The beloved toy store chain is making a comeback ahead of the holidays, with 30 stores set to open across the U.S
The beloved toy chain Toys ‘R’ Us is making a comeback ahead of this holiday season. The company is set to open 30 new stores across the U.S, including two in Southern California.
The expansion is part of an ongoing comeback strategy following the popular brand’s bankruptcy in 2017, where 700 of its iconic, giraffe-themed storefronts closed across the U.S.
The popular toy chain is now opening 10 new flagship stores and 20 seasonal holiday shops across the U.S ahead of the 2025 winter season. Some locations have already opened their doors for business and new or returning customers.
A new flagship store is opening today, Saturday, October 25, at the Camarillo Premium Outlets in Ventura County at 10 am. At 9:30 a.m., there will be a ribbon-cutting to commemorate the opening of the store and welcome customers. The celebration will also include face painting, balloon figures, giveaways, and more activities.
Under parent company WPH Global, Toys ‘R’ Us is aiming to meet consumer demands during the holidays and make a steady return to brick-and-mortar retail. They intend to create smaller, more engaging store layouts to prioritize a family-focused experience for shoppers.
The new Toys ‘R’ Us locations are designed to be interactive and facilitate the excitement of an in-store shopping experience for kids and families. The stores will carry popular and high-demand toy brands such as Barbie, Hot Wheels, LEGO, NERF, Paw Patrol, and more.
“This next phase of growth brings the magic of Toys ‘R’ Us to even more communities across the country — just in time for the holidays,” said Jamie Uitdenhowen to KTLA, the executive vice president of Toys ‘R’ Us at WHP Global.
The company is partnering with Macy’s for some shop-in-shop locations. A seasonal holiday shop is also scheduled to open at Emeryville Mall in the Bay Area.
When customers step into Abbode’s store in New York City’s Nolita, its founder Abigail Price wants one thing to be clear: this isn’t a typical embroidery shop. Rather than stitching logos on school uniforms and corporate swag that goes straight into donation bins, her team puts custom pet portraits and swanky monograms on chic waffle robes, leather travel pouches, and other products that are hot among young women on the internet. What happens in the shop, however, is only about 20 percent of Abbode’s entire business, which is on track to make $4 million this year.
Originally founded in early 2020 as a dry floral arrangement business—that, a year later, evolved into a home decor store—Abbode began offering embroidery as a complimentary service with purchase to its shoppers in September 2022, not long after after Price dusted off the embroidery machine she had bought on a whim. “We had a little sign that said Ask us about our embroidery that was literally handwritten on a note card and, like, a color menu. And people were not asking about it,” she recalls, laughing. “I would say we completed maybe 10 items a week, if that.”
Selling an experience
Photo: Abbode
That number quickly scaled to around 50 to 75 items a week once Price reframed the idea as a pop-up experience in an attempt to boost the store’s foot traffic and sales. Instead of waiting for visitors to inquire about embroidery, she created a display of tote bags, coasters, and other blank merchandise sourced from Etsy and Amazon with sample designs already stitched on them. Making the service more visible and approachable to customers both in the store and on social media made them instantly more eager to buy into it, says Price.
To build up the momentum, the founder invited fellow small businesses, such as local jewelry brands Lottie and Notte, to host pop-ups in the store and offered their customers complimentary embroidery with purchase; those businesses covered the price of the embroidery as well as shared a percentage of their sales with Abbode. At the same time, marketing teams at Steve Madden and LoveShackFancy tapped Abbode as a live embroidery vendor for their activations.
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Price’s team creates a custom design menu to match the theme of each event – cowboy boots and taxi cabs for Steve Madden, tennis rockets and oysters to match Lottie’s preppy aesthetics. Not only does this fast-track customer decisions, they’ve also become a signature element of the Abbode experience.
Investing in in-house offerings
Photo: Abbode
In November 2023, embroidery became the brand’s sole focus—at that point, it was already responsible for pretty much all business as its home decor side declined, Price explains. Since product curation had been a key driver of embroidery sales, the founder invested into developing an in-house product line, tailored specifically to Abbode’s customer—“the cool city trendsetter,” as she puts it.
The lineup included $28 cocktail napkins and $78 waffle pouches, the latter of which is a best-seller, responsible for nearly half of Abbode’s business. Even small details, like custom labels made a huge difference—they elevate the customer experience and create further brand differentiation, says Price.
Today, Abbode carries 13 products that shoppers can customize with embroidery from five different design categories both in-store and online. Those looking to get their own pieces embroidered or create their own designs are welcome to pop into the store in Nolita where a more custom service will run them anywhere from $45 to $150 on average.
This fall, the brand also launched a collection of embroidered products on Shopbop, although none of those are customizable. In November, it will launch a similar selection on Revolve. Overall, customer orders make up roughly 60 percent of Abbode’s revenue which has more than doubled in the past year, according to Price.
Driving partnerships
Photo: Abbode
The remaining 40 percent is split evenly between bulk embroidery orders and events, contracted by an impressive lineup of brands–including Skims, Lemme, Sephora, Tory Burch, and J.Crew–that pay Abbode a fee inclusive of products, hosting, and design.
For Price, one of the most memorable partnerships to date has been co-hosting a grand Abbode store takeover with L.L.Bean last September. “We sold almost $100,000 worth of product in two days and retained many new customers and followers,” says the founder. But more importantly, getting a legacy brand that is already widely known for its monogramming to tap her team as a partner and ask for an Abbode take on its iconic embroidery validated the team’s status not only as a top vendor but also a cultural tastemaker.
That is exactly the space she had hoped to carve out for herself and her growing team of 25 people. “When you come to our store, we are showing you what’s cool,” says Price. “We are helping [customers] take emotion, and feelings, and things they love, and turn them into a product that they can gift…or just be unique and personal to them.” Embroidery just happens to be the medium.
If you’re one of the millions of people who regularly tune into Jay Shetty’s podcast “On Purpose” where the best-selling author and life coach interviews some of the most famous people on the planet—including Cardi B, Oprah, and Michelle Obama—you’ve likely seen him or one of his guests reach for a colorful can to take a sip in between questions. That’s Shetty’s own sparkling tea brand.
Shetty launched Juni with his wife, Radhi Devlukia, in 2023 as a direct-to-consumer business and in the two years since, has rapidly scaled the company. The canned teas, which are formulated with adaptogenic herbs, such as ashwagandha, lion’s mane, and reishi mushrooms, are available in more than 6,000 stores, including Erewhon, Target, Sprouts, Wegmans, and now Whole Foods nationwide.
That growing reach, along with a repeat customer rate near 50 percent, has helped sales surge. The company projects 300 percent year-over-year revenue growth in 2025 and is on track to hit eight figures in revenue by the end of this year.
This trajectory comes amid a notoriously tough environment for consumer-packaged goods brands. Financing has largely dried up. Since the industry’s peak in 2021, early-stage venture funding for CPG brands has plummeted nearly 60 percent, according to Pitchbook. At the same time, brands are shuttering and far fewer new entrants are coming to market and hitting shelves. Consumer products data provider Spins put the number at 70 percent less.
