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How Technology Helps Achieve Retail Sustainability Goals

In the rapidly evolving retail industry, sustainability has emerged as a critical priority for businesses and consumers alike. As environmental awareness grows, retailers and restaurant […]

Streamline Your Business with Mainstreet’s Exceptional POS Installation Services

In today’s fast-paced retail environment, having a reliable and efficient point-of-sale (POS) system is essential for businesses to thrive. Mainstreet understands the importance of a […]

Benefits of POS Installation Services and Support

When setting up your POS (Point of Sale) system in your retail or restaurant chain, the software and hardware are just a portion of the […]

Retail Sustainability & QSR – How 12 Major Chains Rate

Retail sustainability has been a focus for many chains as consumers and stakeholders drive the need for increased accountability. As retailers are in varying stages […]

Sustainability in Retail – State of the Industry

When sustainability comes up in a retail conversation, you can quickly be overwhelmed by the enormity of the responsibility and depth of the issue for […]

Mainstreet and HP Engage – Making the Transition from Legacy Systems Easy

Retail innovation rates continue to accelerate as retailers continue to adapt their businesses to changing consumer demands and market conditions. When it comes to choosing POS […]

Thinking Beyond the Kitchen’s Four Walls – Restaurant Tech Tools After Covid

Over the past two years, restaurants have been forced to innovate creatively and strategically in ways that will permanently change how Americans eat out. To […]

The Drive Thru and Mobile Pickup Revolution

Despite today’s business challenges, restaurants are figuring out new ways to use technology and smart strategies to boost drive thru performance, streamline their operations, increase […]

The Retail Wild West – Frontline Retail Workers Podcast

It’s not every day that you’re invited to participate in one of your favorite podcasts so when Frontline Innovators co-host Gene Signorini invited me to […]

How to Deal with Technology Shortages – Repair, Renew, Refurbish

Not only are retailers and restaurant operators dealing with supply chain issues, labor shortages and rising labor costs, they’re also experiencing technology shortages resulting from […]

5 Essential Retail Strategies for 2022

What a year 2021 was for retail! We saw store openings outpace store closures for the first time in several years. Total US retail growth […]

Beat Restaurant Labor Shortages with Technology

This is the final installment of our three-part article series on tackling today’s biggest restaurant business challenges with innovative technologies, we look at how operators […]

How Ghost Kitchens Help Restaurants Deal with Today’s Scary Trends

In part two of our three-article series on restaurants using technology to tackle current business challenges, we take a look at ghost kitchens. A ghost […]

MDM Strategies: Turn Emergency Decisions Into Coherent Long-Term Success

Guest blog from our friends and partners at 42Gears. Thank you from the Mainstreet team! How do you pull together a dozen short-term plans into […]

Can’t Find Enough Retail Workers? Here’s a Perfect Solution.

Retail labor shortages and increased labor costs. How do you grow your business and remain profitable if you have to operate with fewer workers and […]

Hybrid Grocery – Why It’s Time for Grocers to Plot Their Future Technology Strategy

We’ve all experienced and benefitted from hybrid grocery as many grocery shoppers are embracing the ease of online ordering with a mix of click and […]

Why Android Enterprise Device Users Need to Upgrade Their Mobile Device Management Now

If your business uses Android mobile computers or tablets, now is the time to update your mobile device management (MDM) strategy with Android Enterprise. A […]

Strategies for Managing Today’s Complex Web of Enterprise Mobility

As grocers, retailers, and other companies have become more mobile and have increased the number and types of mobile devices they use inside and outside […]

6 Big Challenges for Grocery Stores in 2021 (and How to Solve Them)

As we’re still looking to turn the corner on a public health crisis, grocers are assuming a more proactive and less reactive posture. They’re looking […]

Grocery Technology Used by 10 Top Chains for 2021 & Beyond

In 2020, retailers were forced to re-think business, beginning the era of contactless shopping and technologically advanced stores. While stores around the nation put new […]

Review of 2020 Retail Trends and the Retailers Who Succeeded

2020 was a transformative year for every industry to say the least. Overnight, the retail landscape was turned on its head, accelerating the closure of […]

4 Ways Restaurant Technology Transforms Operations and Boosts Margins

In this challenging year, while many restaurants have closed their doors others have been able to stay in business and stay ahead of the competition [...]

