Robyn gets a kick out of being able to say she's worked at both the "good" and the "bad" Dollar Trees in her West Texas town. The stores may be only a few miles from each other geographically, but qualitywise, there's an enormous gulf between them. Shocked customers who have been to both locations remark on the stark differences "all the time," she said. The good store is clean — the floors are swept, aisles open, merchandise in its place. At the bad one, merchandise is scattered all over the place, and unpacked boxes fill the aisles. There's supposed to be a clear, wide pathway from the break room to an exit in case of an emergency, like a fire or a shooting. Instead, employees at the bad store have to turn sideways and try to shuffle through an 8-inch-wide gap between boxes piled high in the hallways.

The factors that account for the difference sound quite small. The good store has dedicated recovery staff, whose job it is to put stuff where it goes. The bad one doesn't. The good store's manager is better at pushing for more work hours for employees, which means there are more people and time for stocking and tidying up on top of cashiering. The manager at the bad store just kind of lets anything fly. Still, Robyn, which is a pseudonym, says a lot of the blame is on corporate. She was an assistant manager in the past, and she's heard what goes on in the weekly calls. Rather than try to revive struggling stores, she said, they're left out to dry.

"They look at their trend of sales, and if a store is underperforming, then instead of maybe investing a little bit more hours there to try to pick it back up, they're like, 'Oh, well, it's not worth investing in this store' because it is not making us whatever amount of money they think it should be making. It makes the problem worse," she said. Dollar Tree did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Most people have probably had experience shopping in their own version of Robyn's "bad" store. They've walked into a local dollar store or pharmacy or department store and wondered whether there's been an explosion. Aisles are filled with unopened boxes, stacks of bins, and full dollies. Merchandise is strewn about. To get to the item on the shelf you actually want, you have to climb over a pile of crates. (If you have not had this experience, congratulations, and also, here are some TikTok videos to get at what I'm describing.) It's representative of the broader decline of the in-store retail experience. Stores are slashing costs, cutting corners at every turn, and generally ignoring the consequences.

"When you cut costs, there's a very immediate and very visible impact to the bottom line. It's something that retailers do, and they're very happy to do, and investors are very comfortable with them doing it," Neil Saunders, a managing director at the retail consultancy GlobalData, said. Yes, they'll lose customers in the process, sales will fall, and loyalty will dissipate. But that's all subtle and harder to trace. "They happen more slowly and steadily over a period of time, and they build up into a bigger problem," Saunders added.

What that looks like on the ground is stores filled to the brim as boxes pile up. At Robyn's Dollar Tree stores, they can't call the distribution center and ask it to stop shipping, either, as everything continues to accumulate if they don't have time to put it away. "The truck is going to show up whether you have room for it or not," she said.

The boxes-everywhere scenario used to be largely a dollar- or discount-store problem, but now the perilous piles have spread to other types of retailers. In other words, it's not just Dollar General anymore but also Target and Duane Reade. Much of the explanation is staffing, or rather, the lack of it. Many stores simply do not have enough people working to do everything necessary, between helping customers and stocking shelves and cleaning and fulfilling pickup and e-commerce orders. It's often the case that just one or two people are on a shift at a time, and checking customers out at the register takes precedence, meaning everything else falls by the wayside.

Many retail chains had to raise wages to compete for workers over the past several years, thanks to the pandemic-induced labor shortage and as major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart upped their pay. One way some retailers have compensated is by reducing staffing. Maybe they now pay their workers $15 an hour instead of $10, but where three people used to work a certain shift, there are now two.

Adding to the staffing problems is the simple lack of space. To keep their footprints small and their rent, in turn, low, many stores don't have much backroom area for storage. Long gone are the days of loading docks where stuff could sit until it was ready to be put out, said Jason Goldberg, the chief commerce strategy officer at Publicis Groupe, a global marketing firm. "Most stores are designed to have the vast majority of merchandise out on the floor," he said.

Essentially, this is an inventory issue and a labor issue. There's no stockroom for keeping products stowed away and nobody to unpack them when they arrive. Skeleton crews are doing their best to keep up, but they're constantly being squeezed. Shipping schedules are unpredictable. Customers are demanding. And the worse the job becomes — because the pay is low, because it's hard to get shifts — the more people quit, extending the cycle of doom.

That's what's happening at the Walgreens where Stephanie has worked in Florida for more than a decade. When she started, there would be two cashiers, someone in photo, someone else in beauty, and two shift leads. They'd close the store with four or five people. Now when she's on, it's usually just her and another person, and they have to frantically try to get bins unloaded and put up sales tags all while working the register. They'll leave rolling carts around the store during the day to get to as they can, which is usually at the end of the shift. Bins can't be left out overnight. It's not a disaster zone — luckily, they do have some decent storage space, and the manager runs a tight ship — but it's not perfect, either.

"They basically cut a lot of positions, and now they work as minimum a staff as they can, and even with that, they're telling us, 'You're over budget, we've got to cut more hours,'" Stephanie, also a pseudonym, said. She does DoorDash and Instacart on the side, so she also gets to experience the customer end of the equation when she runs to the dollar store to pick up orders, which is much worse, boxes-in-aisles-wise, than her Walgreens. "It's not even their fault. They have one worker on all the time, and they expect that worker to put their merchandise away," she said.

When reached for comment about this story, a Walgreens spokesperson said that the company is "always working to improve our patient and customer experience by making it easier for our team members to do their job."

Good managers are able to do some triage, which is why one store might be pretty picked up while others are a mess. But sometimes, constraints make it so it's impossible to keep up.

"There will be some store managers that have very strong operating disciplines, and they will not allow things to get out of control," Saunders said. "And there will be some store managers that are much more lax."