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Still, Shetty tells Inc. that he is cognizant of the fact he is a novice in this space. His success as a podcaster does not guarantee success in the CPG space. His company has raised multi-million dollars in funding from investors, but wants to grow in a steady and strategic way. That means learning to say no to certain opportunities, he says.
“It’s been easy to see brands just blow up really quick and then not exist,” says Shetty. “Our goal is to steadily build the relationships, whether it’s with the distributors, with the community.”
Shetty is tapping into his massive audience with a message of incremental change—choosing a Juni over a sugary soda or a third cup of caffeinated coffee—rather than promising far-reaching health benefits that has gotten other drink brands in trouble. “We’re saying, ‘Here’s a healthy alternative,’” Shetty says.
Still, getting on the shelf is one thing. Getting into customers’ shopping carts is a whole other hurdle, says Juni CEO and co-founder Kim Perell: “We’re building for big future, but we want to make sure that we continue to grow with within our means.”
It’s almost the holidays, and that means Union Square will be busy with tree lightings and the likely inclusion of the annual Macy’s Holiday Windows featuring adoptable pets. One of the new kids on the block is the Nintendo San Francisco store, which will transform for the season.
The changeover begins mid-November, and it will introduce Nintendo’s Winter Collection. It features attire, accessories and more meant to go with the colder weather. Think of beanies, cardigans and blankets. For those who want to cook in style for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, the Nintendo store will also feature items such as oven mitts and recipe organizers. The offerings aren’t all Mario and Mushroom Kingdom-themed.
The store is also offering seasonal products tied to “Pikmin” such as hoodies and “Animal Crossing” loungewear. At the very least, the Nintendo San Francisco store will be the place for launches of upcoming titles such as “Kirby Air Riders,” coming out Nov. 20, and “Metroid Prime 4: Beyond,” launching Dec. 4.
For those shopping for Nintendo fans. It’s going to be the spot to pick up hard-to-find items that aren’t available anywhere else. In a news release, Nintendo said it would offer customers seasonal offers, including a free holiday-themed gift wrap with purchases of $50 or more from Dec. 6 to 7. Those who spend $100 or more will receive a Nintendo holiday ornament from Dec. 13 to 20. Visitors should also check out the in-store My Nintendo kiosk for Platinum Points and a giveaway item. Just remember to have your Nintendo Today! with your QR code in hand.
Lastly, the Nintendo San Francisco store will also be redone with holiday window displays and decor. It will likely be a popular spot when shopping in Union Square this season. For those not in the Bay Area, Nintendo is holding a sweepstakes that will offer fans a chance to visit Nintendo San Francisco with airfare and a two-night stay included.
After serving for decades as a community hub and popular shopping center, the Westminster Mall in Orange County is getting ready to close its doors.
Most of the shops in the mall will shut down on Oct. 29 when leases expire, according to Westminster City Manager Christine Cordon. The City Council approved a redevelopment plan in 2022 to turn the mall into a mixed-use site for housing, leisure and retail.
The 100-acre property, situated on the south side of the 405 Freeway, could soon offer 3,000 housing units and at least 600,000 square feet of upscale retail space.
“The community has expressed a strong desire to revitalize this important commercial center,” the redevelopment plan says. “The project site provides a unique opportunity to reposition the mall into the thriving activity center that it once was and to accommodate the future growth of the city.”
Community members gathered last week to say their goodbyes to the mall, which already has shuttered stores and empty parking lots. According to the mall’s online directory, popular shops such as Victoria’s Secret, Vans and Kay Jewelers are still open.
JCPenney, the mall’s oldest anchor store, is slated to close by Nov. 21. Best Buy and Target are expected to remain open for a few more years as the property undergoes redevelopment.
Alexis Malatesta, who frequented the mall as a teenager and now runs a Westminster Mall fan account on Instagram, hosted a farewell karaoke party at the mall on Friday.
She posted videos of the gathering, where several community members came to reminisce and sing songs in the mall’s honor.
Malatesta’s Instagram says it’s “a page dedicated solely to the Westminster Mall’s battle with terminal illness,” referencing the mall’s long, rocky fall from its prime.
In 1986, the mall was Orange County’s second-highest-grossing retail center. The next year, the mall announced a big renovation plan.
In its heyday, the mall was a gathering spot when there were few other places to hang out. It was where kids found the latest fashions and where “mall rats” roamed in packs after school.
Malatesta, who grew up in Huntington Beach, said she spent countless afternoons at the mall in the early 2000s, riding the carousel and snapping digital photos. As the mall fell into disrepair, she posted stunts on social media to try to generate business, including a fake wedding ceremony to declare her marriage to the mall.
“I wanted to get people to go enjoy the space while it was still there,” she said in an interview. “The Westminster Mall was a huge part of my childhood and I’ve met a ton of people through our shared obsession with the mall.”
The Westminster Mall opened in 1974 on the former site of the world’s largest goldfish farm, according to city documents.
It underwent major renovations in the 1980s and in 2008, and is now controlled by four companies that share ownership of the property: Kaiser Permanente, Shopoff Realty, True Life Cos. and Washington Prime Group.
True Life, a Denver-based real estate firm, has received permission from the city to build a five-story, multifamily housing structure on the 3.6 acres that was previously occupied by Babies R Us.
Because of a pending agreement between the four companies, a demolition date for the mall has not been set.
Though the city has ambitious redevelopment plans, the Westminster Mall will lose its nostalgic value for Malatesta, now 33 years old.
“You can go into an indoor mall and you can forget about the outside world,” Malatesta said. “Westminster Mall was my spot.”
Consumers may want to avoid offering retailers a penny for their thoughts from now on. What they could get for their cent is a blast of complaints from many businesses owners now struggling with premature shortages of the soon-to-vanish copper coin. That’s in turn creating awkward moments at the checkout stand, and requiring improvised solutions when making correct change for customers isn’t possible.
The small coin conundrum is the result of President Donald Trump’s February decision to order “my Secretary of the U.S. Treasury to stop producing new pennies.” The move followed the Department of Government Efficiency first putting the penny in its sights, when its founder and leader at the time, Elon Musk, explained the lowest valued coin “costs over 3 cents to make and cost U.S. taxpayers over $179 million in FY2023.” With arguably more of the coppery orbs filling jars, car ashtrays, and spaces between sofa cushions than used in payments, Trump decided to halt minting of the coin and allow it to gradually disappear from circulation.
So, why are retailers reacting now? Because a growing number of those businesses report they’re already coming up short on pennies when trying to make exact change for customers. That’s occurring as several centers that distribute the coins for the Federal Reserve Bank have stopped making deliveries. They‘re also slated to halt minting any new metallic portraits of Abraham Lincoln next year, whentheir use is expected to slowly taper off.
For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, that gradual count down on the penny’s active service has already resulted in a shortage at many shops, restaurants, and chain stores — months earlier than anyone had expected. As a result, business owners are having to come up with workarounds when they can’t give customers the change they’re owed.
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According to several press reports, that forced Wisconsin-based convenience store chain Kwik Trip to start rounding cash purchases down to the nearest nickel. Rival Love’s Travel Stops are reportedly also rounding sales, but instead upward to the next five-cent level.
Family-owned convenience chain Sheetz is taking another tack. It’s urging customers to come in and offer up their extra pennies in exchange for a donation to charity in their name. Sheetz partners with the Salvation Army to provide children with clothes, toys, and holiday parties.
