retail

Monopolies across the grocery supply chain squeeze consumers and small-business owners alike. Big Data will only entrench those dynamics further.

Marine archaeologists are beginning to understand what really happened to Captain Santa's ill-fated ship, nicknamed the Christmas Tree Boat.

A century of recorded music has culminated in the infinite archive of streaming platforms. But is it really better for listeners?

The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche.

By mass-marketing social aspiration, the brand toed the line between exclusivity and accessibility—and established prep as America’s visual vernacular.

Christmas starts earlier every year — or does it?

Rampant outsourcing, financialization, monopolization, deregulation, and just-in-time logistics are the culprits.

One bank's desperation and a state's economic needs undermined regulations protecting consumers.

For more than seven decades American roads were dotted with the familiar orange roof and blue cupola of the ubiquitous Howard Johnson’s restaurants and Motor Lodges.

How urban planners and suburban shoppers responded when “the storage of dead vehicles on roadways” became a nuisance to street users.

How "The Bookman" invented the best seller.

The Great American Pyramid was supposed to give the Tennessee city an architectural landmark for the ages. Instead, it got a very large sporting goods store.

How plastic bags came to rule our lives, and why we can’t quit them.

What started the Information Age?

No longer home to the open-road outlaws and concrete cowboys of the ’70s, becoming a trucker is now the equivalent of operating a sweatshop on wheels thanks to deregulation.