3 Ways to Get the Greatest Return from Your Retail Technology Investment

  Retail Stores have shifted their focus thanks to COVID-19. Retailers now need to keep your stores open while maintaining a safe, engaging environment for […]

Unifying Restaurant and Retail Communications with Workforce Connect

Thanks to the Internet, wireless networking, and mobile devices, it’s now far easier for everyone to communicate in real-time via voice and text. But many […]

Restaurants and Covid-19: Now What?

Now that the U.S. is nearly two months into the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant owners and managers are taking a step back to say “now what?” […]

COVID-19: How Retail Technology Strategies are Evolving to Accommodate Customer Needs

The global COVID-19 pandemic will no doubt be one of the defining moments of 2020, if not the whole decade, with implications of the pandemic […]

A Shoutout to Dallas Restaurants and Beyond Who are Spreading Positivity Amid COVID-19

Nearly everyone around the world has been affected by the novel COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus. As many are forced to work and learn from […]

11 Retailers Who are Spreading Positivity and Giving Back During COVID-19

To say that we are living in uncertain times is more than an understatement. The global spread of COVID-19 has disrupted daily life for many […]

4 Practical Uses of RFID in Retail

The retail landscape is constantly changing, especially as technology continues to develop. Retailers persistently look for new and exciting ways to engage their customers while […]

Retail Industry Insights – A Decade in Review

Despite the concern across the industry that retail is dying, it is in fact a still growing sector. There are over one million retail establishments […]

4 Critical Convenience Store Technology Investments for 2020 and Beyond

Digital transformation and technology investments are changing the way many industries do business, and convenience stores are no different. As the industry experiences shifts and […]

A Decade in Review on Restaurant Technology

Last year, restaurants across the US generated a record $863 billion in sales from more than a million locations. That is outpacing grocery retail sales […]

The Art of Simplifying In-Store Technology

No matter how you look at it, technology has seemingly taken over all aspects of our lives, from how we get our news and weather […]

4 Ways to Improve Retail Profit Margins

Profit margin: the ever-present metric looming over retailers everywhere.  It’s a constant battle to shave off costs and increase revenue to keep that number ever-growing […]

Combat Rising Restaurant Labor Costs with Mobile Technology

Historically low unemployment, new minimum wage laws, and increasing labor competition are all contributing to rising restaurant labor costs. However, there are some steps restaurants […]

Restaurant Management Tips for Improving the Way You Handle Tech

Automation and mobility are infiltrating every facet of restaurant operations, from food prep to inventory and customer service. Because of this, restaurant technology is now […]

Grocery eCommerce: From Milkman to Instacart in Only Fifty Years

It’s ironic, if you think about it. Retail technology has advanced leaps and bounds over the years, and has brought us so far into the […]

To Comply or Not – Owners Face Compliance Deadline for EMV at Gas Stations & C-Stores in the US

Have you made the switch to EMV technology at your fuel pumps and inside your convenience stores yet? Or, are you among the many that […]

Brands Refocus on Delivering Great Retail Customer Service

You can have a fantastic looking store, the latest retail technology and the best merchandise but it means nothing without good retail customer service and […]

Improve Your Restaurant’s Profit Margin with Next Gen Tech

Rising food costs, increased competition, sluggish industry growth, a diminished talent pool, minimum wage hikes – it feels like the deck is stacked against the […]

How to Cultivate a Great Convenience Store Customer Experience

Convenience stores operate in an environment where elements of both retail and restaurant blend together in one space, creating a convenience store customer experience that […]

An Enterprise Plan for Migrating from Windows to Android

Time is running out on the Windows Embedded mobile operating system, and many companies are in the process of migrating from Windows to Android on […]

Restaurant Industry Trends You Need to Know for 2019

Change is inevitable, and to survive in the restaurant world, your business must be willing to make adjustments based on the current industry trends and […]

