The Year in Retail Summed Up in One Word: Tariffs
Stores worked to keep prices down as consumers showed signs of stress.
Shoppers in San Francisco’s Union Square.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergEach year Bloomberg Businessweek produces a series of stories focused on The Year Ahead. (See the sensible guide to 2026.) But here at the Businessweek Daily, we’re not ready to give up on 2025 yet. We asked some of our regular newsletter writers to review major themes, moments and players in the news for a series we’re calling The Year Behind. Today, Businessweek senior reporter Amanda Mull looks back at the year in retail, where tariffs threw everyone for a loop. Plus: What happened when a journalist tried to buy one share of OpenAI, and the founder of a controversial Israeli spyware company is back with a new venture.
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