“Customers can also choose to trade in their extra pennies for a free self-serve drink or donate their spare pennies to support Sheetz For the Kidz,” Sheetz public affairs manager Nick Ruffner told the Nexstar news group. “Sheetz Donations can be processed through the register at all Sheetz locations to ensure all funds go directly to Sheetz For the Kidz, and the coins will then be recirculated for other customers.”
Meanwhile, Sheetz and other retailers that are suffering penny shortages — and cringey moments having to explain their workaround solutions to customers — are urging clients to pay with cards or phone apps instead of cash. But the cent-less dilemma is spreading quickly enough to other businesses that their trade organizations are taking action.
In September, NACS retailer group — whose members include the National Association of Convenience Stores and the National Grocers Association — did something rarely seen in the private sector. It asked the government to come up with regulations — this time for companies dealing with the penny’s spreading shortage, and eventual demise.
“NACS has raised industry concerns with Congress and the Administration and is advocating for federal legislation to permit the rounding of cash transactions,” Anna Ready Blom, NACS strategic advisor of government relations said in a recent article on the organization’s site. “Businesses are desperate for Congress to address this issue by passing a law allowing them to round to the nearest nickel. Without federal legislation, businesses are left in the impossible position of trying to figure out what to do and at risk of being out of compliance with other laws.”
The reason for the concern is that many states and localities have their own laws that prohibit rounding in cash transactions. As a result, NACS is urging the government to pass federal statutes to permit that solution when pennies run short, and define exactly how rounding should be carried out.
If that happens, it should protect retailers from any potential legal pushback from consumers seeing their $5.63 purchase rounded up to $5.65. But it won’t spare cashiers the embarrassment while explaining to customers that they can’t make exact change, or prevent them from disappointing young clients who wanted an increasingly rare penny for the one cent gum machine.
Discount retailer Dollar General will pay a $400,000 fine after state inspectors found the chain repeatedly charged more for items at checkout than their listed shelf price.
The Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Attorney General’s Office conducted 23 inspections at different Dollar General stores between April 2023 and February. The chain failed 15 of the inspections by charging more at checkout than what was listed on store shelves.
Dollar General denied the allegations that it violated the Colorado Consumer Protection Act, but agreed to pay a fine, according to an agreement provided by the attorney general’s office. It will also post notices in its store that it will honor the lower of the two prices, conduct internal audits and improve staff training.
“When shoppers are going to the store, they are entitled to pay the price at the cash register that they see on shelves,” Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement. “In this case, Dollar General was telling their customers that they would be charged one price and actually charging them another, and I am now holding them accountable for this wrongful conduct. I will always fight for the rights of Colorado consumers and work to make sure they are treated fairly by businesses.”
Dollar General did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday morning. It operates more than 20,700 stores in 48 states, according to its website, 68 of which are in Colorado. Officials inspected stores in Milliken, Loveland, Greeley, Evans, Strasburg, Eaton, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Commerce City and Federal Heights.
The attorney general’s announcement did not specify where the fine money would go. A $3 million settlement with Walmart over similar allegations in 2023 helped pay for food and diaper assistance programs, according to the attorney general’s office.
Subscriptions are everywhere—from coffee and pet food to skincare and vitamins. For consumers, they promise convenience. For brands, they offer recurring revenue and a shot at long-term loyalty.
But here’s the hard truth: Many subscriptions don’t last.
Customers sign up, use it once or twice, and then forget about it—or worse, feel trapped by it. Eventually, they cancel. And when they do, it’s not because they’re overwhelmed by too many options or tightening their budgets. It’s because the experience got stale—and the value disappeared. If you’re building a subscription business in 2025, it’s not enough to offer products on repeat. You need to offer an experience that evolves. A relationship that deepens. A reason to stay that goes beyond discounts or convenience.
The illusion of retention
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At first glance, subscription commerce looks like a winning strategy. You get to bypass the expensive churn of repeat acquisition. You build predictable revenue. You “own the customer.”
But behind the glossy metrics, retention rates often tell a different story. A growing number of e-commerce brands are seeing drop-offs just a few months in—after the promo codes dry up and the novelty wears off. According to McKinsey, more than 30 percent of consumers cancel subscriptions because they stop being fun or interesting.
The real challenge isn’t getting people to sign up. It’s giving them a reason to stay.
Stale experiences are the silent killer
Many companies assume that price is the primary driver of churn. And yes, price matters. According to Zuora, 47 percent of cancellations are triggered by price increases.
But zoom out, and a deeper truth emerges: Subscriptions often fail because the experience stops evolving. Consider a personal care brand that turned a basic product—like toothpaste—into a thriving, zero-waste movement. Their subscribers don’t just receive tablets in compostable packaging. They get consistent messaging around sustainability, community engagement, and mission-driven content that reinforces their “why.” The product might be ordinary, but the experience isn’t. That’s what makes it stick.
If your subscription doesn’t surprise, delight, and continually re-engage users over time, it becomes just another line item on a credit card statement—ripe for cancellation.
Design for ongoing value, not just convenience
Flexibility is no longer a feature—it’s the baseline. People want to feel in control of their subscriptions. In a Forrester study, 70 percent of consumers preferred monthly billing because it gave them more control over cancellations and budget management.
But flexibility isn’t just about payment frequency. It’s about letting customers pause, skip, swap, or scale their orders. It’s also about evolving the content of what they receive—whether that’s through personalization, dynamic bundles, or new product variations.
One specialty coffee brand begins with a tasting kit, then customizes each customer’s subscription based on their preferences. But they go even further—offering virtual tastings, sharing farmer feedback, and adapting shipments based on customer data and seasonality.
The result? A subscription that doesn’t just show up. It connects. It teaches. It adapts.
Convenience might bring customers in. But relevance is what keeps them there.
A subscription is a relationship—treat it like one
The most successful subscription businesses understand that this isn’t a shipping schedule. It’s a relationship—and relationships require care, communication, and renewal.
Curation-style subscriptions—those designed to surprise and delight—make up about half the total market. That’s a clear signal: Customers want more than replenishment. They want discovery.
In some cases, brands have redesigned their packaging, messaging, and delivery cadence to feel like a lifestyle experience—not a logistics engine. They create moments of delight. They create content customers look forward to. They position the subscription not as a contract, but as a culture.
This kind of brand doesn’t just retain customers—it earns advocates.
And that’s the bar now. If your subscription doesn’t build a relationship, it becomes a transaction. And transactions are easy to cancel.
The future of subscriptions is built on customer connections
We’re entering a new era of subscription commerce—one where control, personalization, and relevance matter more than ever. The brands that thrive in this space aren’t just the ones offering convenience—they’re the ones constantly creating a connection, particularly after the first box ships.
That means building with flexibility at the core. Designing experiences that evolve, not just repeat. And treating every subscription as a relationship—not a transaction on autopilot.
Because in a world of easy cancellations and endless alternatives, the real challenge isn’t getting customers to say yes. It’s giving them a reason to keep saying it.
Americans have developed a near-insatiable craving for protein. That’s led large food manufacturers like PepsiCo to come up with new formulas that prominently feature the popular macronutrient.