Make Your Industrial Grade Mobile Devices More Reliable

You’ve been operating a manufacturing plant or a distribution center long enough to know that plenty of things can and will go wrong when it […]

9 Steps for a Smooth Migration to a New OS

Are you ready for January 13, 2020? That’s the day Microsoft will end support for Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 Operating System. End of support for […]

A Tribute to Our Colleague and Friend, Jerry Lewis

Our longtime friend and Mainstreet colleague Gerald (Jerry) Lewis passed away in the final hours of 2018 after a prolonged illness. This post is our […]

2019 Retail Trends: Using Technology to Improve Your Customer Experience

If you could invest in one new piece of technology that could magically have a significant impact on your retail store in 2019, what would […]

Sam’s Go Now: Scan and Go Shopping from a Neighborhood Perspective

Customer Experience  Most of us in the industry know about the new Sam’s GoNow store in urban Dallas as a technology incubator for the company […]

The Evolution of Retail: Expert Fran Clark Discusses 61 Years in the Retail Industry

Every once in a while, you have the privilege of knowing someone who makes everyone around them better. Francis Clark is just one of those […]

How to Use Innovative Retail Technology to Improve the Way Shoppers Experience Your Brand

Customer experiences are quickly becoming the key brand differentiator for retail businesses. A study by Digimarc and Planet Retail found that 44% of retail executives […]

How Mobile Barcodes Can Improve Restaurant Marketing and Motivate Customers

Do you want to motivate your customers into visiting your restaurant and keep them coming back again and again and improve your restaurant’s marketing strategy? […]

Enterprise-Grade vs. Consumer-Grade Mobile Devices for Business

Many industries are adopting touch mobile computers and tablets for mobile workflows, but a critical decision is whether to choose rugged enterprise-grade hardware or consumer-grade […]

It’s the Beginning — Not the End — for Brick and Mortar Retail

There’s plenty of speculation and analysis of what the brick and mortar retail store of the future will look like. Most agree physical stores won’t […]

RFID in Retail – Item Level Tagging and How It Works

RFID, or radio frequency identification, is one of the fastest-growing technologies in retail and apparel manufacturing. RFID in retail often involves item-level tagging, in which […]

Leave it Better than You Found It: A Mobile Strategy Mantra for Your IT Department

Thanks to Mainstreet’s own Dustin Hamann for this guest blog There are many things in life that are good enough. Yet, I still remember the […]

The 3 Best Retail Technology Solutions You Need to Have in Your Store

In today’s retail environment, with increasing percentages of sales online, brick-and-mortar stores need to improve their in-store customer experiences in order to stay competitive. It […]

Mobile Computing Alert: The End of Windows and the Future of Your Mobile Hardware

The mobile computing industry is undergoing a massive change due to Microsoft’s abandonment of the enterprise market, and this will inevitably impact your business. In […]

Retail Industry Insider Insights – Touchscreen Innovator Elo Talks About the Future of POS

Whenever we get around retail industry pros, innovators or trendsetters we try to pick their brain to glean a little insight into what’s happening in […]

Building Your Retail Strategy? Don’t Forget the Right Printers.

How Leveraging the Right Technology can Improve Your Retail Strategy.   Not too many years ago, analysts were predicting doom for many brick-and-mortar retail stores, […]

Experiential Retail – Levi’s True-to-Brand Approach Works

How the historic brand is getting creative with experiential retail and the in-store shopping experience. You’d have a better chance of winning the Powerball Jackpot […]

Pay at the Table Technology from Your Customer’s Perspective

It’s been like a slow-moving locomotive just pulling out of a station but pay at the table technology adoption at fine dining and quick service […]

How to Enhance Retail Customer Experience with Digital Signage and Self-Service Kiosks

With a goal of differentiating their brands and winning loyalty in the current climate of industry disruption, businesses are turning to technology solutions such as […]

Convenience Store Profit Margins Get a Boost from Food Sales

As owners keep an eye on shifting market trends, they see an opportunity to improve their convenience store profit margins by offering a wider, healthier […]

Experiential Retail at NRF 2018: MMLaFleur

Over the past few years, the National Retail Federation (NRF) has done something innovative with its annual Big Show technology conference. They curate the top […]

