Business
President Trump Wants to Be Everywhere, All the Time
To understand how Mr. Trump has achieved this omnipresence, The New York Times reviewed the first 329 days of his second term, finding at least one instance each day when he attracted the public’s attention to himself and his actions.
The review encompassed more than 250 media appearances, more than 320 official appearances, and more than 5,000 Truth Social posts or reposts. The analysis shows that while Mr. Trump has lagged his predecessors in his number of official appearances, he has pursued a raft of innovative methods to force himself into the public consciousness on a daily, and sometimes even hourly, basis.
The battery of activity started from the moment he was inaugurated, when he traveled from the Capitol Building to the Capital One Arena to publicly sign a flurry of executive orders.
Since then, he has stayed in the public eye in part by doing things no president has ever done. High-stakes Oval Office meetings, like his negotiations with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, are held on-camera and broadcast live on global news networks. His Q.-and-A. sessions with reporters frequently last an hour or more.
He regularly airs his opinions – on social media, in discursive asides at rallies – about idiosyncratic subjects that range widely across the zeitgeist, from Sydney Sweeney’s sexy denim ads to the redesigned logo of the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain to the mysterious fate of the aviator Amelia Earhart, who vanished over the Pacific Ocean in 1937.
And his engagement with the news media has soared well beyond the start of his first administration.
Through Dec. 14, Mr. Trump took reporters’ questions on 449 occasions, compared with 223 during the same period of his first term. On average, Mr. Trump has interacted with journalists roughly twice a day, doubling his rate from 2017, according to Martha Joynt Kumar, a Towson University political scientist who tracks presidential press interactions. Mr. Trump limits which news outlets can ask questions at small events, but in sheer volume, he is the most media-accessible modern president, and far outpaces his predecessor, Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“Reporters will be in my office asking me for the president’s reaction to a breaking news story,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in an interview. “And I’ll just say to them, ‘I don’t know, why don’t you ask him yourself in 30 minutes?’”
President Trump’s media appearances have soared this year, more than doubling both the Biden administration’s and those of his own first term.
Finding the Cameras
Many of his public moments go viral online, like his diatribe about restoring the name of the Washington Redskins, or the A.I.-generated video meme he posted of himself dribbling a soccer ball with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Oval Office. They take on a life of their own, rippling across social media and dissected and amplified by influencers and mass media platforms alike.
The result is a president whose not-so-inner monologue is injected into our daily lives in myriad ways, when we are watching TV on the weekends or idly scrolling the web – a Greek chorus for our national narrative.
“He’s the most ubiquitous president ever,” said Douglas Brinkley, the presidential historian.
The media strategy aligns with his political strategy.
Dating back to his years as an outspoken real estate developer and reality TV star, Mr. Trump has relished being unavoidable for comment. But at age 79, he has been outdoing his younger self. And there is a logic to his logorrhea.
Mr. Trump’s allies often speak of the political benefits of flooding the zone: pursuing so many policies, ideas, and dramatic restructurings of the normal ways of governance as to overwhelm the system. “All pedal, no brake,” as Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s one-time adviser, has called it.
“We joke internally that he is our ultimate director of communications,” Ms. Leavitt said. “He has incredible media instincts, and he is the final decision maker on all policy, and he has been in a ‘flood the zone,’ ‘do as much as possible’ mindset since he walked into the Oval Office on Jan. 20.”
All presidents benefit from the awesome news-making powers of the office, with its agenda-setting influence over a dedicated global press corps. But Mr. Trump has outstripped his predecessors in whipsawing the public’s attention onto matters small and large – and limiting the level of scrutiny that any one shocking remark or policy proposal receives.
“People can really only focus on a handful of things a day,” said Bill Burton, a deputy White House press secretary under former President Barack Obama. “This attention flood is working for Trump because he is able to do an extraordinary amount of executive actions and very little of it can get attention.”
Or as Mr. Brinkley put it: “He plays to win the day, every day, around the clock.”
His commentary takes on a life of its own.
One of Mr. Trump’s political assets is his instinct for virality.