On Thursday, PepsiCo became the latest to make a more aggressive protein pitch to consumers. The soda and snacking giant unveiled a Starbucks coffee protein drink, a reformulated line of Muscle Milk protein shakes, and new Propel flavored waters that combines whey protein, fiber, and electrolytes to better align the beverage giant’s portfolio with the trend.
Citing data from the food industry-funded International Food Information Council (IFIC), PepsiCo says 71% of Americans have tried to boost their protein intake in 2024. That’s an increase from 67% in 2023 and 59% in 2022. “After decades of consumers reducing fat and watching carbs, the pendulum has swung toward protein,” says Jaime Schwartz Cohen, a registered dietitian and EVP of nutrition at PR agency Ketchum.
Over the past few years, food manufacturers have responded by packing aisles with more protein-enriched foods and beverages, including new protein Cheerios and Wheaties cereals from General Mills, the expansion of a protein pasta line sold by The Barilla Group, and even a protein popcorn food startup that was created by reality TV star Khloé Kardashian.
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“We want to redefine the protein conversation,” says Ram Krishnan, CEO of PepsiCo’s U.S. beverages business, in an interview with Fast Company. “Everybody in the country is talking about protein, but it’s actually crowded and confusing and the consumers really don’t understand all of the science behind protein.”
Krishnan says protein is especially important for aging populations in the U.S. and other western markets. The body turns protein into amino acids, which goes through the human bloodstream to build and maintain muscle. Protein can also promote weight loss by increasing satiety and has a positive impact on immunity and inflammation.
The recommended daily protein intake varies by age and other factors, but adults are generally advised to consume around 60 grams of protein each day. Schwartz Cohen says this is an area of confusion for consumers, as most look for around 15 to 30 grams per serving on nutritional labels, but eight in ten Americans aren’t sure what their daily protein needs are. “That’s where clear, evidence-based guidance from brands and registered dietitians is critical,” she adds.
Tara Glasgow, PepsiCo’s global chief science officer, says that studies show that it’s equally important that Americans consume protein consistently throughout the day. Glasgow says scientific research has found that the consumption of 30 grams of protein for three different meals spaced out throughout the day had a 25% bigger impact on muscle building than if 90 grams were just consumed at dinner.
“It shows you the lift that you get from taking that approach, whether you’re getting it from a beverage throughout the day, or you’re getting it from a snack here or there,” says Glasgow.
PepsiCo, which sells Mountain Dew soda and Aquafina water, would stand to benefit from selling more protein beverages that can be consumed steadily throughout the day. The new ready-to-drink Starbucks coffee, with 22 grams of protein per bottle, took inspiration from social media influencers on TikTok and Instagram that have been adding powdered protein to their morning coffee.
Propel Clear Protein, meanwhile, has 20 grams of whey protein per serving and was developed as a more refreshing beverage that could be consumed at any part of the day with flavors like watermelon mint and peach ginger. PepsiCo’s inspiration for this line came from the soaring popularity of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Riding the GLP-1 wave
Glasgow says consumers that are on these GLP-1 medications need to be more conscious about adding protein to their diet, given that a rapid drop in weight results in more massive muscle loss too. One side effect of those medications are digestive issues, so fiber can also be helpful. And lastly, reducing calories can result in dehydration, given that around 20% of hydration comes from the food consumers eat.
“It’s not just designed for GLP-1,” says Glasgow, regarding the development of Propel Clear Protein. “But it was those needs that we looked at that really helped us get the right combination of benefits together.”
Muscle Milk, a brand that’s worth about $500 million at the retail shelf, perhaps has undergone the greatest transformation. Krishnan says there’s a group of “dissatisfied protein drinkers” in the shakes category that consume these beverages because they want the protein boost, but don’t always love the taste or ingredients.
The new formulations now have ultra-filtered milk, a smoother taste profile and less powdery and medicinal in flavor than the historical version of Muscle Milk. Protein levels range from 26 grams to 42 grams per bottle. PepsiCo also removed all artificial flavors, sweeteners, and added colors from the Muscle Milk line, reflecting the broader push at the company to remove artificial dyes that Americans have said they no longer want in the food and drinks they consume.
PepsiCo’s protein drinks can also help the beverage giant get more aligned with Americans who have spent decades lowering their consumption of sodas. PepsiCo has faced its own unique challenges as the classic cola brand slipped behind Dr Pepper in U.S. market share, then fell to fourth overall after Sprite usurped it as the third-largest carbonated soft drink by volume, according to data from Beverage Digest. Classic Coke has dominated the list for many, many years.
Weaker carbonated soft drink volume has led to a soft performance for PepsiCo Beverages North America business for more than two years, a key part of the business that Krishnan was tapped to turnaround in early 2024. Since then, the soda giant has sought to move the portfolio toward healthier drinks. That has included the $1.65 billion acquisition of the Poppi prebiotic soda and innovations of core brands, like the debut of a prebiotic cola that was launched months after the Poppi deal.
“We believe beverages are becoming more functional,” says Krishnan. “Protein is just one portion of the equation. It’s not the only thing we’re doing.”
By John Kell
This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.
Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.
All she wanted was some cute goodies–not a lecture on store credit. A fed-up shopper on TikTok says she’s officially breaking up with T.J. Maxx after being ambushed (again) by employees pushing the store’s credit card. Her rant hit a nerve with viewers tired of capitalism’s favorite duet: “Would you like to save 10% today?” followed by “No means nothing to corporate America.”
Ashley’s (@ashleydarkmoon) two-minute-long tirade on TikTok has reached almost 300,000 views in just five days, with even some updates on the drama afterward. In the original viral clip, Ashley begins strongly by saying, “After today, I am done shopping at T.J. Maxx. I am so [expletive] sick of cashiers trying to throw the credit card down my throat.”
While this question might annoy anyone on a normal day, most people get it over with by just saying “no, thank you.” However, it seems T.J. Maxx employees have been trained to refuse no as an answer. Ashley then gets hounded by another employee, the assumption being that it’s a manager or supervisor. The manager asks, “Why not?” and even with Ashley repeatedly saying she doesn’t want another credit card, the employee keeps insisting, fueling the belief that the corporation forces its employees to keep pushing.
Does T.J. Maxx Force Their Employees to Sell Credit Cards?
It seems Ashley isn’t the only one who has complained on TikTok concerning the T.J. Maxx Rewards card. Just some months ago, Kim Hein (@kimhein6) posted a TikTok that got 829,000 views. She shared that some employees push it so hard that customers don’t even know they’re being coaxed to sign up for a credit card. Using ‘rewards program’ as a label instead of a credit card is false advertising. Kim says, “Stop saying store card and say credit card. This is going to impact your credit.”
Even more baffling is the fact that these employees don’t receive any commission or benefits from selling these cards. A T.J. Maxx employee, Bena (@benasolomon), posted a clip where she shares, “We as the cashiers don’t get anything for you opening a credit card…There’s a weekly goal for the store for how many cards we have to get and the pressure comes from management and higher-ups. So, if I’m selling my soul to you trying to get you to open a credit card, it’s because I can’t handle my manager calling me from the office every five minutes, asking me if I got a credit card.”