As easy as it is to point the finger at retailers for dropping the ball on inventories and aisles, they're not operating in a vacuum. They're in a landscape where margins are razor thin, e-commerce is cannibalizing their business, and consumers are hypersensitive to prices. One response for big-name retailers, including Walgreens, CVS, and Target, is to shut down unprofitable locations across the country. US retailers have announced 7,185 store closures this year, according to the research and advisory firm Coresight, up by 58 from 2023. (By comparison, they've announced 5,581 store openings.) Among the stores that are staying open, retailers are super focused on maximizing their profitability, Claire Tassin, a retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Consult, said. Staffing a store to have a pleasant customer experience isn't "necessarily in their budgets," she said. Moreover, the message many retailers are getting from consumers is that the sacrifice on experience is acceptable, as long as they're keeping their prices low, especially for retailers where value is the main proposition.

"Yes, it's annoying when there's boxes in the aisles and it feels bad and cluttered, but if it's in the name of lowering costs, that is what consumers are signaling to these brands that they want," Tassin said. "If the store's sort of primary purpose is value and convenience, that's what is going to matter most."

To be sure, there are limits. You trip over boxes in a store enough or wait endlessly for someone to unlock deodorant for you, and you'll probably give up, go somewhere else, or start looking online. For people with mobility issues, going to an overcrowded store isn't even an option. Retailers know people are shopping online, too, which is why the ones who are behind on e-commerce are trying to catch up — and, in some cases, why the in-store experience is even worse.

That's part of what's happening with Target, retail analysts told me. Despite the retailer's recent struggles, e-commerce has been a bright spot for it, Goldberg said. But part of the model is to use the space in the back of stores for goods that need to be shipped — space that previously would have been used for merchandise headed to the floor. "They need space to stage orders and pack orders and hand orders off," he said.

The setup also loads up associates' duties, Saunders added. "They pick orders for online delivery. They take them out to cars for curbside pickup. They have to man the desks where collections are made and then returns of online products are made," he said. "There's a lot more tasks that now have to be done day-to-day in the store, and it's distracted and taken time away from some of the basics like merchandising."

A Target spokesperson said the company's staffing model accounts for online fulfillment being part of how it operates its stores.

The dynamic is one of a race to the bottom that's turning into a race for survival. Retailers are stretching on pricing and staffing and quality, and eventually, something's got to give. But instead of trying to proactively make the in-store experience better, many continue to bury their heads in the sand.

"Rather than thinking, 'How can we differentiate ourselves to really attract shoppers to come to us?' They started competing head-on against online with price discounts," said Sharmila Chatterjee, a senior lecturer in marketing at the MIT Sloan School of Management. "The less you invest in in-store experience, the more the customers are turned off. So you are sort of pushing them away, to online."

Stuff spilling into aisles used to be a somewhat isolated problem, the sign of a particularly poorly run store. Increasingly, though, it's an everywhere problem. Some stores might be inspired to turn it around — especially after dollar stores have been hit with safety violations over blocked exits, crowded aisles, and clutter — but profit motive could prove a stronger incentive. Anecdotally, many consumers have noticed more piled boxes in more retailers lately, not fewer. And that's not just because it's the holidays.

Crowded walkways are a symptom of a much-bigger affliction hitting retail, which is that the business model isn't really working. Gone are the days when supercheap labor made adequate levels of store staffing easy, though I will note that Robyn makes just over $9 an hour and Stephanie about $15.50. Rents aren't going back to where they were. Consumers still do most of their shopping in person, but e-commerce is becoming more and more appealing, especially when brick and mortar is such a hassle. If it's no longer cheap or convenient to pop by the dollar store or drug store, what's the point? And there's always Walmart, which operationally doesn't seem to have this boxes-everywhere issue.

Cynthia, another pseudonymous Dollar Tree worker, is at a store that opened about a month ago in Virginia. When she started, she thought it was weird that customers kept commenting on how clean and organized the place was. "One of the biggest compliments was that we can walk through the aisles. I was like, what?" she said. It's already starting to turn — there's "no freaking way" she can get everything done in a shift, she said. Stuff's starting to pile up, and her coworkers are quitting because they're frustrated with the heavy workload and the lack of hours.

"Then it's more of that work falls on other people who already are burnt out and aggravated," she said. "It's a nasty little cycle."

Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.

• Evercore says Amazon Pharmacy's revenue may hit $2 billion this year.
• Interest in Amazon's online pharmacy service rose to 45% in Evercore's survey from 34% last year.
• The US prescription market is worth about $435 billion.

Amazon's online pharmacy business is drawing significantly more customer interest, and it could generate roughly $2 billion in revenue this year, according to the financial firm Evercore.

In a note published last week, the Evercore analyst Mark Mahaney highlighted his firm's recent survey indicating rising interest in and usage of Amazon Pharmacy.

A record 45% of Amazon customers surveyed said they were "extremely interested" or "very interested" in buying online medications from the company, up from 34% last year and from 14% in 2020. The note said it was the largest year-over-year increase in purchase intent for pharmaceuticals among Amazon shoppers in eight years. Evercore ran the survey in June and included 1,100 respondents.

The survey also found that 13% of Amazon customers said they had purchased pharma products from Amazon, compared with 9% last year.

Evercore estimated, based on "several sources," that all this could result in roughly $2 billion in revenue for Amazon's pharmacy business. Business Insider previously reported that Amazon's internal forecast showed its pharmacy business generating $1.8 billion in sales after recording $1.25 billion last year.

Amazon's growth is squeezing retail pharmacy businesses too. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Walgreens was in talks to sell itself to a private-equity firm.

Evercore believes half of Prime membership households will eventually shop for online medications on Amazon, which could result in $33 billion in additional revenue and $1.6 billion in operating income over the next three to five years.

"This inflection in consumer intent to purchase prescriptions online, and on Amazon, may well be a sign of Amazon closing in on a potential Rx market unlock," Mahaney wrote in the note.

Mahaney also wrote that Amazon was aggressively expanding its same-day-delivery service for pharmaceutical products, noting a recent announcement that said it would cover nearly half of US consumers by the end of 2025. He also highlighted the sheer size of the US prescription market, about $435 billion, of which Amazon Pharmacy has penetrated less than 1%.

Amazon's spokesperson declined to comment.

