Off-price retailers often rise above the challenges that tend to hurt most stores. For example, when the economy is weak, people shop off-price to save money; when the economy is strong people shop off-price because they have money to spend.
The years colored by the pandemic have been different, with off-price companies less insulated from macro conditions. For example, they haven’t been immune to the supply chain troubles being felt elsewhere or, more recently, inflation. Some are also watching their merchandising undermined by name brands that are pulling back, in favor of selling directly to customers — a situation that is also hitting their full-price department store rivals.