A viewer seems to corroborate the fact that tricky wording is used when peddling credit cards. She says, “They almost got me one time by saying ‘Do you want to join our rewards program?’ That should be illegal!!”
Another shares, “Managers literally say ‘don’t stop at the first no! Counter them’ it’s insane.”
However, a lot of comments center around employees begging the TikTok creator to call corporate and complain, hoping that will stop the entire thing. One viewer says, “Retail worker here, everyone PLEASE start making these posts. We don’t want to ask. We want free of card hell more than anyone. I swear. Corporate just needs to hear it from y’all.”
Interestingly enough, Ashley did email corporate and said in another video that all she received was a generic email response saying that she needs to call them.
The Mary Sue reached out to Ashley via TikTok message and to T.J. Maxx via email.
Gisselle Hernandez-Gomez is a contributing reporter to the Mary Sue. Her work has appeared in the Daily Dot, Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel and more. You can follow her on X at @GisselleHern. You can email her at [email protected].
The Great American Beer Festival welcomed drinkers to Denver over the weekend to experience the best in craft beer and cider, and it turns out Colorado residents don’t have to travel far to sip the best suds the industry has to offer.
The festival’s prestigious awards, which took place Saturday, are a testament to that. Colorado breweries and cideries made a phenomenal showing, collecting a total of 40 medals, 19 of which were gold. That is down slightly from last year’s haul of 41 medals, but the straight numbers don’t tell the full story.
In 2025, three different producers were honored as “brewery of the year” in their respective size categories – a huge honor considering more than 1,500 breweries and cidermakers entered this year’s competition. (The Denver Post did not include these accolades in the total medal count.)
“It was a great showing for Colorado’s craft breweries at the GABF awards ceremony. With three brewery of the year awards and 16 gold (beer) medals, Colorado craft breweries continue to prove that they consistently brew some of the best beers in the country,” Shawnee Adelson, executive director of the Colorado Brewer Guild, said in a statement. “The diversity of styles shows that breweries in Colorado can make exceptional beer for all types of palates.”
Westbound & Down Brewing Co. was the biggest company to earn the “brewery of the year” title, in the 5,001 to 15,000-barrel category, and it did so with six medals awarded to its IPAs and lagers. That includes three gold medals, one of which was in the West Coast IPA category, the competition’s second-most competitive. The brewery’s How the West Was Won IPA beat out 299 other entries to take the top of the podium.
As added icing on the cake, the company’s subsidiary Aspen Brewing Co. also garnered gold in the brand-new Mexican-style pale lager category with a beer called Casa Bonita. It doesn’t get more Colorado than that.
Denver’s River North Brewery was named “brewery of the year” in the 1,001 to 2,000-barrel size range after it collected two medals, both of them gold. And Cannonball Creek Brewing Co. in Golden, a mainstay at the GABF awards, took home the title in the 501 to 1,000-barrel size category with three total accolades.
Other notable standouts include Denver Beer Co. winning silver for its non-alcoholic Tangerine Cream ale; Our Mutual Friend Brewing Co. grabbing silver in the American-style IPA category; and Fritz Family Brewers landing atop the podium in the Pro-Am competition for a collaboration with homebrewer Christopher Owens of Longmont. Interesting, the now-defunct Banded Oak Brewing Co. in Denver also took home one bronze medal.
Local cideries Haykin Family Cider and Snow Capped Cider also made a commendable showing with a total of seven medals. They collectively swept the single-varietal cider category with Haykin Family Cider earning gold and bronze and Snow Capped Cider taking home silver.
This year, the Brewers Association gave out awards for the best beer packaging and branding. While Colorado didn’t officially win, we thought River North’s Squirrels Just Want to Have Fun, which won a gold medal in the coffee beer category, deserved an honorable mention.
See the full list of award-winning local beers below. You can find all the competition results at greatamericanbeerfestival.com.
Gold
American-Style Pale Ale – Parallel Pale, Westbound & Down Brewing Co., Lafayette
Belgian-Style or French-Style Specialty Ale – River North White, River North Brewery, Denver
Coffee Beer – Squirrels Just Want to Have Fun, River North Brewery, Denver
Dainty fashion darling Sandy Liang is bringing her playful, delicate designs to the masses.
The New York City-based designer, who until now has had a small retail footprint and big fashion clout, is releasing a limited collection with Gap (big footprint, big clout). The collection is anchored by core Gap and Sandy Liang categories, like denim and outerwear, including a precious pair of carpenter jeans with bow stitching on the pocket, a faux fur half zip in a Bambi-inspired print, and two heavy-weight fleece hoodies glamified with the Sandy Liang logo or her signature bow. Baby and toddler styles are also available for the first time. Prices range between $15 and $268. The collection will be available starting October 10.
Prior to this collaboration, you could only buy a Sandy Liang piece in two places: on her website, or in her Orchard Street boutique in New York City’s Lower East Side. Now, you’ll be able to get the collab pieces on the Gap website, and at select U.S. and global Gap stores (until they sell out).
The collection gives Gap fashion cachet, Liang access to a huge new audience, and the rest of us easier access to Liang’s covetable, girlish pieces—which typically have a pricing floor of several hundred dollars under her own high-end label.
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That cachet-by-association is important to Gap because it establishes its authority in the fashion space by targeting a new audience with in-the-know fashion taste. The aim is to win over the tastemakers and conversation starters who later adopters look to for cultural signals, gain cultural relevancy, and then become a driver of cultural conversation itself.
The Sandy Liang partnership brings “fashion credibility through her lens,” Gap brand president and CEO Mark Breitbard says. And it’s indicative of Gap’s broader partnerships strategy. “What you can see is that we have a reason for each,” Breitbard says, referring to Gap’s recent collaborations. “There is a story behind each. There it’s a real true marriage of their brand and our brand in each, and it’s something that continues to bring energy.”
Core memories
This collection started with Liang’s mood board of creative inspirations: Nancy Myers, herself as a kid in the ’90s, and phrases like “Gap kids for adults,” and “Gap adults for kids.” All of her designs started from this tensile idea of creating the most serious baby clothes possible, and the silliest, most fun adult clothes ever.
“I really wanted to play with that dynamic of kids things for adults and adult things for kids because when I was a kid going to the Gap stores, so much of that time being in the physical Gap stores was spent fantasizing about what my adult closet would look like, what the adult Sandy would like from this collection,” Liang says. With that lens, she then took some of her favorite Sandy Liang pieces and reinterpreted them for everyday wearability and comfortability in the Gap way.
Liang describes the collection as one “for your inner child,” which is also a core driver of her own label. She recalls being a student at New York City’s Parsons School of Design, where she says she was taught to find a particular subject and sketch a collection from that. “For me, being instructed to do that just felt so emotionless and not personal,” she says. Instead, the inspiration for her senior thesis came from a capability of the iPhone, which had just come out a few years earlier. Liang recalls scrolling through her iPhone photo albums, which had become an instant and unlimited pool of inspiration.
“I remember being like, ‘why can’t I just reference the moments that I’m finding in life?’” asked Liang, originally from Queens. “Whether it be this Chinatown grandma or my grandma’s blanket or this floral motif I found in this random store. So that’s why personal memories influenced me so much.” And it’s how her brand story originated.
