March 6, 2025

Hand sanitizer is one of the products that saw a dramatic spike in consumer demand during the pandemic, with sales peaking at $52 million each week in July 2020. The increased demand should have led to big business for Andrea Lisbona, who moved to the U.S. in 2018 to launch her hand sanitizer brand called Touchland. But the pandemic also upended the global supply chain, which meant she could not get the packaging and materials she needed to ship her Continue reading

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March 4, 2025

To produce fine French cheeses like brie and camembert, you need milk, time, and one especially important ingredient: mold. For decades, farmers around the world have produced cheese by cloning the mold Penicillium camemberti, but now some are worried that it could become extinct. Along with providing an in-depth look at how brie and camembert are made, this video examines the ways that some cheesemakers are responding to the uncertain future of their business.

Questions:

  1. Why are brie and Continue reading
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February 27, 2025

Meat sticks have come a long way since the invention of the Slim Jim in 1929. Sales of the savory snack topped $3 billion in 2024, a jump of 10 percent compared to the previous year. More than 40 million households buy them annually, making meat sticks the fastest-growing category in snacks. These days, meat sticks come in all sorts of styles: short or long, fat or slim, snappy or soft. They’re made with bold flavors like jalapeno, taco, teriyaki, Continue reading

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February 25, 2025

Although online shopping has been the norm for decades, oftentimes consumers still want to visit a physical store. Whether it’s trying on different sizes, comparing colors and styles, or simply browsing, there are some shopping activities that people prefer to do in person. When the pandemic upended supply chains, retailers responded by cutting back on the amount of inventory that went out to individual stores. Instead, they centralized inventory at distribution centers to make it easier and cheaper to respond Continue reading

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January 22, 2025

When online reviews first started in the late 1990s, shoppers used them to compare their purchases with each other instead of relying on the seller’s description or an expert recommendation. Directory sites like Yelp and Trustpilot grew their user bases by incentivizing contributors to leave authentic reviews for restaurants, doctors, and just about any public-facing business. But online reviews created a new problem: fake reviews. Businesses hired brokers to recruit people to write false reviews — either positive ones to Continue reading

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December 11, 2024

After decades of decline, many American malls are continuing to struggle as former anchor stores like Macy’s, JCPenney, and Sears either close locations or go out of business entirely. With lots of open space on their hands, at least 192 malls are experimenting with housing in an attempt to bring life back to dying retail spaces. The video below explains the logistics of mall-based apartments, which can be located close to restaurants and shops but also lack basic amenities like Continue reading

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December 6, 2024

The luxury car brand Jaguar started in England in 1922 as a shop that built sidecars for motorcycles. When the British government stopped rationing steel at the end of World War II, the company was then able to purchase enough supplies to produce eye-catching sports cars. Flashy Jaguar vehicles went on to dominate international motorsport in the 1950s, giving the brand a global reputation as athletic and glamorous. But even as Jaguar grew to become the preferred automaker of the Continue reading

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December 4, 2024

Since the late 1980s, Americans have marked the day after Thanksgiving as Black Friday, the “official” start of the holiday sale season and the busiest shopping day of the year. Stores like Walmart, Target, and Best Buy used to draw huge crowds by offering massive discounts to the first shoppers to come through the doors. As time passed and e-commerce became more common, though, the one-day sales bonanza expanded to include online deals. Now Amazon is the undisputed champion of Continue reading

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November 22, 2024

In the 1980s, the casual restaurant chain TGI Fridays skyrocketed to success thanks to its singles-bar atmosphere and talented bartenders who performed tricks while pouring drinks. As the company expanded, however, it rebranded into a family restaurant, starting a long decline for the once-promising brand. This video looks at the rise and fall of TGI Friday’s, which finally filed for bankruptcy this month after a long search for a savior.

Questions:

  1. How did TGI Friday’s change after it rebranded from Continue reading
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November 8, 2024

A few weeks ago, we looked at how rising cocoa prices led to price increases for chocolate just before the Halloween season. The video below examines this global issue in great detail, from the struggles of cocoa farmers in Ghana to the effects of rising costs both on independent operators and major candy producers like Mars Wrigley. 

Questions:

  1. What are some of the issues affecting the livelihoods of Ghanaian cocoa farmers?
  2. How are independent businesses like Li-Lac Chocolates responding Continue reading
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