The Cutting Edge of Retail Technology: Top 6 NRF 2018 Recap Blogs

Buffeted by strong holiday sales and a projected 3.7 to 4.2% retail sales growth in 2018, The National Retail Federation (NRF) kicked off the year […]

Make Your 2018 Retail Strategy More Manageable

Disruption, interrupters, apocalypse – those buzzwords from 2017 are probably on the list of things you’re sick of hearing about. Now that Business Insider has […]

How Technology Can Foster an Employee-Centric Company Culture in Your Restaurants

Restaurant company culture has come to the forefront of the labor shortage conversation as restaurant owners and managers wrestle with the fallout from a diminishing […]

Keep “IT” Pumping with Mobile Device Management (MDM)

Forrester reports that 45% of senior decision makers are looking at external expertise to help them with their MDM (Mobile Device Management) solution. When mobility […]

3 Technologies that Cut Restaurant Labor Costs

Restaurant labor costs are big problem for restaurants of all types and sizes and with competition for good employees, labor regulations, minimum wage bumps and […]

Restaurant technologies, 7 solutions you can’t afford to miss

79% of diners agree that restaurant technologies make their dining experience better (Source: Toast 2016 Restaurant Technology Report) With labor, operations, supply chains, and food […]

5 Restaurant Trends You’ll Want to Know About

Our blog series on restaurant trends. Much like retail stores, traditional restaurants are experiencing disruptive factors more than even before. We interviewed some industry veterans […]

TreeHouse Transforms Home Improvement Retail Stores

Part of Mainstreet’s series on exceptional brick-and-mortar retail stores Beautiful, sustainable & healthy home improvement TreeHouse is built on the foundation that all homes can […]

Why America Still Needs Brick and Mortar Retailers

A Half Year Check Up on the State of US Brick and Mortar Retail It’s been a tumultuous and eventful first half of 2017 as […]

Retailers Are Investing in Brick & Mortar Stores

More validation that brick & mortar stores are an essential part of the retail shopping experience As others are closing their doors, here are some […]

Retail Technology Improves the In-Store Shopping Experience

4 Ways to Leverage Retail Technology Take a moment to think about how your store looks from the customer’s perspective. What are they experiencing when […]

U.S. Department Stores: Seeds of Extinction

Department stores have been declining for decades Can they return to relevance? The plight of department stores is representative of far-reaching changes in our society: […]

Essentials of Successful Technology Deployments, part 2

Gain better control of your technology deployments Part 2 of 2: Why technology deployments fail. Importance of Life Cycle & OnSite services. What to look […]

Essentials of successful retail technology deployments

Best Practices from Solution Experts First of two parts 2017 is shaping up to be a year of retail technology deployments as retailers invest in […]

Customer experience shines at new Neiman Marcus store

And it’s not just about in-store technology There has been considerable press in the DFW area over the past month about Neiman Marcus’ new Clearfork […]

Experiential Retail: Samsung 837

A store where you can’t buy anything? A DJ booth where you get your Samsung tablet fixed? That’s what you’ll find at Samsung 837. And […]

NRF 2017 Big Show, Best Recaps

The NRF 2017 Big Show is the essential retail technology showcase. The challenge for most everyone is that the show is so big, you can’t […]

Retail IoT – Roundtable on the Internet of Things

Transforming Retail Our team spends a lot of time with retailers. It’s a great opportunity for us as we learn firsthand about their strategies and […]

Epson POS: point-of-service solutions for retail

Extend beyond just printing Longevity has always been the foundation of our 20+ year partnership with Epson.  Not only have we worked closely creating in-store […]

Celebrate National Volunteer Week

National Volunteer Week April 10 to 16, 2016 Transform communities & strengthen nonprofits through volunteerism. National Volunteer Week inspires, recognizes and encourages people to pursue […]

Industry veteran joins the Mainstreet team

Lead Systems Engineer We are pleased to announce that Doug Lawrance has joined Mainstreet as our Lead Systems Engineer.  Doug will work with our leadership […]

