Alina Selyuk
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
You might know Kroger as Harris Teeter, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Albertsons owns Safeway and Vons. In late 2022, Kroger offered nearly $25 billion to buy Albertsons. Companies argued this was a matter of survival against growing competition from Walmart, Costco, Amazon, even dollar stores.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
The Federal Trade Commission did not buy this and warned that combining Kroger and Albertsons would leave shoppers fewer choices and higher prices. The agency sued to stop the deal and has now prevailed in a federal court in Oregon. This does not technically end the deal, but the next steps could be long and arduous, and it is unclear whether the companies will decide to keep fighting.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-24-2024 12AM EST
Nordstrom is over a century old. It's a more upscale department store and it's been feeling lots of pressure from discount chains, but also from brands selling directly to shoppers. CEO Eric Nordstrom, President Pete Nordstrom and the rest of the Nordstrom family have been trying to take the company private for years.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-24-2024 12AM EST
Public stock markets tend to demand constant growth, which has been a struggle for most department stores. Now the board of directors has finally approved a deal. The family already owns about a third of the stock and will become the majority shareholder.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-24-2024 12AM EST
Together with Mexico's Liverpool, the Nordstroms will buy all the shares for about $4 billion, plus they'll assume more than $2 billion in company debt.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-22-2025 3PM EDT
Co-founder Lizelle Clark says the Buy Nothing Project started with a question. How do you curb plastic waste? Of the three R's, there's reduce, reuse, recycle. Okay, how about refuse? The group's millions of members share everything from bread tags to sofas. This circular economy stops people from buying new goods and keeps old stuff out of landfills.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-22-2025 3PM EDT
Arizona-based GardenExchangeStands.org is a network of neighborhood plant stands. People can pick up and drop off plants, seeds, and other garden-related items. Founder Defane Weaver says that promotes both sustainability and community. It's nice to just be able to bike down to your neighborhood neighborhood stand, get your books, get your plants and seeds, and then share what you have.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-22-2025 3PM EDT
As the group's website says, it's a lifestyle. Alina Hartunian, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-20-2025 5PM EDT
Home Depot executives on their latest earnings call say they do not expect to raise prices across the board. Instead, some items may face individual price increases or some product options may have to change or disappear if the tariff costs become too much.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-20-2025 5PM EDT
This comes only days after Walmart said that its margins were too narrow to absorb President Trump's sweeping tariffs and the chain will have to start raising prices as soon as this month. A growing list of brands and companies have said this, including Best Buy, Mattel and Procter & Gamble.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-20-2025 5PM EDT
Home Depot says more than half of its products already come from the U.S., and its suppliers have diversified so much that by mid-next year, no more than 10 percent of products will come from any one foreign country. Alina Seluk, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-27-2025 1PM EDT
This is the first wave of corporate earnings reports since President Trump imposed sweeping new tariffs on global imports and especially Chinese goods. And consumer conglomerates are starting to get specific about impacts. Kimberly-Clark, which makes Kleenex and Huggies, says tariffs are expected to add $300 million in new costs.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-27-2025 1PM EDT
Procter & Gamble, maker of Tide, Pampers and Charmin, says it may have to raise prices. Chipotle says customers tell the company they are visiting less because they're saving money out of caution. As Colgate-Palmolive CEO put it, quote, uncertainty creates a pensive and anxious consumer. And when you have uncertainty, consumers tend to hunker down. Alina Selouh, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-30-2024 8PM EST
In a survey by Cercana, a market research firm, almost two-thirds of shoppers say the higher cost of food and bills, like insurance, has them changing how they shop. People talk about buying fewer gifts, cheaper gifts, or buying off-brand stuff. But holiday spending is still expected to grow this year. up to 3.5%.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-30-2024 8PM EST
Retailers think shoppers will be drawn by the discounts, hoping to save money on deals. And there's another curious element in shopper surveys. More people say they plan to buy gifts for themselves. Some of these shoppers tend to be wealthier, or perhaps people feel like it's good to treat themselves, especially when something's on sale. Alina Seljuk, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-07-2025 8PM EST
And that saved them millions of dollars, and their popularity has exploded. President Biden and bipartisan lawmakers in Congress have pushed to close the loophole, and Trump did. But this created chaos for U.S. customs and shipping companies, and Trump has now delayed the plan. Unclear for how long. Alina Seluk, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-07-2025 8PM EST
For almost a century, U.S. law has carved out an exemption for small packages to not have to pay import duties. That's allowed packages worth under $800 to arrive in the U.S. duty-free. While most retailers ship in bulk, ultra-cheap retailers like Shein and Temu ship individual packages directly from China to shoppers in the U.S. and use the exemption to avoid paying tariffs.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-31-2025 3PM EST
