Sustainability in retail will certainly be a main focus for this year’s Retail Facilities Summit as well with companies such as Staples, IKEA and Home Depot sharing their insights on being more environmentally conscious.

But of course the networking doesn’t end there. For the first time at the Retail Facilities Summit we will be introducing a brand new networking activity- indoor kart racing! The summit will kick off in style  on Sunday, June 24^th at the Pole Position Raceway Las Vegas. All those in attendance will have the opportunity to compete in head to head races, network in any of the meeting rooms on site, or try their hand at a variety of billiard games. This networking session will allow all participants to interact in a relaxed setting and get ready for the days of learning ahead- and of course get out of the Las Vegas summer heat!

Click here to view all program details for the 2012 Retail Facilities Summit.

Where Atari opened the doors for all other gaming systems, his creation of Chuck E Cheese Restaurants began a new genre of dining out that moved beyond just eating and integrated gaming and fun instead of focusing solely on the food. Many would argue that Chuck E Cheese paved the way for a number restaurants that followed this model – probably the most notable being Dave and Buster’s. In developing this restaurant concept Bushnell put the focus on building a better overall customer experience.  It was not enough to simply provide a product but the question really became, what are we doing to engage our customers? Given today’s retail environment consumers certainly have more choices than ever and differentiating one’s self from the competition through building a better in-store experience has become an everyday challenge. In his discussion session at the Retail Facilities Summit, Nolan will reflect on how innovation has helped him create better experiences  and will provide insight on where he thinks the retail industry is going in continuing to engage customers.

This is of course very good news for Apple but should not be viewed as a slight for the overall retail sector. With consumer confidence slowly creeping back up and U.S retail sales for 2011 at around $4.2 trillion, the retail sector is showing certain signs of life and will be a major contributing factor to the U.S. economic turnaround. Retailers are now tasked with truly understanding their shoppers better and meeting their needs at all channels, including guiding their in-store experiences. Developing a renowned in-store design and experience is certainly another area where Apple has excelled and more and more retailers are beginning to take note.

Steve Hagen, Director of Procurement & Engineering at Fresh & Easy, noted in a recent article published by Supermarket News that “Environmental responsibility is part of our DNA. We’ve made a commitment to invest in sustainable technologies from the start.” Not only are stores retrofitted to meet certain sustainability criteria but Fresh & Easy is also committed to constructing all new stores to meet LEED certification requirements. With more and more attention being focused on sustainability efforts in the retail space, Fresh & Easy has proven to be a true industry leader in staying committed to being “green” starting at the construction phase and continuing throughout all facets of the retail locations.

We very much look forward to welcoming Steve Hagen as one of our featured presenters at the 2012 Retail Facilities Summit. Steve will provide further insights in his efforts to keep Fresh & Easy stores sustainable and energy efficient.

Tied with REI as a winner in the softlines category, Uniqlo continues its entrance into the U.S. with a flagship store that rivals much of the competition. Uniqlo boasts prime real estate on an enviable 5^th Avenue location in the heart of New York City and is also their largest store to date. Not only is the size of this location impressive, but the modern and sleek design made it catch the eyes of the judges for this year’s competition. At 89,000 square feet this was certainly no simple task in the construction and design of this unique store location. Adorned with a number of unique features including high tech audio/visual system and LED illuminated stair risers, Uniqlo’s flagship location is more than just a retail store, it is a true experience. Upon entering the store an escalator leads shoppers throughout all three floors of the store which allows for a more open flow store design. On top of all the other amenities, rotating store mannequins and engaging display windows highlight the modern and futuristic nature of the Uniqlo brand. Store details can be found by visiting the company website and this is certainly a location that warrants a special visit.

Brian French who currently leads store development for Uniqlo will be one of the featured speakers at the 2012 Retail Facilities Summit and will recount his role in creating a presence for Uniqlo to the United States. We very much look forward to welcoming Brian to this year’s summit and anticipate even further growth for Uniqlo in the near future!

At the 2011 Retail Facilities Summit, Cliff DeSanto and Steven Guy from Dunkin Brands shared their success utilizing value engineering. In 2009 Dunkin Brands embarked on a system-wide value engineering initiative. Having made great strides in reducing investment costs, Steve and Cliff shared their success thus far and their ongoing work.

Nick Shaffer from the USGBC alongside John Sklet from Citi detail current sustainability initiatives that are being executed in the retail space. Nick Shaffer kicks off the session by debuting the new Building Performance Partnership for 2011. The building performance partnership tracks data from certified buildings to understand how they perform. This will create reliable data showing the quantifiable benefits of maintaining a LEED certified building. John Sklet further details Citi’s involvement with the Volume Program through the USGBC. The program allows John to understand how each branch operates and what brings the organization value.

PowerPoint-Free Sessions- Have you found that sitting in session after session featuring long-winded PowerPoint presentations has gotten stale? So have we! Because of this we are limiting the use of PowerPoints to only images in order to make the sessions more of a two-way dialogue rather than a one-way presentation. The summit will feature session leaders that know the industry and know the issues and are looking to engage and challenge all participants.

More Roundtables Sessions- Picked by You!- In order to make the summit as valuable as possible for everyone in attendance we have added more roundtable sessions to ensure that you have the opportunity to discuss the topics that matter most in your world. There is no longer a need for attendees  to worry about obtaining enough information in their time away from the office – now there will be a number of roundtable sessions to ensure that everyone has a chance to be truly involved. Not only will there be more roundtable sessions but the topics will be selected by you! With the new interactive website feature , attendees will be able to submit the topics you would like to discuss the most at the summit.

Unique Networking Activities- Instead of networking over 18 holes; this year’s summit will take you off to the races! The summit will kick off on Sunday, June 24^th at the race track of Pole Position Raceway. The race track features the fastest indoor karts in the U.S. for participants to challenge their colleagues and peers to exciting races. And if kart racing is not their thing- summit attendees can network in any one of the private event rooms on site or test their skills with free arcade and billiard games. This activity is sure to get everyone engaged and ready for the rest of the summit!

Even with all of these changes this year, the Retail Facilities Summit will maintain the core elements of bringing together senior executives of store development, design and construction for peer discussions and collaborative knowledge exchange. We anticipate that all those that participate will find value in attending and we look forward to welcoming them back each year!