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• I shopped at Five Below and Dollar Tree for holiday decorations.
• I was pleased with both chains' offerings.
• Dollar Tree's items are more traditional, while Five Below's decor is for younger shoppers.

Five Below and Dollar Tree are both discount stores with locations across the country, and both are experiencing rapid growth.

At Dollar Tree, most things cost around $1.25, with some exceptions. According to a quarterly earnings report, the chain opened 249 locations and generated $785.6 million in the third quarter of 2024 alone.

Five Below is similar, but instead of focusing on the $1.25 price point, almost everything in the store is $5.55 and below (again, with some exceptions in the Five Beyond section). And according to its quarterly earnings call, Five Below is also on a similarly positive trajectory, opening 82 new stores and earning $843.7 million last quarter, a 14.6% increase from last year.

I decided to pit these two discount giants against each other for the holiday season by comparing their offerings for holiday decorations.

Here's what I thought about each store.

My first stop was a Five Below location on Long Island, New York.

I visited this location in October to check out its Halloween offerings and was pleased with the selection.

So I decided to return in December and see what was in stock for the most wonderful time of the year.

Before I stepped inside, the Christmas spirit was on display. There were oversize ornaments and tinsel-covered candy canes for $5 each.

Do I know what these are for, exactly? No, but I liked them. I could see these working in a dorm room or in a home with young kids.

In the entryway, I saw these gingerbread homes, as well as villages and trains, for $5 each.

They seemed like a perfect holiday activity for children.

For $5, you hopefully won't get too annoyed if the kids make the ugliest and most structurally unsound gingerbread home … which wouldn't necessarily be the case with a more expensive kit, like one selling at Williams Sonoma for $35.

The wrapping paper section ranged from $1 to $5.

Wrapping paper adds up! A few rolls at $1 apiece is a bargain.

The more expensive ones were either licensed characters from properties like "Super Mario" and "Star Wars" or thicker paper than the $1 ones.

There were wheelbarrows filled with holiday lights and socks.

I already have so many Christmas string lights, but in a pinch, these $4 lights would be great.

A bin filled with tinsel is for anyone who needs a bit of sparkle in their tree or home.

Five Below offered different colored tinsel, including white, gold, hot pink, and red.

The holiday section had a huge table filled with hot-chocolate bombs, candy, and regular chocolate.

I bought one of those hot-chocolate bombs as a stocking stuffer last year, and the gift was a big hit.

The decor was split into three sections. This was "glitter decor."

This is where it became clearer who Five Below's holiday-decor audience is: children and teenage girls — or really, any teen who loves sparkles.

According to the brand's website, its target demographic is "tweens, teens and beyond." As early as 2015, Business Insider warned that Five Below should have other discount retailers concerned regarding teens' preferences.

In the store I visited, there were glittery reindeer, sparkling ornaments, twinkling earrings, fairy string lights, a white glitter-encrusted tree-topper, and sparkling fake mistletoe, ranging from $3 to $5. If I were in college, I would've done a clean sweep for my dorm or apartment.

Next to it was "disco decor."

As you can see, "disco decor" really means disco ball ornaments and those plastic light-up trees on the top shelf. I purchased one for $3.

Overall, vintage decor that leans into nostalgia seems to be back, between '70s disco balls, metallic tinsel, and light-up trees.

There were also "Lilo & Stitch" and "Nightmare Before Christmas" stockings in this display, although I'm not sure what's disco about them.

Finally, there was "glam decor," which, to be honest, I didn't really understand.

There's nothing here that's particularly "glam." The mini upside-down trees are cool, but I wouldn't call them glam.

While in this section, I noted that stockings were half-off and now priced at $2, but I don't need any more stockings.

There were lots of $1 ornaments.

These mini-ornaments were cute. There were classic orbs, disco balls, crowns, plushies, rainbows, watermelon slices, and even metallic hamburgers.

Again, these items seem best for young kids or teens.

When I visited this store for Halloween, this section was all pumpkins. It's now all Christmas tree and peppermint mocha candles.

I grabbed one of the green Christmas tree candles with a detachable top for $3.

Another section offered festive headbands and a red nose for anyone wanting to channel their inner Rudolph.

Any holiday gathering or ugly sweater party would be made better with these.

Besides decorations, there were also general holiday goodies, like holiday pillows and blankets.

They all felt very soft to the touch.

And rows of pajamas and slippers for a cold night.

I considered snagging a pair of the green reindeer slippers.

Not even pets were left out. This sweater was also the first piece of Hanukkah memorabilia I spotted at this location.

I was so taken in by all the Christmas decor that I, a Jewish person, had almost forgotten about Hanukkah entirely — though, in my defense, Hanukkah doesn't even start until Christmas at sundown this year.

I was fond of these sock advent calendars.

I usually associate advent calendars with chocolate, though I know many others exist.

It should be noted that I visited the store on the first day of December, and these were all still available — though they are only 12 days, so if you secure one at any point before December 14, you can join the fun.

I didn't buy this one, but I might go back for it.

I was particularly fond of the llama socks.

There were also classic chocolate advent calendars.

In addition to the Reese's calendar, there was a Hello Kitty calendar and a Marvel Comics calendar.

Before I left, I checked out the lone Hanukkah display.

There was special Hanukkah wrapping paper, banners, menorah decorations and headbands, gift bags, and candles.

Five Below did not respond to a request for comment regarding its Hanukkah options.

I bought three rolls of wrapping paper, a light-up Christmas tree, and a candle for $14.50.

This added a touch of non-green or -red to my apartment.

There is a Dollar Tree around 2 miles from the Five Below I visited.

Christmas decorations and holiday gift items were being advertised on the windows.

Just as I had at Five Below, I first saw oversized candy canes for $5.

Even though Dollar Tree is known as a "dollar store," some items cost more than that, like these $5 candy canes.

One of the other few items I found over $1.25 was this $3 wrapping paper.

Perhaps it was more expensive because it's reversible.

The ornament selection was overwhelming.

