According to Gary Hoover, McCombs’ former entrepreneur-in-residence, retailing has a certain mystery about it. While it is known as being hard work, low profit and intensely competitive, the industry has spawned some of the world’s largest companies and greatest fortunes. How can this be, in an industry which does not require highly technical expertise or advanced degrees, and that is not generally protected by patents and trade secrets?

Retailing is one of the world’s largest and most important service industries, and as such should be a great source of learning how to innovate in the burgeoning global service economy, Hoover says.

Many think that the greatest retailer of all time was Sam Walton. But even a cursory examination of the historical evolution of retailing leads us to understand that the basic ideas underlying Wal-mart – and most of the world’s other major retailers – are rooted deep in the late 19th and early 20th century. Patterns set by John Wanamaker, Richard Sears, Frank W. Woolworth and James Cash Penney led the way.

In his talk, Hoover leads the audience visually through the major innovations of retailing, the people who dreamed them up and executed them and their role in shaping American life and retail practices around the globe.