Covering the evolving retail beat

Bob Mong, the editor of the Dallas Morning News, writes Sunday about the paper’s retail reporter, Maria Halkias.

Mong writes, “When the nation’s leading business writing organization set up a training program on how to cover ‘the holiday retail season in a down economy,’ it knew whom to turn to for advice — Maria Halkias of The Dallas Morning News.

“Maria has been covering retail for The News since the early 1990s, and her career has been a history lesson in the extraordinary transformation in the retail industry.

“No one knows Dallas retail better than Maria,’ says Business Editor Dennis Fulton.

“When she began, sales mostly occurred in brick-and-mortar stores. Today, the art of sales and marketing matches up with the science of technology.

“‘Now, 12 percent is done online,’ Dennis says, ‘and that amount is growing by leaps and bounds.’

“Maria’s knowledge spans all segments of retail, from high-end to mid-priced to the discounters.

“Her insight into the challenges facing mid-priced department stores has been unparalleled,’ Dennis says.”

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