Welcome to The Backroom, a window into the behind-the-scenes work of the Retail Dive team as they cover the stories and trends reshaping retail. You canhereview all of our podcast episodes (past and present), and listen onApple Podcasts、Stitcher、iHeartRadioandSpotify.

At the start of this year, retailers were in a fairly good position. The 2021 holiday season was full of cheer, many consumers were still benefiting from U.S. government pandemic-related relief, and vaccines were slowing the spread of COVID-19. People were able to go out, gather, and buy gifts, and they did.

As weddings and office work resumed, the need for wardrobe updates rose, and the recovery continued for months. But inflation that began last year has lasted long enough to squeeze household budgets, and discretionary spending took a hit in the second half of the year.

High inventory, cautious consumers, and growing recession fears have made this crucial fourth quarter for the industry full of many unknowns.

To explore some possible directions, senior reporter Daphne Howland and deputy editor Dani James looked back at some recent coverage ahead of the Black Friday weekend.

Resource links:

Editor's note: This episode was produced and edited by Caroline Jansen.