What does this year’s supply chain crisis mean for holiday shopping? Will restaurants ever go back to paper menus? And what’s really going on with inflation?

Today on the show, Wednesday host Carousel Bayrd tackles all of these questions and more with retail and logistics experts Barbara Stewart and Craig Austin.

They talk about new trends spurred by the pandemic like online shopping, the switch from just-in-time production to just-in-case production, inflation and all its cousins (including shrinkflation and skimpflation), shopping as a social experience, and what to expect from the “new normal” in the world of retail.

In the final segment, Carousel talks with Carol “Orange” Schroeder, co-owner of Orange Tree Imports, about the “buy local” movement and what this all means for independent retailers.

Barbara Stewart is a professor of retailing and consumer science at the University of Houston.

Craig Austin is an assistant teaching professor at Florida International University, where he specializes in supply chain issues and global logistics.

Carol Schroeder, aka Orange, is the co-owner of Orange Tree Imports, a gift and gourmet shop in Madison. She is the author of Specialty Shop Retailing: How You Can Succeed in Today’s Market.

Cover photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

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