Retail Mobility: Enterprise Tablets Drive Customer Engagement

Retail mobility enables side-by-side interactions that transform the in-store shopping experience Guest blog from our mobility partner, Janam Technologies LLC. Our thanks to Harry Lerner, […]

Retail’s digital engagement adoption

Thanks to our digital signage partner SignStix for their guest blog post.  Great insights about how digital signage continues to transform retail and hospitality by […]

Digital Signage Solutions for Retailers

Partnership Delivers Superior Digital Signage Solutions to Retailers New solutions from Mainstreet & SignStix drive in-store personalization and an immersive shopping experience. January 12, 2016, Grand Prairie, […]

Honoring WW2 veterans, our greatest generation

WWII veterans from Texas honored in DC as part of Pearl Harbor remembrance Mainstreet in the community In remembrance of the 74th anniversary of Pearl […]

Partnership Delivers Robust, Flexible Mobile Solutions to Retailers

Mainstreet announces its mobile solutions partnership with Janam Technologies, LLC. New mobile solutions from Mainstreet improve in-store productivity and create a better shopping experience. December […]

Retailers evolve store concepts

New concepts, new markets Smart retailers are evolving their brick-and-mortar store concepts to more effectively compete against ecommerce, respond to changing US demographics including urbanization […]

Retail technology perspectives & challenges

Our Retail Technology Executive Roundtable Results Retailer Perspectives   Retail technology executives from leading retailers recently participated in a Store Systems networking event hosted by Mainstreet, […]

Honoring our veterans

Mainstreet supports K9s for Warriors Mainstreet recently was honored to co-sponsor Yappy Hour DFW, an event devoted to increasing awareness and fundraising for K9s for […]

Beyond retail mobility: engage customers & keep the sale

Our guest blog from Mike Kearby, President, AML When it comes to brick-and-mortar retail, the utilization of mobile technology is hands-down the leading vehicle for […]

An Inspired Vision on Top 10 Retail Technologies for 2015

Guest blog from Tony D’Onofrio, Vice-President for Global Accounts / Source Tagging at Tyco Retail Solutions, Visionary and recognized as one of “Vend’s Top 50 […]

Retail Systems: AML & Mainstreet Inc. join forces

Partnership offers interactive customer engagement technology to retailers New partnership combines customer engagement technology with value-added services to provide retailers with tools to facilitate true omni-channel […]

Mobile systems boost retail stores

Mobility ranks in the top 3 retailer priorities for 2015 Mobile systems are proving to be an important in-store component of effective omnichannel retailing. They […]

Mobile payment industry: news, deals & buys

Apple Pay, PayPal, Google Wallet/Android Pay, Samsung Pay, CurrentC The mobile payment industry is rapidly changing as both new players and established providers step up […]

IoT Retail: Retail’s Internet of Every Thing

How the IoT Retail is revolutionizing retail models The Internet of Things (IoT), or to use the term coined by major contributor Cisco, the Internet […]

Bricks & Clicks: online merchants disrupt traditional retail stores

technology invigorates ‘brick and mortar’ retail stores Amazon@Purdue, Warby Parker, Rebecca Minkoff, Birchbox   Brick-and-mortar retail got a big boost this week when Amazon announced […]

Retail checkout innovation in the Internet of Things

Satisfying the need for speed at the POS checkout   From Cisco’s Retail Insights series:  Retailers still need to take care of the basics even […]

Solutions for retail store closings

Macy’s, jcp, Abercrombie, Office Depot, Aeropostale are some of the retailers reducing store counts   One thing that’s for certain in retail….change is a reality. […]

EMV implementation guide for retailers

Pymnts.com article gives retailers a step-by-step guide to EMV implementation Fraud related to counterfeit cards has been essentially eliminated fraud in countries where EMV is […]

Top 10 Women in Retail Technology

Female executives make their mark on the world of retail technology Chain Store Age selects 10 female retail technology executives who have truly demonstrated leadership, […]

Mobile payments kick-started by Apple Pay?