These ornaments were priced at $1.25 each.

If I were to compare the ornament selection at the two stores, I'd say the Dollar Tree ornaments were more classically Christmas. They were all red, white, or green and were of traditional winter things like snowmen, reindeer, snowflakes, or elves.

At Five Below, they seemed a bit more random.

There were also cute DIY ornaments for $1.25.

This seems like a fun craft for kids.

I noticed immediately that the toys and ornaments in this store represented diversity more than in any other store I've been to.

Representation in toys and ornaments hasn't always been the best — Barbie is perhaps the most notable exception, and even that took decades, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the ballerina ornaments weren't all white.

There were even non-white elf plushies.

There weren't any human plushies I could spot at Five Below, just animals or characters, so this was nice to see.

The decor selection was wide, if not a bit basic.

To me, it seems like Dollar Tree is the place to go if you're stocking up on holiday staples or prefer to keep your decorations on the simple side.

I did like the huge fake flowers display, but I don't have anywhere to put these in my apartment.

Maybe if I had a stoop, a yard, or a balcony to perch these on, I would've grabbed a bouquet.

While walking around, I thought this aesthetic was perfect for someone who loves a classic Christmas look.

Again, basically everything was red, white, green, or gold — and there's nothing wrong with that! But if you're a teenager, this might not be your vibe.

There was a huge aisle of just different colored tinsel.

The tinsel aisle at Dollar Tree put the tinsel bin at Five Below to shame, but I don't need this much as someone who doesn't have a ton of space to decorate.

I have too many cups as it is, but I was tempted by an ornament cup — for just $1.25, I still might go back and get it.

Imagine how satisfying it would be to drink mulled wine or a hot peppermint mocha from an ornament-shaped mug.

There were shelves upon shelves of chocolate and candy.

This was similar to the candy and chocolate available at Five Below.

I was particularly fond of the holiday-themed Mike and Ikes and the Fun Dip.

I liked that the Fun Dip looked like a little book.

I was less than impressed with the candle selection.

While this might not be as chaotic as the candle selection at Home Goods, I certainly preferred Five Below's organization to this haphazard shelf. Barely any of them were wintery or seasonal.

I felt the same about the Hanukkah display — it was just this lonely stand of greeting cards.

Even though Five Below also had just one display, at least it had things other than greeting cards.

Dollar Tree Inc. did not respond to a request for comment regarding its Hanukkah selection.

I didn't buy anything at Dollar Tree since I already had equivalents of what they were selling, but I would recommend it to people looking to stock up on the basics.

I'd go to Dollar Tree if I had a house and yard to decorate. It had all the holiday staples and a lot for less than $5.

For example, if I had a huge tree with no ornaments at all, I'd head to Dollar Tree to get all the basic ornaments, the tinsel, and lights.

Five Below, on the other hand, is for someone who wants to add a little sparkle.

I'm more likely to return to Five Below since my roommate and I already have all the holiday staples like tinsel and basic ball ornaments and don't need any lawn decor. Plus, it's just us, so we don't need any crafts like DIY ornaments or plushies that kids would be into.

Five Below also fits my aesthetic (read: glitter and metallics) more than Dollar Tree did.

I think both stores are a solid option for holiday shopping on a budget — it just depends on what you need.

• Big Lots is closing hundreds of stores after it filed for bankruptcy in September.
• Private equity firm Nexus Capital Management plans to acquire the retailer.
• I visited a Big Lots store in Maryland in September to see what it's like to shop there.

Big Lots is facing some big problems.

The discount retail chain won court approval last week to sell its assets and operations to an affiliate of Nexus Capital Management. The deal is expected to close in early December. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September.

Nexus already owns several consumer brands, including Dollar Shave Club and shoe brand Toms.

It's also shuttering over 200 of its roughly 1,400 stores, according to filings in Delaware's bankruptcy court.

Big Lots cited high interest rates and inflation among the factors that have held back its sales in a statement announcing the Chapter 11 filing. Many of its customers have cut back spending on home decor and other non-essential purchases that make up most of what Big Lots stocks, the company added.

Plenty of shoppers are trimming their budgets, especially for purchases they can live without, like eating out or upgrading their home appliances.

But Big Lots has long marketed itself as a place to find great deals. The company has said that it buys products cheaply from suppliers and other retailers, which enables it to keep prices low. That seems like a model that should be working at a time like this. Big Lots did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

To see what shopping at the chain is like these days, I went to a Big Lots store in the Washington, DC, area after the company filed for bankruptcy in September.

Here's what I found.

I visited a Big Lots store in Waldorf, Maryland.

Big Lots has said it will close several stores in the Washington, DC area. This store, located in a strip mall about an hour outside of DC, is one of a few that will remain open.

I noticed these bags of potting soil and wood pellets for smoking meat.

It definitely wasn't peak planting or grilling season anymore when I visited this store in mid-September.

This Big Lots store had a lot more food items than I expected it to.

This Big Lots store had several aisles of shelf-stable grocery items, from chips to cake mixes.

Big Lots acquires many products from closeouts, which happen when the retailer's suppliers get rid of something at a sizable discount.

That strategy extends to food, which Big Lots acquires "for a variety of different reasons, including other retailers canceling orders or going out of business, production overruns, or marketing or packaging changes," the company wrote in its latest annual filing with the SEC.

I found condiments, including ketchup and mustard...

I recognized some big food brands, such as Hellmann's mayonnaise. Others, such as "Totally Tomato" ketchup, were foreign to me.

...as well as bottles of Prime, the line of energy drinks that Logan Paul cofounded.

Prime is facing several lawsuits, including at least two that claim the brand's sales this year have been slower than anticipated, BI reported last month.

Big Lots also had a selection of cleaning and personal care products, such as this store-brand toilet paper.

I found it interesting that a store focused so much on selling closeout merchandise also has so many products under its own brand. Besides this toilet paper, I also found Big Lots-branded paper plates, markers, and puppy training pads.

I found a wider selection of products at Big Lots than I'd expected for a store of this size.