With a natural feel for the web, Mr. Trump has a knack for amplifying wacky memes and pop culture curios that can drive days of online discourse. Sometimes, coverage of his offhand remarks or late-night social media posts can crowd out the more significant, norm-shattering changes he is making to American governance.
Late one Friday night in May, the president posted an obviously A.I.-generated image of himself as the pope. It struck a nerve.
Mr. Trump had already courted controversy days earlier, after the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
“I’d like to be pope,” the president told reporters who asked about who should become the next pontiff. “That would be my number one choice.”
The comment disturbed some Catholics, who said the notion was crude and insensitive. That reaction seemed only to prompt Mr. Trump to double down, posting the A.I.-generated image to his Truth Social account days later. By the weekend it had become a cultural phenomenon, mocked on “Saturday Night Live” and called out by experts as an example of misleading A.I. content.
After Mr. Trump posts the A.I. image …
May 2
Trump posts A.I. image of himself as Pope
There is nothing clever or funny about this image, Mr. President. We just buried our beloved Pope Francis and the cardinals are about to enter a solemn conclave to elect a new successor of St. Peter. Do not mock us.
May 3
NYS Catholic Conference says “do not mock us”
May 3
“Saturday Night Live” covers fake image
May 3 Vatican asked about image, declines to comment
May 4
Cardinal Joseph Tobin of New Jersey criticizes image as “not good”
May 4
JD Vance defends Trump on X, calling it a joke … some Catholics were outraged, prompting a news cycle focused on the controversy …
5
Says “the Catholics loved it”
… before Mr. Trump suggested he had nothing to do with it.
Mr. Trump, who is not Catholic, had plenty of defenders, too. They said his commentary and the A.I. image were simply jokes, part of the president’s unique comedic style.
“As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,” Vice President JD Vance, who is Catholic, wrote on X.
In his quest for attention, the president is often aided by a cottage industry of right-wing influencers and activists who are primed to syndicate, reinforce and defend whatever content he pushes out each day. For this conservative media ecosystem, Mr. Trump’s messaging and commentary are the raw fuel that drives clicks, shares and views.
On June 7, the president’s visit to a raucous U.F.C. fight – complete with a “Trump dance” entrance into the arena – generated an immediate spike in online interest, including about 50,000 posts on X. Five days later, when he promoted a “Trump gold card” visa, his announcement led to roughly 30,000 posts on X.
A barrage that distracts from bad news.
One pattern in Mr. Trump’s behavior: When his administration is faced with bad news, he launches a fusillade of distraction.
This can take the form of outlandish, out-of-left-field claims about political opponents. Or he might weigh in on a pop culture subject far afield from Washington politics – from the ratings of late-night hosts like Seth Meyers to the physical appearance of a megastar like Taylor Swift.
The events of July 2025 offer a case in point.
As the Jeffrey Epstein files returned to the news – along with speculation that Mr. Trump might appear in them – the president embarked on a breathtaking series of tangents. Mr. Trump claimed without evidence that former President Bill Clinton had bankrolled an effort by senior intelligence officials to frame him for a crime, mused about stripping the actress Rosie O’Donnell of her U.S. citizenship, and accused the singer Beyoncé of accepting millions of dollars to endorse his erstwhile rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
July 8
F.B.I. publishes memo about Epstein files On July 8, the F.B.I. said it would not declassify more Epstein files.
10
Claimed intelligence officials tried to frame him
10
Pushed to defund NPR and PBS
10 Directed ICE to arrest protesters
12
Threatened Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship
15
Claimed Adam Schiff engaged in mortgage fraud Over the following days, Mr. Trump seemed to lash out in every direction.
On July 18, the Justice Department filed a request to unseal grand jury testimony about Mr. Epstein, again raising questions about Mr. Trump’s involvement. The president promptly lobbed insults at late-night talk show hosts, dismissed the Epstein affair as “fake news” and shared fresh claims about a supposed Obama administration plot to undermine him after the 2016 election.
