For part of last week, I was in New York for the National Retail Federation's Big Show with Senior Reporter Daphne Howland and Associate Editor Caroline Jansen. We toured stores, sat in on executive presentations and immersed ourselves in all things retail for four days.

This year, the conference was in large part all about the stores: how retailers are reimagining stores, how digital brands are deploying their stores, how tech is transforming stores. It all comes down to something Senior Reporter Daphne Howland said as the team wrapped up its show coverage, that the best invention retail may have turned out to be the brick-and-mortar store. 

On this episode of The Backroom we break down our top takeaways from the show.