On average, Big Lots stores had an average of 23,000 square feet of selling space in 2023, according to the company's annual filing with the SEC. That's tiny compared to almost any big-box store: The average Walmart takes up 105,000 square feet, according to a company filing.

Yet Big Lots had a lot of departments, from kitchen supplies to furniture to groceries. The selection within each was limited, and it felt to me like the store was trying to be everything at once.

This display of products that cost less than $5 reminded me of a dollar store.

The 99-cent Halloween-themed socks were similar to what I've seen at Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores.

There was also a decent selection of furniture, from bed frames and mattresses...

Signs on the mattresses advertised Big Lots' own credit card, which offers interest-free payments on big purchases.

...to this TV stand.

It reminded me of Ikea's Kallax shelving units.

Even though this store isn't closing, I spied some empty shelves.

These shelves were next to a selection of plastic storage containers and other home goods.

Some of the products at this Big Lots store were from a different era.

I found this selection of DVD movies, including "Inception," released in 2010, and "War Dogs," which came out in 2016.

It's been at least a decade since I saw this many DVDs in one place.

This puzzle featuring characters from John Hughes' "Sixteen Candles" was a prime example.

I found this puzzle in the toy section for $6. It was one of the most unusual things I found in the store, both because "Sixteen Candles" came out forty years ago and because the manufacturer leaned on the Blockbuster name.

It wasn't just the products: Shopping at Big Lots felt like stepping back in time.

Maybe it was just the rows of fluorescent lighting on the ceiling, but this Big Lots store felt like something out of the 1990s.

The deals didn't impress me, either.

Big Lots customers should still expect "extreme bargains" at its stores despite its ongoing bankruptcy, the company says on a website with information about the filing.

But this 2-for-$5 deal on two-liter bottles of Coca-Cola sodas was representative of the prices I saw at this Big Lots store: Big Lots' pricing was mostly in-line with other places where I could buy similar stuff.

I headed toward the checkouts with two purchases in hand.

In addition to the $6 puzzle, I found a pack of 100 disposable gloves for $1.99, a slightly better deal that I've seen elsewhere.

I left confused about the role that Big Lots is trying to play for shoppers.

Big Lots had the range of products that I'd associate with a big-box store like Walmart or Target. But it didn't have the same selection within each category that I'm used to at those stores.

The company's focus on closeout merchandise also reminded me of off-price retailers like TJ Maxx and Ross, but those stores seem to have a narrower focus on home goods, clothing, and accessories than Big Lots does.

And if you need ketchup, chips, or other groceries, there's no shortage of supermarkets near this Big Lots. I counted at least seven within a mile of the store, including an Aldi, a Safeway, and a local organic market — and each has fresh produce and meat as well.

Lots of retailers have gone through bankruptcy or closed stores over the last 20 years.

From Sears to Bed Bath & Beyond, plenty of once-prominent retailers have gone through bankruptcies, closed stores, and, in some cases, shut down completely. At the same time, Walmart, Target, and Amazon have continued to attract customers.

Based on my trip there, I don't see a reason to keep shopping at Big Lots. If the chain wants to survive — and avoid the fate of Sears — it will need to offer shoppers something that they can't get anywhere else.

Do you work at a major retailer and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

• Shoppers are still buying store brands at the grocery store and beyond to save money.
• Private-label options remain popular even as inflation has slowed.
• Retailers from Walmart to Amazon Fresh have launched new store brands this year.

Shoppers are still reaching for store-brand items to save money on everything from organic milk to business casual clothing — even as inflation slows.

Food inflation hit 1% in October, according to federal data. While that represents a slowdown from the peak rate of over 10% in 2022, shoppers are still spending historically high shares of their budgets on food.

For many, one solution has been buying more store-brand items to save money instead of choosing big-name brands produced by the likes of Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and many others. Walmart reported earlier this month that the number of customers who purchased its store-brand products grew during the company's third quarter.

Other major retailers have launched new own brands this year. Amazon launched Amazon Saver, a brand meant to "help grocery budgets go further," the company said in September.

Walmart said this spring that it would launch Bettergoods, a new store-brand line that includes organic milk and plant-based shredded mozzarella. The goal is to expand the number of "trendy, health-conscious offerings" among Walmart's own brands, CFO John Rainey said in June.

The expansion isn't just limited to food. In February, Target said it would launch Dealworthy, a store brand for non-food items, including electronics and toiletries, with most priced under $10.

Meanwhile, Nordstrom had "double-digit" sales growth for its own-brand clothing during its third quarter across both its department stores and Nordstrom Rack, its off-price chain, the company said on Tuesday. Nordstrom's own-brand products carry "lower price points that oftentimes are more attractive to the young customers," President and Chief Brand Officer Peter Nordstrom said on an earnings call.

Sales of store-brand groceries — or "private-label" items, as they are known in the grocery industry — rose 6.3% in value to $216.8 billion in the US in 2023, according to Circana.

Circana said store brands made up 25.5% of grocery items sold in 2023, up from 24.7% the previous year.

Over the last few years, discount grocery chain Aldi has attracted some customers looking for low food prices. Studies of Aldi's prices regularly find that its prices undercut rivals, including Walmart.

One of the main reasons is that the chain sources 90% of everything at its stores from its own brands, Scott Patton, a vice president of national buying and customer interaction at Aldi USA, told Business Insider in an interview. Using private brands gives Aldi more say in setting prices than it would with national brands, Patton said.

Aldi quality tests 35,000 products a year for its store brands, Patton said. Many of the items that make it to the shelves at Aldi don't look much like own brands, though. One of the retailer's best-selling items is its Choceur dark chocolate, which comes in a pack of five bars for just over $2, Patton said. "You might even not know it's a store brand," he said.

In the past, many customers viewed own brands as cheap — both in terms of price and quality. But Patton said Aldi views its own brands as a chance to win over budget-conscious customers.

"We are not going to skip on quality just to get a lower price, period," Patton added.

