Businesses Report Inflation Is Taking Wrench to Their Cash-Strapped Customers

Grocery Shopper

Dollar stores are reporting softened demand and increased financial stress among their lower-income consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Some businesses say their customers are spending less money toward the end of the month and more focused on purchasing from cheap store brands, according to the WSJ. Dollar General said in a December earnings call that its best-performing category in its last quarter was its “value valley” aisle, which offers $1 products, the WSJ reported.

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Atlanta Fed’s Bostic ‘Optimistic’ Economy Headed ‘In the Right Direction’

Raphael Bostic

The head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta remains “quite optimistic that things are heading in the right direction.”

In a video message posted Thursday alongside a longer-form piece, Raphael Bostic, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said that after the inflation rate declined rapidly in the second half of 2023, it seemed to stall early this year.

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