Amazon announced its Prime Days event will take place June 23-26
The retailer is emphasizing its AI capabilities with “Alexa For Shopping” Read More >>
Target will also launch “Circle Deal Days” for the same four days
The retailer will have special in-store perks such as free coffee or cookies at its in-store Starbucks locations Read More >>
Walmart’s “Summer Deal Days” will begin on June 22 for Walmart+ members and continue for all shoppers until June 28 Read More >>
The Checkout Lane
Source: Retail Dive, Chain Store Age, Nation’s Restaurant News
Fashion retailer Aritzia is planning to open 13 new stores this year as the Canadian company looks to more than double its store fleet in the U.S. to as many as 200 stores from its current count of 76. The new stores span a variety of regions and include the brand’s first stores in Birmingham, Fort Worth, New Orleans, and St. Louis.
Bed Bath & Beyond has opened a co-branded location with The Container Store in Fort Worth, Texas. The store is organized so that shoppers can browse products by room and incorporates some design elements from the original version of Bed Bath & Beyond such as a “towel wall”.
Best Buy announced that longtime CEO Corie Barry will step down in October to be replaced by current Chief Customer Officer Jason Bonfig. The new chief has been with Best Buy since 1999. While Barry oversaw the company as it consolidated its dominance over electronics retail, reaching $51 billion in revenue in 2022, the company has seen revenues stagnate in recent years. Turning that around will be Bonfig’s biggest challenge.
Bob’s Discount Furniture will open 20 new stores in 2026 and sees room for as many as 500 stores in the next decade. The company recently posted a strong quarter with 8.5% revenue growth and 1.2% same store sales growth – both of which significantly outpace the home furnishings sector which has struggled in recent years.
Claire’s announced a licensing agreement with Centric Brands that will give the company the ability to expand to over 7,000 additional stores by selling its products inside Walmart, Kohl’s, and CVS locations. The move follows the brand’s acquisition by investment firm Ames Watson after a bankruptcy filing in 2025.
Dick’s Sporting Goods will open 2 new locations of its large format House of Sport concept. The new stores will be in San Diego and Joliet, Illinois. These openings are in addition to a previously announced store set to open this year in Annapolis, Maryland.
Five Below has begun rearranging its stores by eliminating the “Five Beyond” section with higher priced items. However, the retailer is not giving up on selling items at a variety of price points. The company is now going to feature these products among its standard merchandising elements. Meanwhile, a swuishy toy trend helped Five Below achieve positive same store sales of 22.7% in its most recent quarter.
Michaels has been on a roll since acquiring the intellectual property of JoAnn Fabrics and expanding its assortment of party supplies following the bankruptcy of Party City in 2025. The company recently debuted a store-in-store concept called The Party Shop and will be introducing “DIY Bars” which will allow customers to customize items for things like birthday parties, etc.
Potbelly Sandwich Works plans to open 50 new stores this year, up from 31 in 2025. The company was acquired by convenience store chain RaceTrac last fall and will reach the 500 store milestone later this year. Among the openings will be new locations in non-traditional venues such as colleges, hospitals, corporate campuses, and military bases.
Whole Foods will expand its small-format Daily Shop concept after a successful trial in New York City. The company has signed leases for locations in Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia with more expected in the next two years. So far, the format is largely targeted at dense urban neighborhoods.
The Big View
Much has been written about the decline of the American department store. The sector has seen overall sales decline every year this century, except the pandemic rebound year of 2021. However, there still seems to be life in this iconic concept. While Macy’s has made more headlines for the stores they’re closing in recent years, the reinvestment the company has made into its existing fleet is showing signs of paying off. Despite tough economic headwinds, the company saw same store sales rise 3% in its most recent quarter. Read More >>
It should come as no surprise that secondhand shopping is having a moment in this economy. The thrift store sector is now a $56 billion market, and transactions are up 22% this year, according to Bank of America. But it’s not just price that Gen Z customers are looking for. In an apparel landscape dominated by disposable fast fashion, thrift stores offer goods that are built to last. Read More >>
Video of the Month: Target has been focused on areas where it can differentiate itself as it looks to rebound from a rough patch in 2025. One area where it sees opportunities is in the baby department. Despite falling birthrates, the market void from the downfall of Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby has yet to be filled. Target hopes new parents will cement their relationship with the retailer during those crucial months. Watch Here >>
By the Numbers
From the Research Desk
There’s a famous quote often attributed to Mark Twain (though the exact source is disputed) that has been on my mind lately: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, d***** lies, and statistics.” The implication being that for as bad as it is to lie, statistics can often be worse when used out of context to support faulty arguments. People have a tendency to valorize the objectivity of numbers. “Data driven” decision making is often seen as above reproach. Don’t get me wrong, data & statistics have their place and should be part of any rigorous process, but there’s a big difference between reading the numbers and understanding the numbers.
Recently, some economists have been floating the term “trimmed mean inflation” as a better way of measuring the impact that inflation has on the economy. This number represents eliminating the fastest and slowest growing prices from the inflation calculator. In theory, this makes a lot of sense since it will mitigate the impact of things like an agricultural bumper crop that drives food prices down or the war-driven energy shocks we are experiencing now. And to understand trends over a longer period of time, this method has a good amount of utility.
However, one of the primary reasons policy makers track inflation in the first place is to understand how much pricing pressure is squeezing consumers. The Fed’s dual mandate needs to balance inflation with job creation. The worse inflation is, the tighter monetary policy needs to be to get it under control. The problem with trimming the highest and lowest factors is that those outliers are still part of the average household’s budget. Regardless of the reason, the current spike in energy prices has led to staggeringly high jumps in the cost of gasoline and airline tickets which is being passed on to consumers. Furthermore, as our chart above illustrates, real wages have been net negative for two consecutive months. The consumer is hurting and metrics that seek to hide the causes of that hurt will not lead to better policy outcomes.
Here’s how I’m looking at the current consumer landscape. Overall inflation, as measured by CPI, is at 4.2% in May; retail sales were up 7.2% (per NRF), while real wages were down -0.7%. So, people are spending 3% more on an adjusted basis with 0.7% less buying power. An economy can absorb inflation if wages can catch up in relatively short order, but when real wages go down consumers lose the ability to keep pace. That will lead to changing spending patterns. In some cases, that means more credit card spending; but others will trade down for value. That puts discount-minded retailers like Walmart, Target, Costco, TJ Maxx, and others in a good position to pick up market share while spendier decisions such as travel will likely be among the first things consumers cut out of their budget.
Interestingly enough, we’ve been here before – and not that long ago. The energy shock following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that came about while the global supply chain was recovering from the pandemic produced similar numbers. Consumers hurt then too, and many observers said at the time that the Fed was too slow to act. We haven’t hit the breaking point yet, and we managed to avoid it in 2022; but obscuring what’s actually squeezing consumers may lead policy makers to make the same mistakes again.
Song of the Month: M.C. Taylor’s Hiss Golden Messenger project just released their 16th album in as many years, I’m People. The native Californian now calls Durham, North Carolina home and his music is grounded in the great expanse of America between those two coasts. Folk rock with subtle hints of jazz, dub, and other esoteric sounds; this will appeal to any fans of R.E.M., the Band, Wilco, and the likes. Watch the full Hiss Golden Messenger band perform “In the Middle of It” on CBS Saturday Mornings here >>
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