Do you work in the grocery industry and have a story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]

• I'm a professional baker who tried apple pies from the stores Kroger, Whole Foods, and Safeway.
• In my opinion, Kroger and Safeway's pies were quite underbaked and didn't taste great.
• Whole Foods had the best option, but I'd probably just opt to make my own dessert at home.

I compared apple pies from Kroger, Whole Foods, and Safeway.

Apple pie is delicious any time of year, but it's especially tasty in the fall.

Baking a pie from scratch can require a lot of effort, and sometimes, you may need to take a shortcut.

So I tried options from Kroger, Whole Foods, and Safeway to find the best grocery-store apple pie you can pick up in a pinch.

I purchased a 9-inch toffee apple pie from Kroger.

Kroger's bakery offered a toffee apple pie, and the label said it was freshly baked in the store.

Surprisingly, I didn't see any typical lattice apple pies. The only other option was flavored like brown sugar and maple, so I went with the toffee one.

The pie was underbaked and I thought it had a strange flavor.

The golden apple pie from Kroger looked very good, but cutting into it was incredibly difficult. It was soft and mushy, and it started to fall apart as I removed a slice.

The bottom crust on this pie seemed underbaked, and the streusel topping was doughy. It certainly needed more time to cook. That said, it could've just been that someone took my particular pie out of the oven too soon. 

The outer crust was good, but the rest of the pie's flavor fell flat for me. I thought the apple filling had an odd artificial taste, and the soft texture was unappetizing.

Whole Foods typically sells halves of 9-inch apple pies.

When I arrived at Whole Foods, the only options were half pies. A bakery employee told me that the pies are baked in the morning, then are typically cut in half.

If you're looking for a whole pie, it's apparently best to call ahead in the morning and ask that one be set aside. I asked for two halves to be put in a box so I could take home an entire pie.

The pie tasted homemade.

The flavor of Whole Foods' apple pie absolutely blew me away. It tasted homemade.

The crust was flaky and buttery. Even though the center wasn't quite fully baked, the filling still tasted fresh and flavorful with a slight crunch.

The apples tasted fresh and had just a touch of sugar and cinnamon to enhance their flavor.

Other than the middle of the crust being a bit soft, it was a very good pie. Maybe the one I got was just taken out of the oven too soon. 

I snagged an 11-inch apple pie from Safeway.

Safeway sells much larger pies, and I found both lattice and Dutch options. The raw pies apparently come to the store frozen and are then baked on-site.

I bought an 11-inch lattice pie.

Safeway's pie was beautiful, but it was underbaked and too sweet for me.

The apple pie from Safeway was beautiful, with a nice lattice topping. But it was tricky to cut — the slice fell apart as I removed it from the pie dish.

The crust was underbaked and quite soggy in the middle, even though the outer portions had a nice golden look and crispy texture. I wondered if my specific pie was just not left in the oven long enough or not baked at an ideal temperature.

I also thought it tasted fairly bland and was not very flaky. Plus the filling tasted incredibly sweet to me, with an overwhelming cinnamon flavor.

Overall, each option was quick and convenient, but I'm not sure I'd buy any of them again.

It was easy to head into each store and find an apple pie when I visited in September. It was a bit trickier to get a whole one at Whole Foods, but the bakery employee I spoke to was incredibly helpful.

For each store, it's also possible to call ahead of time and ask the bakery to put a pie aside for you.

But I was disappointed that all three seemed to have an underbaked crust. It takes a lot of patience to bake an apple pie — at home, it can take close to an hour — but it seemed like each grocery story didn't leave the dessert in the oven long enough. 

I thought Kroger and Safeway's pies tasted a bit too artificial, and their crusts did not impress me. 

If I needed to purchase a grocery-store apple pie again, I'd only consider Whole Foods' option because the flavor was so incredible. But in general, I'd probably just carve out the time to bake my own dessert at home. 

This story was originally published on October 5, 2022, and most recently updated on November 25, 2024.

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• Shoppers are willing to spend this holiday season, but many are still budget-conscious.
• Lower inflation — and even deflation — gives some shoppers more money to spend on gifts and parties.
• Others might go into debt to make their holiday dreams come true.

Shoppers appear ready to spend this holiday season, but many aren't giving up the search for bargains just yet.

Multiple signals suggest that some shoppers feel less pinched financially as the biggest shopping season of the year ramps up. US retail sales for October came in slightly above expectations, and prices for many items — including gifts themselves and many essentials, such as gas — are increasing at their lowest rates in a few years.

But customers can still recall that prices were lower four or five years ago, Claire Tassin, a retail and e-commerce analyst at Morning Consult, told Business Insider. As such, many are looking for good deals, as they have been for much of this year, while still spending on the holiday season.

"There is still that desire to find lower-cost alternatives where possible," Tassin said.

Retailers and consumer brands reported this summer that shoppers — even affluent ones — were pulling back on their spending as prices remained high.

Many consumers didn't stop, however. Rather, they tried to get more for their money — think shopping for clothes at an off-price store like Nordstrom Rack instead of one of the retailer's department stores, for instance.

According to a Bank of America Institute report published last week, there are some signs that consumer conditions have improved since then.

The University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index has been inching up since July. In October, the measure hit its highest mark since April. Credit card spending in states affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton rebounded in the weeks after the storms in October, the report said.

And over the last few months, inflation has slowed on some essential goods, such as groceries, and even turned into deflation in others, such as gasoline, according to the report. Theoretically, that means shoppers have more money to spend on discretionary purchases, such as eating out and buying gifts.

"Is the apparent strengthening in consumer spending temporary? Potentially, but there are reasons to be optimistic," the report reads.

Friday's retail sales growth showed "a good early step forward into the holiday shopping season," National Retail Federation Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said. Sales were up 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis year-over-year in October, according to the US Census Bureau. The Bureau also revised its September sales figure upward.

"Falling energy prices have likely provided extra dollars for household spending on retail merchandise," Kleinhenz said.