July 18
Request filed to unseal grand jury testimony
On July 18, the Department of Justice filed a request — later denied — to unseal grand jury testimony.
20
Criticized Washington Commanders name
21
Called the “Russia hoax” the “crime of the century”
22
Called Epstein controversy “fake news”
22
Criticized Kimmel and Fallon
24 Criticized Federal Reserve chairman
Over the following days, Mr. Trump bounced from topic to topic.
On July 25, The Wall Street Journal published a major scoop: The paper had unearthed a risqué birthday letter that Mr. Trump had apparently written to Mr. Epstein in 2003. Mr. Trump responded with his attack on Beyoncé and revived his threat to revoke the broadcast licenses of TV networks. Then he announced the imminent construction of an enormous gilded ballroom at the White House, at a cost of $200 million. (He has since revised the cost upward to $400 million.)
Asked if there was a deliberate strategy to distract from negative news, Ms. Leavitt noted that every administration seeks to minimize unhelpful headlines.
“Yes, there have been times in which we’ve tried to do that, but also often it just happens naturally, because the president is willing to weigh in on so many subjects,” she said. “Sometimes it’s really not deliberate. It’s just him speaking his mind on whatever news cycle or news story is brought to him in that moment.”
He has added tricks to his arsenal.
Mr. Trump’s devotion to Truth Social mirrors the hair-trigger Twitter habit of his first term; on one recent December evening, he posted 158 times between 9 p.m. and midnight. And he has continued to appear on Fox News with certain preferred hosts.
But this year, he has added to his media arsenal by appearing in many more public spaces that fall outside of a president’s typical itinerary.
Mr. Trump has stopped by a Washington Commanders N.F.L. game, popped up in the New York Yankees locker room, attended the Ryder Cup golf tournament and the men’s tennis final at the U.S. Open, sat ringside at numerous U.F.C. fights, and traveled to the Daytona 500. He is the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl. When FIFA staged the Club World Cup final in New Jersey, Mr. Trump not only attended, but joined the winning team onstage for the trophy ceremony.
The net effect is a sense of inescapability, that no corner of American life remains Trump-free – which itself amounts to a potent expression of presidential authority and command. “His power, in part,” said Mr. Burton, the former Obama aide, “comes from the attention that people give him, or that he forces on them.”
Can it ever be too much?
In the fall of 2009, President Barack Obama appeared on David Letterman’s talk show, gave interviews to CNBC and Men’s Health magazine, and made the rounds of all five major network Sunday shows. Washington was abuzz about whether he was overexposed.
That debate sounds quaint today. But the question of whether a president can be too visible remains open.
“The public is being desensitized” to Mr. Trump’s omnipresence, argued Mr. Brinkley, the historian. “It starts becoming blather. The enemy for Trump isn’t Democrats; it’s the public being bored with the show.”
Ms. Leavitt said that if there was a risk to his ubiquity, “President Trump would not be president right now.” She added: “He is a businessman who speaks his mind and tells it like it is, and sometimes people don’t like that. But obviously the vast majority of our country does, or else he wouldn’t be in this office.”
During Mr. Trump’s first term, the public eventually tired of his frenzied pace. And in some ways, Mr. Trump appears to be slowing down physically as he approaches his 80th birthday in June (which he will celebrate in part by staging a nationally broadcast U.F.C. fight on the White House lawn). He has appeared to doze at some Oval Office meetings, and he is holding fewer formal public events than he did at this point in 2017.
Still, Mr. Trump and his team have embraced the everywhere-all-at-once nature of modern media. Average Americans, busy with work and family, do not tune in for daytime news conferences or Cabinet meetings. And 6:30 p.m. newscasts and local newspapers are no longer the primary vessels by which Americans learn about their commander-in-chief.
Instead, politics now suffuses our lives as a kind of ambient noise – via TikTok videos, social media posts, YouTube talk shows and family Facebook messages – never fully separate from our leisure pursuits. “Right now the game is attention, in terms of what’s culturally breaking through,” Mr. Burton said. “The fact that so much message exists is the point.”
