For some American consumers, “buy now, pay later” loans aren’t just for big-ticket items like televisions and vacations. They’re for groceries, too. When Tia Hodge, stocked up at her local Kroger in early April, her bill was nearly $400. At checkout, she scanned her app from Klarna, a buy now, pay later company that offers…
On a wet Wednesday morning in April, Ashley Holroyd had a steady but slow stream of customers into his coffee shop in Barrow-in-Furness, an industrial town in northwest England. The cafe, Coffee D’Ash, had been open for only about six months, and it barely filled the cavernous space. Despite the empty storefronts on the same…
Amid a steady stream of new trade policies in President Trump’s first three months in office, there is one that Andy Musliner, who owns a small toy business in Maryland, can get behind. That’s the ending of a duty-free loophole for cheap goods from China. Mr. Trump this month scrapped a provision that had allowed…
When the Covid pandemic hit, factories in China shut down and global shipping traffic slowed. Within a matter of a few weeks, products began disappearing from U.S. store shelves and American firms that depend on foreign materials were going out of business. A similar trend is beginning to play out, but this time the catalyst…
As much as Amazon may have wanted to dodge the spotlight in President Trump’s trade war, there was no avoiding it for America’s largest online retailer. First, the e-commerce company was entangled in the fleeting spat Tuesday with the White House over a faulty report that Amazon was going to show shoppers the costs of…
A loophole that has allowed American shoppers to buy lots of cheap goods from mainland China and Hong Kong without paying tariffs and filling customs forms is closing on Friday. Prices have already gone up. Orders for many imported goods from retailers like Shein and Temu could dwindle as consumers balk at the higher prices…
With many Americans concerned that President Trump’s tariffs will make most products more expensive and possibly tip the United States into a recession, some consumers say they are opting out of spending on a wide range of items. Instead of shopping lists, they are making “No Buy” lists. No more outfits destined to be worn…
Japanese consumers have historically steered clear of foreign rice. But facing high prices, they rushed last week to buy the first South Korean imports to Japan in decades, clearing the shelves within days, South Korean officials said. It was a relatively small amount, a little over two tons, compared with Japan’s overall shortage, but it…
Fast-fashion giants like Shein and Temu have been doing booming business in the United States in recent years, in part because of a tariff exemption that’s helped to keep prices low on packages shipped from China. Now, President Trump has ordered the loophole closed as part of new tariffs, starting with packages from China and…
Vivian Hoffman has worked in retail for a half-century, including 25 years as a buyer for Century 21 and the last eight running Whim, a chain selling affordable women’s clothing in the suburbs of New York City. She has adapted to recessions, the turmoil after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and the Covid-19 pandemic….