Excerpt
October 15, 2021, Interview: "Retailers should be ecstatic. Last year was dismal amid the pandemic, with plunging revenue and record bankruptcies. But this year things have turned around. For instance, retail sales in April through June were up 28.2 percent from the corresponding period in 2020, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. But higher costs for materials, manufacturing, shipping and trucking, and COVID safety measures, coupled with unprecedented competition for workers, are testing the endurance of retailers, especially those who rely heavily on cheap imports from Asia, like the discount chains known as “dollar stores,” which now outnumber all of the Starbucks and McDonald’s in the U.S. combined. They will account for 40 percent of all new store openings this year, according to a Coresight Research report."
Non-HKS Author Website - Willy Shih