IRDC 2022 kicked off with an amazing opening keynote address featuring Ruth Zukerman, the Co-Founder of Flywheel and SoulCycle.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Attendees headed out to explore the Columbus retail scene during Wednesday’s Guided Retail Inspiration Walking Tours powered by the Retail Design Institute Ohio Chapter and sponsored by WD Partners.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

This year’s Iron Merchant Challenge featured one sweet twist with Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream flavors! Now in its 16th annual year, the Iron Merchant Challenge, co-hosted by ZenGenius Inc., pits six teams of 10 attendees against one another to create a window display using a theme and secret ingredient revealed onsite. Teams only have an hour to complete their displays – all while sipping cocktails.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Our Iron Merchant Challenge teams had one secret ingredient, a hodgepodge of materials and just 60 minutes to create a winning display.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Iron Merchant Challenge participants made a mad dash to the materials table to kick off this year’s friendly competition.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Iron Merchant Challenge teams were hard at work developing their display concepts in just one hour!

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The Iron Merchant Blue Team, led by 2021 champ Jay Highland. Each team this year was led by a former reigning Iron Merchant Challenge winner.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The Iron Merchant Green Team, led by Chuck Palmer. Chuck’s team took the theme of “pineapple upside down cake” to heart when flipping their mannequin into this position.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The Iron Merchant Purple Team, led by Bevan Bloemendaal. Bevan has the most Iron Merchant Challenge wins under his belt.

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The Iron Merchant Yellow Team, led by Beth Harlor. Each team was challenged to include an articulated sasquatch hidden within their window – can you find theirs?

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The Iron Merchant Orange Team, led by Sharon Lessard. This year, Sharon’s team took home the coveted 2022 Iron Merchant Challenge sashes.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The Iron Merchant Red Team, led by David Kepron. David has the second-most past Iron Merchant Challenge wins.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Conference Co-Chair, Murray Kasmenn was in for a few surprises during Thursday’s Interactive Workshop: Retail Gets Weird.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Conference attendees teamed up for some hands-on collaboration during Thursday’s Interactive Workshop: Retail Gets Weird.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Congrats to the 2022 Iron Merchant Challenge winning team!

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

IRDC Closing Keynote Gregory Cohen of Lofty Pursuits delivered an entertaining and informative keynote address while he made candy live on stage.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Closing out IRDC 2022 with a perfect view of the city from the roof top at The Revery Space at North 4th Corridor

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

That’s a wrap! IRDC 2022 Closing Party at The Revery Space at North 4th Corridor

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Celebrating the end of #IRDC2022 – Thank you to all of this year’s participating attendees and sponsors!

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Kicking off the second day of IRDC, Christian Davies of Bergmeyer delivered an impactful general session presentation focusing on sustainability and retail’s impact on the environment.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

This year’s event saw more hands-on workshops like “Next Top Retail Concept!” facilitated by Jay Highland and Jody Wasbro of WD Partners, and featuring a retail judging panel. Attendees had to recreate Lazarus department store as it would be in modern times during this sprint challenge.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The interactive panel focusing on the first African American-owned autonomous grocery store, Nourish + Bloom Market, featuring Founders Jilea and Jamie Hemmings, James Margrave of UST and Stuart Armstrong of AAG Consulting, took a look at the latest concept that opened in a notorious food desert.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

Other workshops were more improv-driven, like “Fake it Till You Make It” facilitated by Chuck Palmer and Stephanie Bair-Garant.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

VMSD Managing Editor and IRDC Co-Chair Carly Hagedon interviewed Jeni Britton from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams in a fireside general session chat during the first day of the conference.

The breakout session “Purpose Beyond Profit,” featuring Katherine Cousins and Elizabeth Drori of Sperry and Bevan Bloemendaal of NELSON Worldwide analyzed the importance of purpose-driven initiatives to companies and their customers.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

VMSD’s New York Editor Eric Feigenbaum hosted a special lunchtime presentation focusing on VMSD’s 125th anniversary and its importance to the retail industry.

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Rick Neira of Petco and Daniel Montaño of Little discussed the latest Reddy concept by Petco in this session, “Reddy, Pet … Co!”

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An interactive panel featuring Ed Kovolson of Olipop, Rachel Freidman of Tenfold, Faith Huddleston of Tenspace and Amanda Raines of Tenspace, focused on Olipop’s latest activation within Tenspace, the space that allows brands to test out IRL activations.

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In the breakout session “A Better Future,” Christen Soares of Field Paoli Architects and Melanie Moody of REI examined steps retailers and designers can take in their organizations to become more sustainable, citing real-world examples.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO

The VMSD crew and ZenGenius Co-Founder Joe Baer dressed up as the cast of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – a tribute to L. Frank Baum, who founded the magazine in 1897 and also wrote the 1900 children’s fantasy novel. From left to right: Carly Hagedon, Baer, Murray Kasmenn, Phil Dzikiy and Linda D’Adamo.

📷: RAY LAVOIE, COLUMBUS, OHIO