Mr. Trump has both propelled this merging of culture and politics, and continues to strategically exploit it. In December, he became the first president to personally host the Kennedy Center Honors, comparing himself onstage to Johnny Carson and musing that he would do a better job than Jimmy Kimmel.
“This is the greatest evening in the history of the Kennedy Center,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “Not even a contest. There has never been anything like it.”
His performance will air in prime time on CBS on Dec. 23.
Photo and video sources: Graham Dickie/The New York Times; Doug Mills/The New York Times; Roll Call Factba.se; PBS; Mauro Pimentel/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images; Kenny Holston/The New York Times; The New York Times; Annabelle Gordon/Reuters; Eric Lee/The New York Times; Fox; Cheriss May for The New York Times; Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press; Margo Martin, via Storyful; Mark Abramson for The New York Times; Global News; Al Drago/Getty Images; Fox News; Dave Sanders for The New York Times; Pete Marovich for The New York Times; Ted Shaffrey/Associated Press … Show all
The war in the Middle East has halted most of the oil and gas trade from the region, forcing countries thousands of miles to contend with their energy supplies suddenly vanishing.
The Persian Gulf accounts for roughly a fifth of the world’s energy needs. As Iran effectively blocks shipments, international prices for oil and gas have shot up. That in turn has meant gasoline, jet fuel and other products have become costlier — hurting drivers, business owners and others from Los Angeles to Lahore, Pakistan. As the world becomes gripped by the energy crisis, some nations are feeling the loss more acutely.
Asian countries are the biggest buyers of Persian Gulf energy
Pakistan
Total energy imports in 2024
$17 bil. Japan
Total energy imports in 2024
$139 bil. Thailand
Total energy imports in 2024 $43 bil. South Korea
Total energy imports in 2024
$144 bil. India
Total energy imports in 2024
$180 bil. Maldives
Total energy imports in 2024
$774.1 mil. Taiwan
Total energy imports in 2024
$47 bil. China
Total energy imports in 2024 $413 bil. Sri Lanka
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil. Malaysia
Total energy imports in 2024
$44 bil. Singapore
Total energy imports in 2024
$86 bil. Philippines
Total energy imports in 2024
$16 bil. Israel
Total energy imports in 2024 $3 bil. Brunei
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Myanmar
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Indonesia
Total energy imports in 2024
$35 bil. Armenia
Total energy imports in 2024
$535.9 mil. Turkey
Total energy imports in 2024 $26 bil. Hong Kong
Total energy imports in 2024
$12 bil. Uzbekistan
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Kazakhstan
Total energy imports in 2024
$628 mil. Yemen
Total energy imports in 2024
$23.5 mil. Azerbaijan
Total energy imports in 2024 $2 bil. Kyrgyzstan
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Jordan
Total energy imports in 2024
$641 mil. Cambodia
Total energy imports in 2024
$3 bil. Syria
Total energy imports in 2024
$131.2 mil. Bangladesh
Total energy imports in 2024 $7 bil.
In 2024, nearly 21 million barrels of oil a day crossed through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway connecting the Persian Gulf to the world. Four-fifths of that supply went to Asia.
China has long been the biggest purchaser of oil and gas from Persian Gulf nations. And with more than a third of its total supply coming from the region, the disruption is significant for Beijing. But other countries are almost entirely reliant on the region for their energy needs.
Pakistan has considered imposing a four-day workweek, and remote school and work, in order to preserve energy stockpiles. A state-led fund in Thailand, to subsidize the cost of fuel when prices surge, plunged into a deficit this month.
In India, where the economy depends on the Middle East for roughly 40 percent of the country’s oil imports and 80 percent of its gas, a shortage of cooking gas is squeezing households. And across Asia, fliers are being stranded because airlines running low on jet fuel have canceled thousands of flights.
