Tag: Shopping and Retail

Crafts Retailer Joann Files for Bankruptcy

Joann, the arts-and-crafts retailer that has operated for more than 80 years, has filed for bankruptcy as consumers pare back on D.I.Y. projects, leaving the company with mounting debt. The chain, which is based in Hudson, Ohio, said in a statement on Monday that it had struck a deal with its lenders for a $132 […]

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Beauty Stores Like Sephora Draw Teens Driven by Social Media

Impelled in large part by TikTok to seek beauty products meant for adults, younger customers — teenagers and even preadolescents — are proving to be a mixed blessing for retailers like Sephora and Ulta. Retail analysts say that as the beauty stores attract a new generation of shoppers, they will need to make sure that […]

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Walmart Wants to Teach Store Managers Compassion

On a stormy afternoon in Bentonville, Ark., a Walmart regional manager recounted a story about a moment when his humanity came up short. He was 24-year-old store manager anxiously trying to get his workers to set up Halloween merchandise displays. Instead, the workers were gathered around the televisions in the electronics department. It was the […]

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Britain Confronts Fears of a (Gasp!) Tea Shortage

For a country of morning-and-night tea drinkers, even the suggestion of a shortage of the household staple can elicit a nervous gulp. So there might have been more than a few people spooked when signs in some Sainsbury’s grocery stores this week warned customers that supply issues had affected the “nationwide” availability of black tea, […]

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Tony Spring, Macy’s New C.E.O., Faces Retail Puzzle

As he prepares to take the reins as Macy’s chief executive on Sunday, Tony Spring has a tall order: He must contend with the existential crisis that mall-based department stores are facing to try to stay relevant in an increasingly e-commerce world. But trying to infuse Macy’s with new ideas and win over the next […]

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Biden Takes Aim at Grocery Chains Over Food Prices

President Biden, whose approval rating has suffered amid high inflation, is beginning to pressure large grocery chains to slash food prices for American consumers, accusing the stores of reaping excess profits and ripping off shoppers. “There are still too many corporations in America ripping people off: price gouging, junk fees, greedflation, shrinkflation,” Mr. Biden said […]

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Is TikTok Over?

How much time do I spend on TikTok? I can tell you which chiropractor is demonstrating their technique without even seeing their face. I know which fashion content creator is partial to Rei Kawakubo, and who has a preposterous Carol Christian Poell collection. I know which New York City microinfluencers go on vacation together, and […]

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Walmart Offers Store Managers Company Stock to Make Them Feel Like ‘Owners’

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, is raising salaries and benefits for store managers as it looks for ways to retain them. Walmart said on Monday that managers of its U.S. stores would be eligible for grants of up to $20,000 in company stock every year. The stock will vest over a three-year period, with […]

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Macy’s Plans to Cut 2,350 Jobs and Close 5 Stores

Macy’s, the country’s largest department store operator, told employees Thursday that it was laying off 13 percent of its corporate work force. The move comes as the company prepares to unveil a new strategy that its incoming chief executive will oversee. The cuts amount to roughly 2,350 jobs, or about 3.5 percent of the company’s […]

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When You Return Those Pants, the Planet Pays the Price

January is a time to redo, revise and recommit. It is also the time to return things. We can click the return button first on the season’s passive-aggressive and otherwise unwanted gifts. An upgraded espresso machine, perhaps not so necessary. Farewell, too, to the aspirational dress purchased but never quite fit into without a squeeze. […]

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Why People Are Camping Out at Target for the Valentine’s Stanley Tumbler

The next time you go to Target, you might need to wear a helmet. The store sells them, come to think of it. The reason is that this week, Stanley, the company known for trendy tumblers, released special-edition cups — a collaboration with Starbucks — for Valentine’s Day. It caused tumult at multiple Target stores […]

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Carrefour Drops PepsiCo Products in France Over High Prices

The economic headlines in Europe have been glowing recently: Inflation, according to official statistics, is finally coming down. But tell that to consumers still facing runaway prices when they head to the supermarket. On Thursday, France’s biggest food retailer took a drastic step to confront the situation, announcing that it would no longer sell PepsiCo […]

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The Brooklyn Bridge Is Not for Sale, or for Selling Souvenirs Anymore

A tourist from Lyon, France, named Steven Heng visited the Brooklyn Bridge on Tuesday not just to take in the celebrated peaked arches, the trellis of wire rope and the panoramic views. He also came to shop — before it was too late. Tuesday was the last day for scores of souvenir vendors who have […]

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Chill in the Housing Market Seeps Into Other Industries

John Matheson, a home inspector in Alameda, Calif., kept busy during the pandemic when the housing market was red hot. But as interest rates started to rise about halfway through 2022, he noticed that his workload began to drop. Last year, the number of jobs plummeted. “My business is about 50 percent of what it […]

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How Greggs, a Super Affordable Bakery Chain, Became a U.K. Culinary Icon

To most of this bakery’s millions of devotees, the idea that its “Steak Bake” could be “lifted” lies somewhere between folly and heresy. It brings diced beef, gravy and crisp puff pastry together in perfect harmony. It cannot be improved, or ameliorated, or heightened. It has already attained its highest form. Its popularity attests to […]

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Apple Watch Sales to Resume, for Now

