Gal Rosenblum was raised in the retail and business worlds. His mother, Irit Rosenblum, is a lawyer and founder and CEO of New Family (which promotes family rights), and his father Moshe Rosenblum, is former Ofer Malls general manager - a detail he is reluctant to mention. "I realized at a very young age that if I wanted to succeed, I would have to free myself from the 'son of' thing. I never felt pressure from home, but I always knew that I wanted to be recognized for being me, and not because of my parents."
Today, he already has quite a few achievements under his belt, one of which is his current role as CEO of Adidas Franchise Stores [at Electra Consumer Products]. "I was given a job that I love very much, and my background connecting sports, fashion and data analysis enables me, in the best possible way, to analyze the potential of stores and maximize it to the hilt. Due to knowledge from my career in retail, I understand the sales floor, what it means to organize a warehouse, and how the checkout should look, and what the shopping experience should be."
Started as a shoe salesman
Rosenblum was born in Kiryat Ono. The family moved to Shoham when he was six years old. He has been involved in sports all his life, including being a capoeira instructor for eight years, and competing twice in Ironman competitions. Today, he runs marathons. He served in the IDF intelligence corps, and was discharged after four and a half years. He studied a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, during which time he began working as a shoe salesman at Sport Wertheimer, where he also met his wife, Shiri.
Rosenblum is a serious sneaker enthusiast: he owns some 350-400 pairs, some of which are limited editions of only 500 or 1,000, worth NIS 300,000-400,000. They are stored in a secured closet.
After graduating, he worked for Fox Group as an analyst for the American Eagle Outfitters brand. "Sharon Biton, the CEO, gave me a platform. He saw my potential, both from my understanding from out in the field, and from things that can't be taught. In 2017, after I’d been at Fox for five years and had trained all the other analysts as the group expanded, Harel [Wiesel, CEO of Fox-Wiesel, parent company of Fox] called me to the office and suggested that I move to Toronto to establish Nike Stores Partner as VP Products. It was a significant event in my career. We lived in Toronto [where Fox holds the franchise to operate Nike stores] for five years and established the brand's operations under Fox from scratch."
"People come first"
At the end of that period, Rosenblum returned to Israel, where he then received an offer from Zvkiva Schwimmer, CEO of Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ECP) to head Adidas Franchise Stores in Israel, which had become an ECP franchise. The two had known each other since the days when Schwimmer was CEO of Laline and later of Delta Galil. Rosenblum still remembers that in one of their conversations, when he lived in Canada, Schwimmer told him: "One day, you’ll be one of my CEOs."
Rosenblum didn't think twice. "Adidas understood that we knew the job. In May 2023, we received the franchise for most of the stores in the country. The deal was signed in July, and on October 8, the stores were transferred to us. The timing was terrible. Since then, Adidas ended 2024 with a more than 40% increase in sales here in Israel, compared with 2023.
"If we release the global report for the first three quarters of Adidas worldwide, the growth in retail is between 15% and 17%. The brand is getting stronger, but we’re almost 30% higher, and that's thanks to the work done with my team and headquarters, and support from Electra, which I don’t take for granted."
Yet, Rosenblum, who manages 39 branches, says: "Retail is a tough world, and every day brings challenges. You always have to deal with the buyers, the malls, and with Adidas, balancing between what’s right and what sells. It's important for us to represent the brand and the customer experience in the best possible way. From the customer's perspective, when they come into an Adidas store, they don't know someone new is running it. And in the end, we have 400 employees. I’ve come to understand that people always come first. Without their trust, you can’t build a cohesive team one that likes getting up in the morning."
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
"There's no one single answer. Either I'll be moving forward with Electra's operations, opening more markets, introducing more innovation, or I’ll be doing that at another international company. I had a very good experience when I lived abroad. I don't necessarily plan to do that again, but being at global company is a different league."
This article is part of the annual "Globes" "40 Under 40" young leadership in Israel project.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on April 10, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.