How Retail Sales Became “Unskilled” Work
There's a big difference between how salespeople in traditional department stores and big-box retailers interact with their customers.
The Commercial Real-Estate Market’s Impending Crash
Shopping malls are in trouble, as are the commercial mortgage-backed securities built around them. Can another 2008 be averted?
How Body Positivity Coexists with Fat Shaming
Retail workers at a plus-size clothing store had to promote the contradictory messages that every body is beautiful and that being fat is bad.
How Thrift Stores Were Born
According to the Association of Retail Professionals, about 16 to 18 percent of Americans shop at thrift stores in any given year.
Eat the Rich: What Amazon and Whole Foods Tell Us about Internet-Era Eating
The internet has already transformed how Americans eat; the Amazon/Whole Foods deal is just the culmination of this transformation.
Could Sears Have Avoided Becoming Obsolete?
Amid a broader decline of American retail, Sears is struggling. Did changes in its business model over the course of its history doom it to failure?
When Did We Start Shopping at Stores?
Online shopping drastically reduces the significance of physical stores. Where did the physical retail model come from to begin with?
The Rise and Fall of the Shopping Mall
Is the shopping mall a thing of the past? A look at how the suburbs helped to create the mall--and what is now killing those same shopping centers.
A Brief History of the Credit Card
For now-ubiquitous consumer credit cards, bad early results had a hidden benefit.
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the Retail Orgy in Film
On the film portrayals of women that equate consumption and love.