Apple was resuming sales of its newest smartwatches on Thursday, a day after a federal appeals court temporarily reversed an earlier ban on their import and sale in the United States. But the watches’ fate will ultimately depend on how a continuing legal fight plays out in federal court over the next few weeks. The […]

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Holiday Spending Increased, Defying Fears of a Decline

Despite lingering inflation, Americans increased their spending this holiday season, early data shows. That comes as a big relief for retailers that had spent much of the year fearing the economy would soon weaken and consumer spending would fall. Retail sales increased 3.1 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24 compared with the same period […]

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Rite Aid’s A.I. Facial Recognition Wrongly Tagged People of Color as Shoplifters

Rite Aid, the pharmacy chain, used facial recognition technology to falsely and disproportionately identify people of color and women as likely shoplifters, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday, describing a system that embarrassed customers and raised new concerns about the biases baked into such technologies. Under the terms of a settlement, Rite Aid will […]

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Companies Like Afterpay and Affirm May Put Americans At Risk For ‘Phantom Debt’

“Buy Now, Pay Later” loans are helping to fuel a record-setting holiday shopping season. Economists worry they could also be masking and exacerbating cracks in Americans’ financial well-being. The loans, which allow consumers to pay for purchases in installments, often interest-free, have soared in popularity because of high prices and interest rates. Retailers have used […]

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What Social Trends Taught Us About the 2023 Economy

This year, the world learned that some men just can’t stop thinking about the Roman Empire. Over here at The New York Times, we can’t stop thinking about what social trends like that one tell us about the American economy. We had no shortage of viral memes and moments to discuss in 2023. Americans flocked […]

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Goodwill Vase Sold for $3.99 Fetches More Than $100,000 at Auction

Jessica Vincent made her way in June through a busy Goodwill thrift store in Hanover County, Va., passing VCRs, lamps and glassware commonly sold at big-box retailers. Nothing really caught her eye until she saw an iridescent glass vase. After doing a lap around the store, she returned to the bottle-shaped vase with red and […]

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Demand for Cashmere Has Environmental Consequences

A decade or more ago, it wasn’t uncommon to pay several hundred dollars for a cashmere sweater. Now, as the holiday season approaches, advertisements offer cashmere sweaters at less than half that price. An ad campaign on Instagram from the retailer Quince boasts, “This $50 cashmere sweater is worth the hype!” A cozy cashmere sweater […]

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Prices for Some Goods Are Actually Falling This Holiday Season

American shoppers, burned by more than two years of rapid inflation, are getting some welcome relief this holiday season: Prices on many products are falling. Toys are almost 3 percent cheaper this Christmas than last, government data shows. Sports equipment is down nearly 2 percent. Bigger-ticket items are also showing price declines: Washing machines cost […]

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Should Retail Theft Suspects Benefit From Discount Prices?

If an item is on sale, should someone who steals it be able to get a deal, as well? That question was raised by a recent case in Colorado, where two men accused of stealing shoes, KitchenAid mixers and other items from a Kohl’s department store argued that they should face a lesser charge based […]

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Watch What People Do, Not What They Say About the Economy

Have you heard that there’s a huge wave of organized shoplifting — coordinated theft by groups effectively looting stores — sweeping the United States? You probably have. A couple of years ago, Walgreens said that organized shoplifting was behind its decision to close several locations in San Francisco. In April, the National Retail Federation issued […]

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Corporate America Is Testing the Limits of Its Pricing Power

Alexander MacKay coleads the Pricing Lab at Harvard Business School, a research center devoted to studying how companies set prices. Since the pandemic, he has watched how businesses have become more willing to experiment with what they charge their customers. Big companies that had previously pushed through one standard price increase per year are now […]

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The Holiday Boom in New York Is Back. Sort Of.

People have long traveled from all over the world to experience the glitz and bustle of New York City during the holidays. But for three years, that influx of visitors — and their open wallets — has been diminished, thanks to the impact of Covid. A look around the city at the beginning of this […]

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Shoppers, Facing Holiday Spending, Turn to Loyalty Programs

Chrissy West is taking a new approach to her Christmas shopping this year. When buying gifts for her family, she plans to finance them by cashing in her Ulta loyalty points. A makeup aficionado who enjoys buying lip gloss and blush, Ms. West has racked up hundreds of loyalty points at Ulta, the beauty retailer. […]

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Retail Group Retracts Startling Claim About ‘Organized’ Shoplifting

A national lobbying group has retracted its startling estimate that “organized retail crime” was responsible for nearly half the $94.5 billion in store merchandise that disappeared in 2021, a figure that helped amplify claims that the United States was experiencing a nationwide wave of shoplifting. The group, the National Retail Federation, edited that claim last […]

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Platform Sells Artists’ Pieces You Won’t Find at Art Basel

Josh Smith, whose figurative paintings feature skeletons, devils, and their macabre ilk, is no stranger to artist collaborations. He has made painterly fleece jackets for Givenchy, and Grim Reaper T-shirts for Supreme. Such projects don’t always offer Mr. Smith, 47, opportunities to acquire new skills, but for a recent one he explored an unfamiliar medium: […]

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Is the Holiday Shopping Season Going to Be a Success? The Answer Is Murky.

Eager for bargains, American consumers filled their shopping carts last weekend with holiday gifts. But it isn’t yet clear if that means this will be a successful season for retailers. Early readings of spending over the Thanksgiving weekend suggest that consumers spent more than they did last year — but that’s only because prices are […]

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