Bows, stars, and frills: childhood motifs as brand emblems
The Sandy Liang label is known for particular motifs: bows, stars, and rhinestones, girly details that stem from her own childhood doodles. These appear in small, premium garment details in the collection, like star grommets on the jeans and work pants, star zipper pulls, eyelet trim on an athletic black tracksuit, bow stitching on the pockets, and bows on the back of the trench and a navy work trouser. In combination, these design elements create a garment that is “comfortable, sporty, easy, but also just like the slight hit of ‘that was unexpected,’” she says. (See the zip-up hoodie with fur trim, for instance.)
“The star motif is something that I’ve been doing a lot with my own collection,” says Liang. “Again, it goes back to childhood emblems that I always reference back to. It felt right for Gap, obviously because childhood memories are such a big influence on the collection.” On a practical level, “star” was also the perfect size to put on a ball cap in the classic Gap font.
The recurring bow motif, meanwhile, is “kind of born out of this fascination with princesses and crowns and that sort of thing,” says Liang. “Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy and I felt insecure to lean more into the pink, girly side. Now that I’m an adult, what I’ve been trying to do is always fulfill my inner child. So I’m doing all the things that I wish I had.”
All her design references come down to core memories and are interpreted through the eyes of childhood. Her interest in the ’90s is because that’s when she was a kid. Rather than referencing it in a literal sense, she references her “memories of what the adults were wearing in the ’90s and what it felt like to be a kid in the ’90s and less so real references,” she says. “It’s more like the energy and feeling.”
The opposite of a trend forecaster
Her consistent use of childhood motifs has led content creators to missassociate her with ephemeral TikTok trends that bubble up over the years, which the chronically online might remember: like “balletcore” and “girlhood.” Who What Wear claimed Liang’s ballet references were one of many to emerge following MiuMiu’s fall/winter 2022 show. Last year, Marie Claire put Sandy Liang’s spring/summer 2024 collection within the popularizing “catch-all of the girlhood aesthetic.”
However this is purely coincidental. The idea of childhood, or girlhood for her, has been driving her brand since it was founded in 2014. Her Mary Jane pointe shoes ended up in a lot of #balletcore roundups, but it had actually been in production for two years prior. That trend may be in the internet’s dustbin, but the shoe is still a core shorthand for Sandy. In fact, you can get it on a Sandy Liang x Gap sweater.
“I literally am the opposite of a trend forecaster. I’m just trying to find what makes me happy and inspires me, whether it’s a TV show or being a mom right now, or whatever,” she says. “I had no idea what ballet core even meant. That’s just the timing of life.”
A similar coincidence of timing happened with bows, an internet microtrend which outlets like the Guardian and Harper’s Bazaar say Liang popularized and was associated with balletcore and hashtags like #girlhood. “I just happened to really love bows and satin,” she says.
The conflation “was really funny for me because none of it’s intentional and none of it’s me trying to play a part. Or even being with ‘Girlhood.’ That is something that I identify with, but it’s not a new thing for me. It’s something that’s always driving me, but it’s the thing right now, so people like to associate that. The internet is just so crazy.”
Girlhood forever
Once again, the bow “trend” if there ever was one, is over—but the bow as a core symbol of the Sandy Liang brand lives on. Today, you can find it stitched onto a pocket of Sandy Liang x Gap jeans, and it’s these kinds of recurring visual symbols and related aesthetic tensions of practicality and frivolity and adulthood and girlishness that appeal to Liang’s core customers year over year. And with this release, Liang will likely have many more customers on her hands.
The Sandy Liang hoodies also show how Gap is improving the quality of its overall product lines. They have a boxy contemporary fit but also a weighty hand feel that led me to inquire about the fleece make itself. The company told me it expanded its fleece assortment last fall to include “heavyweight” (400 grams per square meter) and “extra heavyweight,” (650 grams per square meter) its most premium fleece offerings to date. The Sandy logo hoodie is extra heavyweight, and the bow hoodie is heavyweight, which establishes quality in addition to exclusivity as a limited drop. It also released the classic Arch Logo hoodie in extra heavyweight fleece this month.
Collaborations can also create leads for Gap’s core brand: 20% of consumers who made a collab purchase also added a Gap item to their cart, the company told me in September. So just maybe, the fashion set will buy into Gap, too.
By Lilly Smith
This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.
Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.
Montgomery County’s retail sector remains stable but faces growing uncertainty, according to Planning Board Division Chief Carrie McCarthy. With over 68,000 retail jobs and $13 billion in projected household spending, the county continues to attract businesses despite challenges like federal job losses and shifting consumer habits.
Carrie McCarthy, a division chief at Montgomery County’s Planning Board, described the current retail climate as “stable but softening.”
McCarthy told the Montgomery County Council Economic Development Committee on Thursday that while there are some weak spots, the county’s reputation as a wealthy D.C. area suburb still makes it an attractive location for retail. But, she added, “there’s a lot of uncertainty and chaos out there.”
“Consumers are still spending, but cautiously,” McCarthy said of retail nationally.
She added that in Montgomery County, the retail industry employs over 68,000 people, mostly in food services and grocery stores. There’s about 3,400 retail establishments in the county.
According to McCarthy, residents spend most on food and beverages, entertainment, clothing and child care.
“Montgomery County households are expected to spend about $13 billion on these retail categories,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy noted that child care might not seem like a part of the retail sector, but the market is changing what we think of a retail consumer, and child care businesses can be a “good occupier of ground-floor retail space.”
The development of online shopping and the impact of the pandemic led some to make predictions that brick and mortar retail outlets were doomed, but McCarthy told the council committee that businesses that started as e-retailers “do often find that they want a brick and mortar location.”
McCarthy also said that retail outlets make communities “lovable as well as livable.”
“People have their neighborhood market, their neighborhood restaurant — it’s a private sector vehicle for supporting social connections,” she said.
Vacancy rates for retail vary across the county, ranging from 31% in the Chevy Chase and Friendship Heights area to 10% in downtown Silver Spring, according to data supplied by McCarthy.
Noting the impact that federal job losses have had in the county, along with tariffs that affect businesses, McCarthy said retail has taken some hits, but it will bounce back. She said in these times, it’s about supporting businesses and helping them change their business plans as needed.
Geoff Sharpe, vice president of creative planning and development for Federal Realty Investment Trust, told the committee there are a number of ways the county can assist retailers.
He listed pilot programs, community improvement districts and property tax abatements as “tools that could be employed to foster retail development.”
Sharpe also talked about how online shopping has changed the way brick and mortar outlets operate. He referred to “BOPIS,” or the “buy online, pickup in store” model that many retailers have added.
“For retail businesses to have successful BOPIS, you need to have circulation patterns that make sense. You need to be able to offer short-term parking that’s proximate to the store,” Sharpe said.
Across the country, localities have been faced with what to do with shuttered large retail outlets or even shopping malls. Sharpe said even in smaller spaces, a retailer will have to redevelop the space to adapt to modern shopping preferences.
“Minimizing the time and the cost of making those changes is really important so that we can accommodate those retail businesses in Montgomery County,” he said.
An updated report from Montgomery County Planning is expected by spring of 2026.
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A Denver brewery known as a hub for the Latino community closed suddenly this week after city officials seized the property’s assets due to unpaid back taxes.