Insights and observations about Apple Pay’s ease of use, consumer feedback and impact on mobile payments. Dallas Morning News article by Maria Halkias, Oct 22 […]

Retail POS prepares for Apple Pay

Apple Pay will significantly transform mobile payments and retail POS.  This post reviews how Apple Pay works, its security features, the partnerships Apple has forged with […]

Retail POS prepares for EMV, NFC & Apple Pay

Insights & observations for retail POS Part 1, EMV There’s a strong case for US retailers to implement secure payment systems at the retail POS.  […]

Macy’s $1B CapEx to fulfill Customer Demand

        Retail Technology is key both in-store & across all channels http://bit.ly/1peRACD RIS News:  Macy’s applies $1billion CapEx budget to projects that […]

Nordstrom’s Trunk Club Suits Dallas

Dallas is enjoying the revitalization of menswear with the opening of three high profile retail stores – Trunk Club, Bonobos and custom clothier Knot Standard […]

Mainstreet Inc. Introduces VP Client Engagement

Retail technology leader Terry Kasen joins our leadership team   Mainstreet Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of Terry L. Kasen to its leadership […]

Why celebrate local independent retail stores?

July is Independent Retailer Month when we celebrate and support local, independent retail stores across the US. The reasons to shop local are compelling: When […]

NRF’s Top 100 Retailers

Amazon breaks into the top 10 Recap https://nrf.com/news/top-100-retailers Chart https://nrf.com/2014/top100-table ‘The current retail revolution isn’t about overthrowing the old elite, it’s about the speed with […]

Navigating the changing landscape of the retail POS industry

Insights & observations Mobile POS, M&A activity within the major OEM’s, retailers closing stores, others planning major POS investments within the next 12 to 24 […]

Oracle buys Micros for $5.3 billion. Really? $5.3 billion?

Guest blog by Verlin Youd, Global Technology Solutions executive and Managing Director of VPY llc, an industry strategic advisory firm focused on retail.     […]

Oracle to buy Micros Systems for $5.3 billion — Bloomberg

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-23/oracle-buys-micros-for-4-6-billion-to-add-hotel-software.html As reported Jun 23 by Bloomberg Micros sells POS systems for hotels, restaurants and retailers with over 330,000 installations in 180 countries. This is […]

Stage Stores named in RIS News Top 5 department stores

Stage is in good company ranking number 5 in RIS’ top 10 department stores after TJX, Stein Mart, Nordstrom and Macy’s.  Stage operates 850+ stores […]

Can you reinvent an iconic department store?

Macy’s, Nordstrom, TJX, HBC, Sears, Kohl’s   You sure can.  Just checkout Macy’s and Nordstrom, a few of the traditional merchants committed to continuously evolving […]

Retailers, take a ‘selfie’ of your stores

The traffic cop who gave me a speeding ticket last week provided better customer service than a few of the retail stores I’ve frequented over […]

Is Canada the 51st state for US retail?

Probably not. At first glance, it appears that both countries have similar cultures.  In the years following the 2008 recession, several US retailers looked to […]

Why retail stores need mobile POS

‘We only use all of our POS lanes about 10% of the time.’ ‘We’re interested in self-checkout but would like it to convert to a […]

Stage Stores cover story in Retail Merchandiser magazine

Stages Stores has invested in new technology, store improvements and personnel to set themselves up for growth in 2014 and beyond. Read the full story  […]

Reinventing the retail shopping mall

‘Big-box retailers are finding money in their old parking lots’ began the recent newspaper article.  Was I intrigued to read more?  You bet.  These days […]

Evolving Brick-and-Mortar: New Retail Concepts

‘The 80’s called.  They want their store back’ so says Radio Shack’s Super Bowl 2014 commercial – one of the top ad spots for the […]

Welcome to Mainstreet’s Retail Blog

We are an independent POS solution provider and keen observer of retail. Our blog will report selected industry news from the retailers, technology providers, economic […]

Mainstreet Inc. Awarded POS Refresh for STAGE Stores

DALLAS, TEXAS – April 2, 2014 — Mainstreet Inc. is pleased to announce its award of the POS refresh for STAGE Stores, Inc. (NYSE: SSI) […]

The Importance of Brick-and-Mortar Retail

These days we hear a lot about the demise of brick-and-mortar retail due in part to consumers’ move to online shopping; a slow economy and […]