Europe has been more insulated, sort of
Greece
Total energy imports in 2024
$19 bil. Lithuania
Total energy imports in 2024
$7 bil. Poland
Total energy imports in 2024
$28 bil. Serbia
Total energy imports in 2024 $2 bil. Bulgaria
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Slovenia
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil. Italy
Total energy imports in 2024
$50 bil. Albania
Total energy imports in 2024
$931.9 mil. France
Total energy imports in 2024 $73 bil. Ireland
Total energy imports in 2024
$6 bil. Iceland
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. U.K.
Total energy imports in 2024
$62 bil. Netherlands
Total energy imports in 2024
$105 bil. Spain
Total energy imports in 2024 $53 bil. Romania
Total energy imports in 2024
$8 bil. Denmark
Total energy imports in 2024
$6 bil. Ukraine
Total energy imports in 2024
$8 bil. Austria
Total energy imports in 2024
$10 bil. Germany
Total energy imports in 2024 $66 bil. Norway
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Portugal
Total energy imports in 2024
$10 bil. Moldova
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Cyprus
Total energy imports in 2024
$3 bil. Belgium
Total energy imports in 2024 $47 bil. Latvia
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Sweden
Total energy imports in 2024
$18 bil. Finland
Total energy imports in 2024
$10 bil. Estonia
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. North Macedonia
Total energy imports in 2024 $902.7 mil. Croatia
Total energy imports in 2024
$6 bil. Switzerland
Total energy imports in 2024
$8 bil. Bosnia and Herzegovina
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Slovakia
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil.
Europe has traditionally been less reliant on the Gulf than Asia has been. It used to get most of its natural gas from Russia, but in recent years it has relied more on the United States and Norway. But the continent has had to endure one energy crisis after another in recent years, including from Russia’s war with Ukraine and the Western sanctions that followed.
Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of oil and second-largest producer of gas, and the sales of its energy products have been significantly restricted while Moscow continues its invasion of Ukraine.
This current crisis comes as European countries, confronting lackluster economic output, try to rebuild their industrial bases and fend off competition from cheaper Chinese exports.
Confronted with soaring prices since its attack with Israel on Iran, the United States temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil that is currently at sea, hoping to ease the global supply and markets in the process. The European Union has not made similar moves.
Parts of Africa will be hit hard
Seychelles
Total energy imports in 2024
$308.6 mil. Mauritania
Total energy imports in 2024
$973.5 mil. Uganda
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Mauritius
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Kenya
Total energy imports in 2024 $5 bil. Egypt
Total energy imports in 2024
$16 bil. Zambia
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Namibia
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Malawi
Total energy imports in 2024
$476.1 mil. South Africa
Total energy imports in 2024 $18 bil. Tanzania
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Morocco
Total energy imports in 2024
$8 bil. Mozambique
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Madagascar
Total energy imports in 2024
$841.3 mil. Zimbabwe
Total energy imports in 2024 $2 bil. Senegal
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil. Nigeria
Total energy imports in 2024
$13 bil. Benin
Total energy imports in 2024
$398.4 mil. Angola
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Burkina Faso
Total energy imports in 2024 $2 bil. Tunisia
Total energy imports in 2024
$3 bil. Cote d’Ivoire
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil. Central African Republic
Total energy imports in 2024
$196.7 mil. Gambia
Total energy imports in 2024
$206.6 mil. Niger
Total energy imports in 2024 $113.6 mil. Lesotho
Total energy imports in 2024
$214.4 mil. Cameroon
Total energy imports in 2024
$424.4 mil. Libya
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil.
African nations, like many other countries in the global south, could feel the disruption unevenly. Seychelles, the island nation off the east coast of Africa, imported almost all of its energy from Gulf states in 2024. Mauritius has had a similar reliance, while Nigeria, an oil-rich state and a member of the OPEC Plus oil cartel, has traditionally imported relatively few fossil fuels from the Middle East.
But as the war continues, the impact is being felt beyond the imports of oil and gas. The Persian Gulf is a dominant source of fertilizer, partly because the region’s abundance of energy has spurred the development of factories that make the raw materials for many types of agricultural chemicals.
A sustained rise in the cost of fertilizer could force governments in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa to subsidize the cost of growing crops or otherwise watch food prices climb. That could add to debt burdens afflicting many lower-income countries.