Raíces Brewing Co. in Lincoln Park owed $98,703 in sales and personal property taxes, according to a distraint warrant issued by the city. The business closed on Wednesday when the warrant was issued.
Brewery CEO José Beteta was not immediately available to comment on the circumstances, but a detailed goodbye note on Raíces’ website states the company had been working with the city for about a year to establish a payment plan for the taxes. The company blamed “a series of unexpected charges” issued by the city that it said are related to what’s called a business personal property tax. That’s essentially a tax on whatever assets a business owns.
The note alleged that Raices had “never received prior billing notices” and that all invoices dating back to 2019 “arrived together in 2024, already including years of interest and penalties — despite our lack of prior information.”
However, city spokesperson Laura Swartz said in a statement that the personal property taxes owed only amounted to $10,765, or about 10% of the business’s total outstanding balance. Raices owed nearly $69,000 in sales tax and about $30,000 for penalties and interest, she said.
“It’s unfortunate that this situation has gotten to this point. We want Denver’s businesses to succeed and that means offering the best customer service we can to them,” Swartz said. “Before issuing a warrant, we attempt to reach the business by phone, mail, email, and in person to both collect the sales tax and ensure they can continue to operate. As Raices has noted, the city has attempted to work with them for years, including on a payment plan that was not fulfilled.”
Opened in late 2019, Raíces Brewing Co. offered a welcome dash of diversity to Denver’s craft beer scene. Raíces means “roots” in Spanish, and the brewery quickly became a hotspot for events and traditions celebrating Latino culture. Its annual Suave Fest spotlighted Latin beer makers from across the country.
Raíces’ closure is notable because of its unique space in the community, and also because the beer was worth seeking out. In 2022, it won a silver medal at the U.S. Open Beer Championship for its Furia imperial red ale.
“Raíces Brewing Co. has always been more than a business – it has been a space of community, culture, and human connection. A meeting place where thousands of people celebrated their roots, their identity, and their diversity. We are profoundly proud to have built a place that served our people and the city of Denver with love, respect, and purpose,” the goodbye note says. “In times when the world often feels increasingly divided, spaces like this become essential.”
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Doug McMillon, as the CEO of Walmart, runs the largest private employer in the United States. When he talks about the future of work, it isn’t theory—it’s the lived reality of millions of families. In fact, more than 2.1 million people around the world get a paycheck from Walmart. That’s why it matters that, speaking at a workforce conference in Bentonville last week, Walmart’s CEO didn’t mince words about artificial intelligence.
“It’s very clear that AI is going to change literally every job,” McMillon said, according to The Wall Street Journal. “Maybe there’s a job in the world that AI won’t change, but I haven’t thought of it.”
Look, a lot of people have predicted that AI will change the way we work in the future. For that matter, people are predicting that AI will change the way we do pretty much everything. It’s already changing the way we look for and process information. And it’s having a real impact on creative work, from generating ideas to editing photos.
But this is different. This isn’t some kind of edge case where AI is doing something that benefits niche work. This is a sober assessment from someone who thinks about the livelihoods of millions of people, from truck drivers to warehouse workers and store managers.
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So far, much of the AI conversation around work has been about replacing humans with robots or computers capable of doing everything from menial tasks to coding. The pitch is that companies will save extraordinary costs as humans are replaced with AI that can do more work, faster, and cheaper.
The fear among many employees is that automation will come for knowledge work the same way robots came for manufacturing. McMillon’s warning is different: AI isn’t confined to Silicon Valley jobs. It’s coming for the retail floor, the supply chain, the back office, and the call center.
For example, AI can already predict what items a store will sell and when, automatically adjusting orders. That doesn’t eliminate the need for employees—but it will definitely change what their job looks like.
McMillon also made another point: Walmart’s overall headcount will likely stay flat, even as its revenue grows. That—if you think about it—isn’t just surprising, it’s incredibly revealing. The assumption is that AI equals fewer jobs. Instead, Walmart expects them to be different.
To make that happen, the company is mapping which roles will shrink, which will grow, and which will stay stable. The strategy is to invest in reskilling so workers can move into the new jobs AI creates. “We’ve got to create the opportunity for everybody to make it to the other side,” McMillon said.
This is the part of the warning many leaders ignore. Pretending AI won’t affect your workforce is irresponsible. Pretending AI only means job cuts is short-sighted. The challenge is to figure out what your workforce looks like and what you need to do to make the transition.
There are a few reasons that Walmart’s perspective matters. The obvious one is because it’s the largest private employer in the world. It is the company that, single-handedly, affects the greatest number of people when it makes a change to its workforce. That’s why AI isn’t just a technology problem; it’s a leadership problem.
It’s one thing for McMillon to say “AI will change every job.” It’s another thing to commit that Walmart will still employ millions of people, even if the jobs look different. He’s saying the responsibility to guide workers through change rests squarely on leaders’ shoulders. That’s a message worth hearing far beyond the company’s Bentonville headquarters.
AI is often pitched as a productivity story. That’s true, but the bigger story is about people. Technology that changes “literally every job” also changes lives, families, and communities. The ripple effect is enormous when you’re a company the size of Walmart.
By the way, Walmart isn’t perfect, but its approach offers a model. Instead of framing AI as cost-cutting, it’s framing AI as a transformation challenge. That may seem like semantics, but reframing the conversation makes all the difference between a fearful workforce and a resilient one.
McMillon’s prediction is sobering precisely because it’s credible. He isn’t selling software or trying to impress investors. He’s planning for how millions of his own employees will navigate the AI future.
If you’re leading a business—whether that’s 20 people or 20,000—the message is pretty clear. AI is going to change every job. Your job is to be thinking hard about what that means for your company. It means thinking about how it will impact your people and come up with a plan.
It seems like almost everyone agrees that AI will change almost everything about the way we all work. The only question is whether you’ll help your people prepare or leave them to figure it out on their own. By then, it will be too late. That’s why every leader should start now.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
For Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, the political implications of still-elevated inflation are not lost on him.
Inflation has come down a lot from 9% in 2022 to 2.9% in the government’s latest CPI report. Core PCE prices, the Fed’s favorite gauge of inflation, rose 2.9% in August, matching July’s climb.
But inflation has been sticky as tariffs take hold, and Griffin predicted inflation will continue to be in the mid-2% to 3% range next year, still above the Fed’s 2% target.
In 2024, the high cost of living was a focal point in Trump’s reelection campaign, and Biden-era inflation hurt Democrats. They lost the White House and Congress, while Trump won all seven swing states.
Many voters blamed Democratic policies—including stimulus spending—for sustained, high costs, exit polls found.
“There’s no doubt that the president and the Republicans came to power on the back of frustration with inflation,” Griffin said. “I would not underestimate how grating a 3% inflation rate could be to tens of millions of American households.”
Inflation could feature heavily in midterm elections next year, as the Republican Party looks to defend narrow majorities in the House and Senate. And voters are souring on Trump’s economy.
A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed only 28% of respondents approved of Trump’s handling of their cost of living. A YouGov/Economist poll put Trump’s approval rating on the economy at an all-time low of 35%.
One indicator of affordability has been a thorn in Trump’s side: high mortgage rates. Yet as Trump looks to the Fed for homeowner relief, many worry about political influence over the independent body.