Walmart and Target, which posted differing results this week, both provided evidence that consumers are still spending — if cautiously — going into the holidays.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Tuesday that the chain gained share as shoppers with household incomes over $100,000 kept visiting its stores. Shoppers "continue to seek value to maximize their budgets," CFO John Rainey said. The company raised guidance for the rest of its fiscal year.

Target, however, cut its outlook for the rest of 2024 on Wednesday after the chain said that shoppers cut back on discretionary purchases during the third quarter. Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez said that Target is cutting prices on 2,000 items and offering affordable gifts, such as a holiday toy selection with half of the items priced under $20.

Many prices are still higher than they were before the pandemic, said Morning Consult's Tassin said. That could push many consumers to look for value when they buy gifts or plan holiday parties this year.

But clear majorities of shoppers are willing to spend on gifts, food and beverages, and parties during the holidays this year, according to a Morning Consult survey conducted in late August and early September. Some were even willing to go into debt or cut back spending on essentials to afford their holiday plans, according to the survey results.

"People feel the financial pressure, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're not going to spend," Tassin said, adding that people might cut back on spending in other areas to ensure they have enough for their holiday plans.

"I'm going to pay more attention to sales, or I'll buy the cheaper meat options so that I have a little bit of wiggle room to afford other things," she said.

• Declining foot traffic and rising e-commerce have led thousands of stores to permanently close.
• Former household names like Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now just retail history.
• BI rounded up dozens of once-beloved stores that no longer have a meaningful brick-and-mortar presence.

Brick-and-mortar retail is a tough business.

One day, your favorite brand can be riding high and enjoying strong sales from loyal customers, while the next it's fighting for survival and fending off creditors.

The only constant is change, especially as emerging trends, shopping patterns, and e-commerce players take larger pieces of the pie.

Here's a look back at some of the retail brands whose stores once greeted thousands of people each day, but are now consigned to retail's history books — or exist only online or as a tiny fraction of what they once were.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster got its start in 1985, and acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music chains to create Blockbuster Music in 1992. The music division was sold to Wherehouse Entertainment in 1998 before closing for good, but there remains one single Blockbuster video rental store in Bend, Oregon.

Thom McAn

Thom McAn was a chain of shoe stores that peaked in the 1960's and closed up shop by 1996. The brand's shoes continued to be available at Sears and Kmart.

Kinney Shoes

First opened in 1894, Kinney Shoes had 467 stores at its peak, all of which shuttered in 1998.

Warner Bros. Studio Store

Warner Bros. Studio Store competed with the Disney store until the company closed all of its locations in 2001.

Zany Brainy

Zany Brainy filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and closed all locations in 2003. The educational toy retailer's founder, David Schlessinger, co-founded the discount company Five Below.

Ames Department Store

Debt and poor sales forced Ames Department Store into bankruptcy twice., and in 2002, the remaining Ames stores closed.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, its parent company, Toys R Us, had closed them all.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, parent company Toys R Us closed all remaining locations.

Hecht's Department Store

Hecht's was purchased by Macy's in 2005 and all locations were either turned into Macy's stores or closed.

Marshall Fields

Federated Department Stores bought Marshall Fields in 2005 and converted the stores to the company's more recognizable flagship brand, Macy's.

Gadzooks

Gadzooks was a teen clothing store that was around from 1983 to 2005. It filed for bankruptcy in its final year and was purchased by Forever 21, which then closed all of the stores.

Kaufmann's

In 2006, Macy's retired the Kaufmann's name, and the brand disappeared.

Tower Records

Tower Records couldn't keep up with the rise of digital music, and all stores in the US were closed in 2006.

Media Play

Media Play was a big box store selling books, movies, software, toys and video games. It closed for good in 2006.

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel's 103 stand-alone stores closed in 2007.

KB Toys

KB Toys announced it would be going out of business in 2008, and by early 2009 all locations were closed.

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy in 2008. But the company still sells merchandise through its website, catalog, and third-party retail partners.

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy and wound down its physical retail operation in 2008.

Levitz Furniture

Levitz Furniture declared bankruptcy twice — first in 1997, and then in 2005. It closed all of its stores in 2008.

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed. The company still does business online.

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed.

Mervyn's

Mervyn's once had almost 200 locations in the western US. In 2008, the company declared bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.

Limited Too

Limited Too's success began dwindling in the early 2000s, and all stores were eventually rebranded as Justice by 2008.

Tweeter

Tweeter filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and all of its stores were closed by the end of the year.

Circuit City

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and shuttered all stores the following Spring.

Steve & Barry's

Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed all of its stores in 2009.

Filene's and Filene's Basement

Filene's Basement's parent company went bankrupt in 2009, and by 2011 all of its stores were closed.

B. Dalton Books

B. Dalton was acquired by Barnes & Noble in 1987, which officially closed the bookstore in January 2010, except for a single location in Oviedo, Florida.

Waldenbooks

Waldenbooks merged with Borders in 1994, and all Waldenbooks stores closed when Borders Group liquidated in 2011.

Borders Books & Music

Borders Books & Music stores closed shortly after the company was forced to liquidate in 2011.

CompUSA

CompUSA started in 1984, but by 2007, Best Buy and other superstores had taken over, and the last CompUSA closed in 2012.

Sam Goody

Sam Goody music stores suffered from the rise of digital media, and most Sam Goody stores were either ultimately shuttered or converted into other brands like FYE by 2012. Two locations remain: one in Clairsville, Ohio, and one in Medford, Oregon.

A&P

A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 and again in 2015, closing its stores that year.

 

Sports Authority

Competition drove Sports Authority into bankruptcy in 2016, when it closed all its stores and sold its website to Dick's Sporting Goods.

Sport Chalet

Sport Chalet, which first opened in 1959, abruptly closed all of its stores in 2016.

Wet Seal

Wet Seal, a teen clothing store, filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and closed for good in 2017.

Virgin Megastores

Virgin Megastores stopped operating in the US in 2017, but the brand continues online and in select international markets.

