakil to develop and localize a Retail Training and [...]

DECA, a student organization with programs in Buying & Merchandising, Fashion Merchandising, Retail Marketing, Retail Merchandising, and more, is a great partner of NRF Foundation — and retail. Last fall, I had the opportunity to speak on a panel about how the organization prepares students for the workforce. With over 185,000 high school members, DECA [...]

NRF Foundation’s Executive Director, Kathy Mance, traveled to Beijing, China earlier this month to follow up on a training program first delivered in December.  While there, Kathy watched a retail training program in action (and delivered in Chinese!), tasted new cuisine and climbed the Great Wall of China. But what excited her most was learning about the retail opportunities [...]

When Drexel University signed on as an NRFF College Partner, I wanted to learn more about how the Design and Merchandising program prepared students for the real world.  They referred me to Abby Kessler and Katie Loftus, co-owners of SMAK Parlour in Philadelphia.  After speaking with them, I became so impressed that these two best [...]

Valentine’s Day is over.  You bought the flowers, the gifts and shared the romantic dinner. I can’t help but think about a different kind of love – a love for working in retail. What I love about this industry is that it provides a niche for everyone, whether it’s sales, marketing, buying, supply chain or [...]