Retail
Retail Stores Near Me: Chains or Local Shops, a Decision Guide
Price, service and returns work differently at big-box chains and independents. Here is the mechanism behind each, and when each wins.
Henrik Larsen · October 1, 2026
Retail: Stores, Brands and Sales
Coverage of retailing as a business: store estates and closures, online fulfillment costs, assortment decisions, own-brand ranges, and the real depth of a promotion. Figures come from company filings and price tracking. Read by category managers, suppliers negotiating terms, and analysts covering the sector.
Consumers
How the Consumer Price Index Is Actually Calculated
The CPI is built from about 94,000 monthly price quotes weighted by household spending surveys, and its known limits — substitution, coverage, shelter lag — are published with it.
Henrik Larsen · August 26, 2026
Retail
Federal Law Sets a Five-Year Floor on Gift Card Expiration
A 2009 amendment to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, enforced through Regulation E, bars most store and prepaid gift cards from expiring in under five years and caps dormancy fees, with carve-outs shoppers rarely see printed on the card.
Henrik Larsen · August 21, 2026
Consumers
Retail Sales Fall 0.6% in July as Inflation Holds at 3.4%
Consumer spending posted its sharpest monthly drop in more than a year, even as annual retail sales growth continued to outpace headline inflation, government data show.
Henrik Larsen · August 12, 2026
Retail
Dollar Store Expansion Economics
Dollar General and Dollar Tree grew to over 40,000 U.S. stores on small-basket, low-cost arithmetic — and hit the model's ceiling when the customer ran out of money.
Lena Fischer · August 1, 2026