This is the first of a series of articles detailing the four home and housewares industry keynote sessions scheduled during The Inspired Home Show 2025, to be held March 2-4 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
Jeff Evans, a former top retail executive for At Home and Walmart, will share his experiences and provide practical direction on optimizing value in today’s market when he delivers the opening keynote address at The Inspired Home Show 2025.
Evans’ keynote is entitled “Lessons from the Front Lines: An Insider’s Guide to Winning in Today’s Hyper-Competitive Retail Marketplace.” The presentation is set for March 2, 10-11 a.m. in the show’s keynote ballroom, McCormick South S102.
Evans has more than three decades of retail merchandising leadership experience across different retail formats, including department stores, warehouse clubs, mass retailers and home specialty retailers. Having most recently served as president and chief merchandising officer for At Home and before that as executive vice president of entertainment, toys and seasonal for Walmart U.S., Evans has deep experience in e-commerce, product development, sourcing, building brands and identifying new business opportunities.
In this opening keynote at The Inspired Home Show 2025, Evans will share stories from his experiences across different retail formats and businesses and the importance of winning partnerships, products and programs in a complex, fast-evolving retail marketplace… all with an unrelenting focus on creating optimum value — sometimes even “shocking value” — for today’s consumers.
For At Home, Evans was responsible for reversing a downward business trend by quickly identifying and aligning the company around several key opportunities, resulting in +1500bps sales improvement within nine months. During his At Home tenure, Evans also served in the Office of the CEO role, in partnership with the COO and CFO, leading an update of the mission/vision objectives for a refreshed three-year strategy.
Previously, Evans spent 16 years at Walmart in senior merchandising roles for the Walmart US and Sam’s Club divisions. As Executive Vice President of Electronics, Toys and Seasonal for Walmart US from 2020 to 2022, he managed an omnichannel P&L of more than $37 billion across diverse categories. In this role, he developed a new omni-merchandising team and managed the Walmart transition of stores and e-commerce to the highest-penetrated online business. As senior vice president and general merchandise manager for home categories for Walmart U.S. from 2017 to 2022, Evans led the reinvention of home merchandising to deliver a more consistent omni-customer experience, and he launched a home renovation initiative that identified business opportunities using customer data.
Evans began his retail career in 1990 with Filene’s department stores, a division of May Department Stores. In 2022, Evans founded Biddeford Advisors LLC. He currently serves on the board of directors for housewares company Lifetime Brands and the advisory board of customer engagement technology company Wholescale.
Other keynote presentations at The Inspired Home Show 2025:
Sunday, March 2 – 1 p.m.
Thinking Outside The Box: Growth Opportunities For The Housewares Industry — Joe Derochowski, Home Industry Advisor, Circana
Monday, March 3 – 10 a.m.
The 2025 Home And Living Survey: New Insights On The Everyday Realities Driving Consumer Demand — Tom Mirabile, Principal, Springboard Futures
Monday, March 3 – 1 p.m.
Color & Design Future Trends: Welcome Home — Leatrice Eiseman, Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute
Details on The Inspired Home Show 2025 keynotes and education program can be found at: https://www.theinspiredhomeshow.com/education/