Trump has been criticized lately for pressuring the Federal Reserve and threatening its independence. Critics argue that his efforts to appoint loyalists to the Fed, public calls to lower interest rates, and attempts to remove a sitting governor represent a clear move to sway monetary policy for political purposes.
Griffin advised that continued Fed independence would be in Trump’s interest.
“If I were the president, I would let the Fed do their job,” he said. “I would let the Fed have as much perceived and real independence as possible, because the Fed often has to make choices that are pretty painful to make.”
The Federal Open Market Committee cut interest rates by a fourth of a percent earlier this month to buoy a slowing labor market. The move comes after months of continued pressure from the Trump administration on Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other committee members to cut rates.
Still, President Donald Trump has been vocal about cutting rates further, even though the move likely will risk further price increases.
Griffin warned that erosion of Fed independence could lead to Americans conflating the White House and central bank.
“If the president’s perceived as being in control of the Fed, then what happens when those painful choices have to be made?”
Fortune Global Forum returns Oct. 26–27, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.
After Starbucks announced it would be shutting hundreds of stores, its website is listing dozens in the Bay Area as being closed as of Sunday, Sept. 28.
To check if a store is on the closure list, go to the Starbucks store locator online, find your desired outlet and click the information icon to check whether it will be open beyond this week.
As of Sept. 26, the following stores were slated for a Sept. 28 closure:
In the six-year time frame established in the settlement, anyone who “unsuccessfully attempted” to cancel their Prime subscription online is eligible to get paid up to $51 from Amazon. People who signed up for Prime during that same period can also get up to $51 if they signed up through a “challenged enrollment flow”—a page with a confusing interface that may lead to people inadvertently making a purchase. Previous court filings established that in some cases, some users may have selected “two-day shipping” on an item and not realized that, in doing so, they were also signing up for Amazon Prime.
An FTC spokesperson tells WIRED that automatic payments will go out to some customers within 90 days.
“The rest of eligible consumers will receive a notification from Amazon, and will have the opportunity to submit a simple claim form,” the FTC says. “Amazon is required to post information about this to Amazon.com and the app. The settlement also requires Amazon to have an independent third party who will monitor their compliance with these claims.”
The court filing says that Amazon is also “permanently” barred from structuring Prime sign-ups with a confusing “negative option feature” where a customer is assumed to be making a purchase unless they actively refuse it.
For example, the filing says, a button that reads “No thanks, I don’t want free shipping” does not clearly indicate that a customer will be signed up for Prime unless they click it. Amazon also has to make it obvious when a person is choosing to sign up for Prime, and include language like “Join Prime” in its user interface. Similarly, Amazon has to clearly communicate when a Prime subscription is subject to auto-renewals by using words like “renew.”
The initial complaint, which was filed by the FTC in June 2023, alleged that while Amazon had improved its process for canceling Prime memberships, the company had spent years knowingly complicating the cancellation process.
An attachment on a May 7 court filing includes an email chain with Amazon employees from December 2020, which was described as “privileged and confidential” in the subject line. In the email, a manager of Prime content and marketing paraphrased key points that came up in a recent “US prime performance meeting.”
“Subscription is driving a bit of a shady world,” reads one paraphrased quote, attributed to an unnamed person at the meeting.
“We should lean away from experimenting with sign-up clarity, and focus more on driving overall members and increasing confirmation that you are prime,” reads a different paraphrased quote from another person at the meeting, included in the same attachment.
A different attachment shows that Amazon was aware that customers were frustrated. A company slide presentation dated September 17, 2017, focused specifically on customer service complaints about “unintentional” Prime sign-ups. (A different attachment, which includes an email chain dated September 25, 2017, appears to refer to the presentation. Two dozen people were asked to “delete the PowerPoint document” and send “confirmation” once they had.)
One customer complaint in the presentation claims that they were “tricked” into signing up for a free trial for Amazon Prime when they selected two-day shipping on a purchase, not knowing that this would also sign them up for a trial for Prime.
“I DO NOT LIKE YOUR SERVICE,” reads another complaint. “THIS IS CRAP THAT I ORDERED A PRODUCT IN AMAZON ADS [sic] ME TO A PROGRAM WITH AUTO BILLING THAT I DID NOT SIGN UP FOR. I WILL NOT USE AMAZON AND TELL EVERYONE ABOUT THIS TYPE OF CRAP YOU ARE PULLING.”
“IT IS SNEAKY AND BLOODY DISHONEST FORCING SOMETHING THE [sic] I NEVER WANTED,” reads another complaint.
The same Amazon slide presentation noted that confusing Prime sign-ups were leading to an increased burden on Amazon’s customer service workers, as well as a “loss of customer trust.”
A woman shares her co-worker’s annual raise after working at Target for over 30 years. Viewers say the tiny raise is a slap in the face to a loyal employee.
In a video with over 1.7 million views, TikToker Imoveritfr (@imoveritforreal) posts a picture of the paper detailing the 2023 increase. Her co-worker’s base pay goes from $15.38 to $15.46—just 8 cents more than she made previously.
On-screen text reads, “That one time I worked at Target and this was the raise my co-worker who had been there for 30 years received.”
In a follow-up video, the TikToker notes that the current starting pay for her co-worker’s role is now $16.25.
What is a normal pay raise for a Target employee?
The document notes that the pay increase is just 0.5%. This falls below the recommended annual raise of 3 to 5% to keep up with inflation, according to Indeed. No raise, or a raise this small, means the worker has less spending power than they did in previous years, even if they earned less.
However, other Target workers say minuscule raises are normal at the retailer.
“The Target I used to work at had a cashier who had worked there for 25 years, & even tho she only had 1 hand, she outworked everyone else. Her raise one year was 1 penny! She gave her notice a week later,” one says.
“Main reason why I quit there. I worked at Target during late 2020 and the beginning of 2021. And saw the pay raise and laughed. I got 10 cents. I started looking for another job and left,” another writes.
“When I worked there, they gave me 5 cents ngl and I was training people. Felt like a slap in the face. I left, obviously,” a third adds.
Will low raises end company loyalty?
While workers used to stay at one company for the duration of their careers, low raises may contribute to “job hopping,” in which workers leave every few years in search of better pay. Commenters suggest that Target’s low raises will prevent worker retention.
“Yeah. Loyalty doesn’t mean anything to companies anymore,” a commenter writes.
“And seniors ask why there’s no such thing as company loyalty anymore. Loyalty is a two-way street,” another says.
“Selfish. These companies do not care,” one remarks.
“This is an example why no one should give their whole life to a company that doesn’t appreciate you,” a fourth adds.
Workers at other big box retailers say they’ve also experienced low raises that made them question their loyalty to the company.
“This was me at Walmart 10 years ago. Took me six years to start making 10 an hour. Then everyone came in making that much,” one shares.
“Also I worked at Panera and they said they giving us a Christmas bonus (it was also our raise) and they handed me a check for A LITERAL CENT I gave it back to them and quit in the spot,” another says.
“When I work at forever 21 they gave me a seven cent raise.. I quit so fast lol,” a third viewer writes.
The Mary Sue reached out to Imoveritfr via TikTok direct message and to Target via email.
