So the once popular clothing store Express filed for bankruptcy along with The arts and craft retailer Joanne They're just the latest middle tier Retailers that are really suffering as Demand for high-end and budget stores Continue to grow New York Times business And Retail reporter Jordan Holman is With us now to talk a little bit about This I think very curious Trend because Yes people are concerned about how They're spending their money they're Concerned about inflation but the luxury Retailers are doing fine the super cheap Retailers are doing fine what's Happening in the middle give us a sense Of like what the Retail Landscape looks Like right now right so you know just How they say like middle income Americans get squeezed in moments like This the middle to retailers also get Squeezed so people as they're shopping Around trying to find a good deal They're finding that at a TJ Maxx or a Dollar tree and whatnot or if people Aren't really concerned about their Budgets they're still spending at Chanel But it's really this middle the Macy's The the department stores of the world That get squeezed because people are Either trading down or they're just Straying away and saying I'm going to You know if I'm going to spend it's Going to be spent on a high-end luxury
Item so if you're already wealthy Chances are you can continue to afford Your luxury goods if you're watching Your budget if you've always watched Your budget then you're going to Continue to spend at like a Walmart but If you're somebody in the middle they're Moving down to sort of the Walmart Spending yeah that's definitely Something that Walmart said over the the Past few years that they've gotten more People who make over $100,000 going to Them um so and they're trying to hold on To them by doing certain things the Other thing that's happening with these Middle tier retailers you mentioned the Joanne um Express is they really hadn't Invested a lot in their e-commerce Experience so they're already on a back Foot when they're trying to win over People in a way that you want to shop so You do see some retailers like Target You you would take them say you know Their budget friendly they've done a lot To improve their app and and just to Figure out the ways that people are Shopping in an e-commerce way that's Setting them up better than the ones That have that makes a lot of sense cuz We were just talking and I was telling You that I only ever go to the mall Under duress because I need an item Immediately and I can't wait because you Know the mall experience for me is not
What it was when I was a teenager um and That's where a lot of these middle tier Stores are yes and they're trying to Actively get away from the mall by going To these uh what you call power centers Or off mall like big box locations and You have a bunch of stores around and You can drive right up you really do see Those for TJ Maxx or they're usually Anchored by a grocery store those places Are where people are going and so you Start seeing you know um these Brands Pull themselves out of the mall to go There and that's kind of a new like Refresh for them and so let's talk a Little bit more about the middle tier Brands that are doing it right that seem To be able to at least stay on life Support or maybe flourish what are they Doing so e-commerce e-commerce E-commerce is what they're doing um just Making sure that they're offering bopus Or trying to compete with Amazon to do a Same day or next day uh shipping um and They're also uh they're trying to do Retail entertainment kind of things Making it fun if you do go into the Store uh to have a good time so either That means um you you uh have a cool Dressing room experience or something That goes beyond just I'm grabbing this Off the shelf cuz you could just do that Online I wonder if the pandemic Accelerated a trend that was already
Happening CU I know one of the things That I noticed after the pandemic when I Started going back to say Target is There were fewer varieties of things on The shelves that often you know a lot of Stuff is on their website but it's not Available in the store so it made the Store experience even less fulfilling if You will that's almost by design a lot Of these stores have started these on Online marketplaces where they're like Okay let's offer more Brands you get um It it's an opportunity to have smaller Brands more blackowned Brands women Owned Brands but they don't want to Fully put them in the store and that is It you identified a tension point Because you're seeing all of these Things online and maybe you want to Touch it and experience it in the store But it's not there completely and so This is this is a newer Trend that Retailers are trying to figure out What's the right amount of stuff to have In the store and what do you actually Need in the store to bring you in there That is is fascinating I'm sort of Bummed because a lot of these stores Were kind of your go-to places you could Go to express and get you know some Dress pants and it wouldn't cost you Hundreds of dollars um what about Foot Locker cuz they're really trying to kind Of revamp the retail experience they are
So they have been opening new stores Better lighting more open um retraining Workers all of those type of things and That follows a bigger Trend that you Can't just have the drab store that We're used to from the early 2000s the Other pressure that Foot Lockers against And why they're um redesigning their Stores is that a lot of the brands think A Nike have started making their own Stores so they're directly competing With the brands that they stock and you See this with Levis they're opening more Stores so that's a competitor to Macy's And koh's so across the board these Stores every store has to figure out you Know what's the reason that someone Would come to me versus just go down Street gosh it reminds me of the same Conversation we were having about movie Theaters right like why not just watch It at home while movie theaters have Started to create this luxury experience With Lazy Boy tears and you know maybe An adult beverage um Jordan hullman Great conversation thank you very much Thanks so much for having me
