Ken Seipel, Chairman and CEO, Citi Trends — Community Retail: Turning around a national business by refocusing on core consumers

Episode 219 of the Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders podcast, hosted by ICR, titled "Ken Seipel, Chairman and CEO, Citi Trends — Community Retail: Turning around a national business by refocusing on core consumers" was published on March 4, 2026 and runs 26 minutes.

March 4, 2026 ·26m · Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

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Summary

The African American community has long been an under-appreciated and underserved segment in retail. One clothing retailer is tailoring their offerings to meet their specific needs, which has led to incredible brand loyalty, and huge profits.Ken Seipel has served as Citi Trends CEO since November of 2024, and became the chairman of the Board of directors in April of 2025. Ken has extensive retail leadership experience, including serving as the CEO of West Marine from 2019 to 2021, and CEO of Gabriel Brothers from 2013 to 2017.Ken joins us to talk about his storied career in retail, how Citi Trends is leveraging AI to make smarter decisions, and why he feels so confident in their future growth.Highlights:Ken's retail journey (2:05)Turnaround experience (3:53)The Scale of Citi Trends (5:03)Off-price retail (6:35)Serving the African American community (7:21)Three-Tiered Product Strategy (10:08)The Citi Trends Turnaround (12:38)Leveraging AI (14:29)What's driving their recent success? (16:21)Gross Margin Expansion (19:35)Expansion Strategy (21:44)Focus for 2026 (24:46) Links:Ken Seipel LinkedInCiti Trends LinkedInCiti Trends WebsiteICR LinkedInICR TwitterICR Website Feedback:If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

Episode Description

The African American community has long been an under-appreciated and underserved segment in retail. One clothing retailer is tailoring their offerings to meet their specific needs, which has led to incredible brand loyalty, and huge profits.

Ken Seipel has served as Citi Trends CEO since November of 2024, and became the chairman of the Board of directors in April of 2025. Ken has extensive retail leadership experience, including serving as the CEO of West Marine from 2019 to 2021, and CEO of Gabriel Brothers from 2013 to 2017.

Ken joins us to talk about his storied career in retail, how Citi Trends is leveraging AI to make smarter decisions, and why he feels so confident in their future growth.

Highlights:

Ken's retail journey (2:05)
Turnaround experience (3:53)
The Scale of Citi Trends (5:03)
Off-price retail (6:35)
Serving the African American community (7:21)
Three-Tiered Product Strategy (10:08)
The Citi Trends Turnaround (12:38)
Leveraging AI (14:29)
What's driving their recent success? (16:21)
Gross Margin Expansion (19:35)
Expansion Strategy (21:44)
Focus for 2026 (24:46)

Links:

Ken Seipel LinkedIn

Citi Trends LinkedIn

Citi Trends Website

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, [email protected]

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