The Americas and elsewhere are feeling broader economic shocks
Argentina
Total energy imports in 2024
$3 bil. Brazil
Total energy imports in 2024
$28 bil. United States
Total energy imports in 2024
$233 bil. Paraguay
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Canada
Total energy imports in 2024 $31 bil. Uruguay
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Australia
Total energy imports in 2024
$37 bil. Dominican Republic
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Guatemala
Total energy imports in 2024
$4 bil. Chile
Total energy imports in 2024 $13 bil. Fiji
Total energy imports in 2024
$888.1 mil. Peru
Total energy imports in 2024
$9 bil. Honduras
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Ecuador
Total energy imports in 2024
$5 bil. Colombia
Total energy imports in 2024 $6 bil. El Salvador
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Costa Rica
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. New Zealand
Total energy imports in 2024
$6 bil. Mexico
Total energy imports in 2024
$34 bil. Belize
Total energy imports in 2024 $235.5 mil. Bolivia
Total energy imports in 2024
$2 bil. Nicaragua
Total energy imports in 2024
$1 bil. Barbados
Total energy imports in 2024
$552.3 mil.
The United States is the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. That means the impact of halting the energy trade from the Middle East is much less severe.
But the United States and other countries in the region that do not import great quantities from the Gulf are still feeling economic strain. The jump in oil prices – to over $100 a barrel in recent weeks – has already weighed on other major economic factors.
The cost of gasoline has jumped by about a dollar a gallon nationally since the war began. American airlines have begun to cut flights because of fuel costs. Concerns about inflation have pushed mortgage rates to their highest level in three months, just weeks after they fell below 6 percent for the first time since 2022.
If the war drags on, or if oil and gas prices continue to rise, the damage will most likely grow, economists say. It is perhaps one reason why the White House has forcefully insisted that it does not need Middle Eastern oil — and is increasingly trying to use military force to stop Iran’s blockade of it.
Methodology
To calculate total energy imports for each country, The New York Times used 2024 international trade data from the Observatory for Economic Complexity and tallied the value of imports for a subset of energy-related goods. A share of imports from Gulf countries was then calculated from that subset.
The Gulf countries included are: Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The categories used were: crude petroleum oils (HS 270900), bituminous petroleum distillates (HS 271000), liquefied natural gas (HS 271111), liquefied propane (HS 271112), liquefied butanes (HS 271113) and liquefied petroleum gases (HS 271119).
As big malls and department stores close, bargain chains like Ross Dress for Less are rolling out new stores.
Economic anxiety and inflation are leading shoppers to spend less and search for savings. In this bombed-out retail landscape, some chains are thriving and opening new outlets.
At a new Ross in Alhambra, Liz Lopez was shopping for a designer purse. She is a big fan of the Dublin-based chain and thrilled to now have one just 10 blocks from her home.
People check out after shopping at a newly opened Ross store.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
“I come on Tuesdays for the senior discounts,” Lopez said, showing off her new black Dolce & Gabbana purse. “I always find good deals.”
The new store on East Valley Boulevard opened this month. One of its sister shops — dd’s Discounts, which is owned by the same parent company — opened in North Hollywood.
This year, the parent company, Ross Stores Inc., plans to open 110 new outlets across the country, after 90 last year.
Ross Chief Executive Jim Conroy said Ross is capturing market share by attracting customers away from other retail chains.
“The share shift is more from mainstream retail, department stores and other places like that,” he told analysts after announcing strong growth early this month.
Other discount outlets, including T.J. Maxx, Dollar General, Nordstrom Rack and Five Below, are also expanding to capitalize on tough times.
Retail data show shoppers are visiting a broader spectrum of destinations to find lower prices, said Placer.ai, which tracks people’s movements based on cellphone usage.
“Consumers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive, actively pivoting away from traditional mid-market chains in favor of discount retailers and value-oriented brands,” Placer.ai said in a report this month. “Because affordability remains a core focus, average households are spreading their visits across a wider number of non-discretionary stores to hunt for deals.”
