Walmart employee Clara Martinez stocks the shelves at a Walmart store on February 19, 2015 in Miami, Florida.

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 parking lot at Hilltop Mall sits empty on March 17, 2020 in Richmond, California.

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?
A live window display to celebrate UK Plus Size Fashion Week on September 3, 2015 in London, England.

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.
Clothing Rack full of T-Shirts at a Thrift Store

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.
Whole Foods

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.
Closed Sears location

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?
West End, London

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?
Michael Galinksy super tv mall

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.
credit card decals

A Brief History of the Credit Card

For now-ubiquitous consumer credit cards, bad early results had a hidden benefit.
The Devil Wears Prada

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ and the Retail Orgy in Film

On the film portrayals of women that equate consumption and love.