About 8 percent of Costco store workers are represented by the Teamsters union. That's about 18,000 people in six states. The union demands better pay and benefits, pointing to Costco's record financial gains. And now the chain has announced a pay increase for non-union workers, according to an internal memo the CEO sent to staff seen by NPR.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-31-2025 3PM EST
Starting in March, most store workers would get a raise of $1 per hour for a minimum above $30 an hour. Entry-level pay will go up 50 cents for a minimum of $20 an hour. The raise is similar to one Costco gave last year. Costco teamsters argue it's only happening thanks to union pressure and that the company is still shorting its workers. Alina Seluch, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-30-2025 4PM EDT
Many American small business owners have been on a roller coaster of tariff-related feelings. Worry, confusion, anxiety. Now there are new emotions. I feel a lot of relief and hope. Sarah Wells from Virginia sells breast pump backpacks and other maternity accessories. We still have some work going on in the court system in terms of the appeal, so I'm very cautiously optimistic at this point.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-30-2025 4PM EDT
She had a shipment from China that was already en route when the tariffs started escalating, costing her an unexpected $15,000 at customs. She has now canceled all her orders from China and set up some operations in Cambodia. Alina Selou, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
Yeah, so the $25 billion grocery merger is over. Yesterday, the deal got a double whammy of legal losses. A federal judge in Oregon and a state judge in Washington, in two separate cases, blocked the merger from going through in rulings that were about an hour within each other. And this was after two years of the companies trying to get this merger approved.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
And they did have an option to appeal and keep fighting, but Albertsons has now walked away. Albertsons has sued Kroger, claiming willful breach of contract, failure to put in best efforts to secure regulatory approval of the merger. Now, Kroger has quickly rebutted, saying it is Albertsons that's deflecting its own responsibilities. So they're now in a trading blame stage.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
Yeah, yeah. It was in late 2022 when Kroger first said it would buy Albertsons. It bid nearly $25 billion, and this would have combined the two biggest supermarket chains in the U.S. And you might know these chains under different names. Kroger runs Ralph's, Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, and others. Albertsons owns Safeway and Vons.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
They have thousands of stores, and they knew this merger would be a tough sell for regulators. And indeed, the Federal Trade Commission sued them, so did several states, asking courts to block the merger. Overall, the process has been very expensive and a pretty unpopular deal. It's been criticized by Democrats and Republicans.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
And, you know, shoppers use it to air grievances about expensive groceries.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
So government lawyers argued Kroger and Albertsons often compete head to head, that they keep tabs on each other's prices, store hours, quality of products. And so putting two rivals under one roof would leave shoppers worse off, fewer choices, higher prices.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
Kroger and Albertsons made the case that the merger was a matter of survival, that their biggest rivals are not conventional supermarkets like themselves, but giants like Walmart, Costco, Amazon. They said only together could they compete with these companies long term. And they even argued that together they would have had more power to lower prices for shoppers.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
No, they did not. The U.S. district judge wrote essentially that she understood that competition with Walmart was real. It was tough, but it could not justify an otherwise illegal merger. And the judges also did not buy the company's plan to create essentially a new rival for themselves. They had planned to sell stores in markets where they overlap, and the judges did not approve of that.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
Well, you know, given how much of a knockout, drag out legal fight it has been so far, I feel like we could be in for a pretty bitter litigation now between the two of them. There is money at stake, which is the merger breakup fee. And Albertsons was the company getting acquired. So there is a chance that Albertsons puts itself back on the block again.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
They might try to find someone else to buy it. Now, as far as shoppers are concerned, for now, they can keep going back to their familiar grocery stores.
Up First from NPR
Syria's New Reality, Shooting Suspect's Ideology, Judges Block Grocery Merger
Thank you.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
Well, people are not feeling great about prices, but they are shopping, they are spending. We're likely in for another record holiday shopping season. Already, so far just this month, online shoppers alone have spent almost 10% more this year compared to last year.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
It's a lot. And that's just as of Wednesday, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks online transactions.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
I think that's part of it. But there is more to the story. For this Black Friday weekend, retailers are also expecting huge turnout, a record number of people shopping. And of those people, there's a growing group saying they plan to spend more this year than they did last year. Which, you know, how do you get more people shopping when more people say they're tightening their budgets?