Discount retailers have been popular for decades, but a combination of factors is now driving accelerated growth for some, experts said.
Dollar stores and the first off-price retailers rose to popularity in the 1990s, but really took off around 2010 following the recession, according to Dylan Carden, a specialty retail analyst at William Blair.
Since then, the stigma surrounding bargain stores has lessened for both customers and brands.
“They’re phenomenal at what they do,” Carden said of the major off-price retailers, including Ross and TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods.
In the last year or so, well-established retailers that were already grappling with intense competition from online retailers have been hit as their customers cut back on discretionary spending amid inflation, tariffs and global conflict.
Savings signs on the walls at a newly opened Ross store in Alhambra.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
For stores such as Ross, this dip in demand at department stores means a larger supply of discounted products, as they often buy unsold merchandise from struggling high-end outlets and manufacturers.
“These companies offer a tremendous value to shoppers, but they perhaps offer an even greater value to the brands,” said Simeon Siegel, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners. “They’ve solidified their role in the retail ecosystem.”
Five Below, the Pennsylvania-based discount outlet aimed at teens and tweens, opened 150 new stores in 2025 and has plans to open more this year. Its same-store sales rose 15% in the fourth quarter last year.
Ross sells everything from neckties to shower curtains. Its fourth-quarter profits last year rose 10% from the year prior. Ross reported record sales for 2025 of $22.8 billion, up 8% from the year prior. Its net income was $2.1 billion, similar to 2024, while comparable store sales grew 5%.
Investors have been happy with its outperformance.
Ross shares surged around 70% over the past year. TJX shares rose around 30%.
A man exits after shopping at a newly opened Ross store.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
TJX has also seen year-over-year increases in sales and net income, according to its most recent earnings release. It plans to open 146 new stores this year.
“The revenues, the stores, the businesses are doing excellent,” Siegel said. “They are absolutely in their stride.”
In contrast, some department stores are struggling.
Macy’s closed two California locations earlier this year as part of its plan to reduce its footprint by 30% by 2027. Twelve more closures are planned in the coming months across the U.S.
Saks Global, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, citing overwhelming debt.
“The department store pressure and the off-price success are not coincidental,” Siegel said. “They are clearly linked. Off-price has effectively become the new department store.”
In addition to opening new stores, Ross is working to streamline the shopping process by better organizing its stores and adding self-checkout at more branches.
The new Ross in Alhambra has several self-checkout lanes and well-stocked aisles organized into categories such as apparel, technology and cosmetics.
Lopez, a regular at Ross Dress for Less, put a pack of clothing hangers in her cart along with her new purse before checking out.
“I always seem to find what I need,” she said.
The Ryan Gosling-led “Project Hail Mary” rocketed to the top of the box office this weekend, marking a big win for Amazon MGM Studios.
The film — which stars Gosling as a science teacher who embarks on a space mission to save humanity — hauled in $80.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, making it the biggest domestic debut of the year so far. Globally, “Project Hail Mary” brought in $140.9 million.
The movie is an adaptation of a novel by Andy Weir, author of “The Martian” — another successful book-to-screen adventure. The big opening weekend for “Project Hail Mary” is a boost for Amazon MGM Studios, which had heavily promoted the film as an example of the big blockbusters it could produce.
“We believe deeply in the Hail Mary, and it’s clear audiences do as well,” Kevin Wilson, head of domestic theatrical distribution for Amazon MGM Studios, said in a statement. “What we’re seeing in theaters —the energy, the exit scores, the word of mouth — is everything we believed this film would deliver.”
Walt Disney Co. and Pixar’s “Hoppers” came in second at the box office this weekend with a domestic total of $18 million. The original animated film has now garnered $120.4 million in the U.S. and Canada since it debuted in theaters earlier this month.
Indian action film “Dhurandhar The Revenge” came in third with $10 million, followed by Disney-owned Searchlight Pictures’ horror film “Ready or Not 2: Here I Come” and Universal Pictures’ romance “Reminders of Him” rounding out the top five.
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