The Limited

The Limited abruptly shut down all of its stores in 2017, and the brand is now sold exclusively through Belk.

Teavana's 379 locations were closed by its parent company, Starbucks. in 2018.

Starbucks closed Teavana's 379 locations in 2018.

Bon-Ton Stores

The Bon-Ton stores included its namesake brand, as well as Bergner's, Boston Store, Elder-Beerman, and Younkers.

Toys R Us

Toys R Us and its subsidiaries closed in 2018, but in 2021 Macy's announced that it would open Toys R Us sections in hundreds of its stores, while Babies R Us is opening within Kohl's stores across the US.

Henri Bendel

After 123 years of business, luxury retailer Henri Bendel closed all of its stores in 2019.

Dress Barn

Dress Barn shut down in 2019 after 50 years in business.

Papyrus

At its peak in 2009, Papyrus had 500 stores across the US and Canada, but the company ultimately filed for bankruptcy and closed its 254 stores in 2020.

Lord & Taylor

Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 2020, leading to the closure of its 38 stores. An attempt at reviving the brand as a "digital collective" was unsuccessful.

Century 21

Century 21 closed its 13 locations after going bankrupt in 2020. The company reopened its New York flagship store in 2023 with a greater focus on e-commerce.

Olympia Sports

After a slow decline and a tumultuous stint with private equity owners, Maine-based Olympia Sports shut down its remaining stores in 2022.

Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy and closed its 896 remaining stores in 2023, though the brand was sold and relaunched online.

In October 2024, Beyond and Kirkland's Home announced a $25 million deal to open 15,000-square-foot small-format "neighborhood" Bed Bath & Beyond locations across the US. The companies said the concept would include an assortment of classic BB&B products.

Tuesday Morning

The Dallas-based home goods company shut down all of its stores in 2023 after it had only planned to close half of its stores amid bankruptcy proceedings.

Christmas Tree Shops

The Massachusetts-based seasonal specialty retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2023, winding down the remaining 72 locations across 20 states.

Moosejaw

Just months after buying Moosejaw from Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods closed most of the brand's locations and formed one team that would handle both the Public Lands and Moosejaw brands moving forward. Only three Moosejaw locations remain open.

Foxtrot

Chicago-based Foxtrot abruptly shuttered its 33 locations in April 2024 after it came up $35 million short of its 2023 sales goal.

Rue21

Teen apparel retailer rue21 — known for its presence in shopping malls — filed for bankruptcy for the third time in May 2024. The company's 540 locations also shut down.

The retailer had attempted multiple turnaround plans after a 2017 bankruptcy and 2023 bankruptcy filing.

Conn's HomePlus

Conn's HomePlus, a home goods retailer known throughout the South, filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2024 before announcing that it was shuttering all of its stores.

The chain operated more than 170 stores in 15 states.

• The wholesale chain BJ's said it would raise its membership fees in 2025.
• It'll be the first time in seven years that the chain has raised its fees.
• Its rival Costco raised its membership fees in September.

Another wholesale retailer is planning to raise its membership fees.

BJ's Wholesale said on Thursday that it would raise the cost of its memberships starting on January 1.

It said the new cost of a Club membership would be $60 annually, up by $5 from the current price, and a Club+ membership would cost $120, up by $10. The company announced the changes in its third-quarter earnings report.

It said Club+ members would also get two free same-day deliveries a year on orders of at least $50.

The higher fees are set to take effect seven years after BJ's last membership-cost hike. CEO Robert Eddy said on an earnings call on Thursday that the company would use the extra income from the increase to fund the expansion of its delivery business and better staff its stores, especially as it tries to sell more fresh produce.

"Since our last fee increase in 2018, we have invested heavily in the value of BJ's membership," he said.

The chain's rival Costco raised membership fees in September. Gold Star and Business memberships at the warehouse chain now cost $65, while Executive memberships are $130.

Sam's Club, Walmart's wholesale retail chain, isn't following suit for now.

"We have no plans to raise membership fees at this time and remain committed to delivering the most value to our members," a company spokesperson told Business Insider on Friday.

• Some retailers are offering discounts and sales to win over inflation-weary shoppers.
• Kitchen and home retailer Williams-Sonoma is taking the opposite approach, its CEO said Wednesday.
• Discounts encourage shoppers to put off purchases, Laura Alber said.

Many retailers are trying to lure in budget-conscious shoppers with discounts and other markdowns. Not Williams-Sonoma.

The kitchen supply and home furnishings chain has actually been offering fewer discounts over the last several years, CEO Laura Alber said Wednesday on the company's earnings call.

Moving away from sales eliminates a reason for shoppers to put off buying something they like, she said. As shoppers look for discounts these days, some might delay purchases in hopes that they will be able to snag a discount later on.

Under Williams-Sonoma's strategy, "the customer doesn't have to wait to see if they're going to have a better price on that sofa in two weeks," Alber said. "They know the price is the price."

Instead, Alber said that Williams-Sonoma has focused on getting shoppers to come back by offering consistent prices and quality items. "We think we are very, very competitively priced all-in versus anyone with the same level of design and quality, which allows us to be less promotional," she said.

Sales can be attractive ways for retailers to create a temporary bump in revenue, Alber told CNBC's Jim Cramer after the company's earnings report.

"That's all good for the short-term, but then you get customers trained to wait for that promotion, which is never a good thing because you're really competing with yourself," she said.

Williams-Sonoma beat expectations for its third-quarter earnings and raised its guidance on Wednesday. Its shares closed 28% higher after the report, reaching an all-time high.

Many shoppers are focusing more on finding good deals after dealing with years of higher prices and depleting savings that they built up during the pandemic.

In response, brands from Walmart to McDonald's have lowered prices — sometimes temporarily, other times permanently — to keep customers visiting.

Williams-Sonoma carries products at various price points, from kitchen utensils sold under its store brand to Le Creuset enameled cookware. Alber said on the company's earnings call that it wants to offer "approachable prices with great quality."

Do you have a retail-related story idea to share? Reach out to this reporter at [email protected]