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
And the answer is deals. When people feel financially squeezed, to have several days known for discounts is a big draw.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
You know, that's the perennial question, and the answer is always, it depends. Deals are not good enough for a lot of shoppers I talk to who say prices are too high to begin with, and any discount is simply not enough. But then you have this weird calendar thing. Thanksgiving this year is quite late in November, so there are actually five fewer shopping days till Christmas.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
Which means less time for retailers to sell you what they want to sell you, which has some experts predicting maybe rolling sales, that stores might drop prices just to clear those shelves.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
You know, it's a lot of classics this year. Top toys are expected to include Legos, Hot Wheels, Barbies, slime kits for adults, dice and hair devices, fitness trackers, gaming consoles, and pickleball paddles, which is a new classic. And one thing came up in a survey by Circona. It's a market research firm.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
They found almost two-thirds of shoppers saying that higher costs of food and bills, like insurance especially, It has people changing how they shop. People are maybe buying fewer gifts, cheaper gifts, or buying off-brand stuff. And there's another curious element. There's one category that shifts depending on economic vibes.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
And that is whether or not you are buying presents for yourself. It's like that famous Parks and Rec scene.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
So there's this annual survey done by Deloitte that actually found people plan to buy more gifts for themselves this year compared to last year. The sum on average is about $44 more. And the reasons could be all kinds. This could be folks who are more well-off, so maybe they're not really budgeting.
Up First from NPR
Winter In Gaza, Black Friday Shopping, Third Party Politics
Or it could be, you know, that oldest Black Friday trick in the book, which is, I gotta get it because it's on sale.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
You know, they feel like collateral damage. The evening when the tariffs were announced, I was actually at a big reception organized by the National Retail Federation. They had scheduled a fly-in for small business owners. And when the magnitude of tariffs became clear, it was like shell shock because it's these companies that are on the hook to pay many of these fees.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
For example, Sarah Wells from Virginia shared her story. She sells purses and clothes for new moms. They're like for breast pumps and breastfeeding. They're made in China. And late last year, she made a huge shipment order. It was loading at the port when the White House raised tariffs on China by 10 percent in February.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
By the time it docked stateside, that tariff was raised again another 10 percent.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
And now that the total tariff on Chinese imports is up to 54%, you know, Wells is reeling.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
You know, one common answer is retrenching and scaling back. Maybe your store shrinks the selection so there's less stuff to ship. Maybe you stop hiring, stop advertising or developing new products, essentially stop growing and go into survival mode. One retailer talked about saving a lot of money in his bank account.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
It's money that he could be spending on all kinds of things to expand, hire, market. But now he wants that money to just kind of sit on the sidelines because he expects to pay big tariffs. And then the other answer is what Scott talked about. It's raising prices. Giant companies like Walmart are pressuring suppliers overseas to bear some of those tariff costs.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
Well, small retailers, they don't have that kind of muscle. And if they pass the cost to consumers with higher prices, you know, how high can they really go before they start losing sales? Sarah Wells had a grim take.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
And that's the worst case scenario that she thinks a lot of business owners will have to confront and will have to see.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
There was a lot of discussion about this at the event that I attended. There was actually this moment when a moderator asked a panel of small business owners, including Wells, to raise their hands if they tried to find domestic manufacturers first. And all the hands went up. But the reality is for so many things, you know, clothes, shoes, toys, electronics, the U.S.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
has not manufactured them at scale in ages or ever. And so, you know, one shopkeeper says she sells work boots. She has American-made boots. They are $400. Not everyone can afford that. So she also has imported ones that are half the price. Or I also talked to Danny Reynolds. He runs Stevenson's Clothing Boutique in Indiana. It sells also wedding gowns.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
And he says he supports the president's mission to level the trade playing field. He would love to have more U.S.-made gowns. They are great quality, but they're three times as expensive. And all the big bridal gown makers, they're overseas.
Up First from NPR
Tariffs Hit At Midnight, Small Business Reactions, National Security Firings
He says business people love to negotiate their deals, make their own decisions, and, you know, live and die by them. And the sweeping tariffs take that ability out of their control.