The baguette bag is coming out of retirement. But for brands like Abercrombie, True Religion, and Claire’s, they had to do more than just breathe new life into their denim to ride the Y2K resurgence wave; they’ve had to completely reinvent themselves after dramatic falls from red carpets and glossy J-14 style guides.

Abercrombie & Fitch may have ruled the mall in the early 2000s, but in 2014, then-CEO Mike Jeffries resigned, leaving the brand with slowing sales and public disdain. When Fran Horowitz took over as CEO in 2017, she pushed Abercrombie toward embracing more inclusive sizing and an older audience, and even created a more affordable wedding shop.

• Despite being named in ongoing sex trafficking litigation against Jeffries, Abercrombie continues to attract shoppers.
• The brand is expected to report its second year of double-digit sales growth for the first time in over a decade.

True Religion is finally down to make sweatpants after two bankruptcies and customers tiring of expensive denim. This month, the company opened three new locations, hoping to highlight not only its cheaper jeans but also its loungewear, athleisure, and collabs with brands like Playboy. True Religion’s sales jumped 20% in 2023 to around $280 million as its Y2K-style fits made a comeback.

Claire’s, meanwhile, is still focused on selling to tweens, opting to retain its early-aughts charms even after the retailer was left to gather dust when mall traffic started to decline in the mid-2000s.

• Roughly 80% of Claire’s stores were located in malls before 2019.
• The accessory company filed for bankruptcy in 2018 but quickly pulled itself back up and turned a profit in 2021 by moving stores out of malls and partnering with established retailers like Walmart and CVS.

But the path back to relevance is bumpy. Claire’s hasn’t released updated financial info since 2022, and in June, its CEO Ryan Vero stepped down after five years of attempting to bring the brand back to life. It scrapped plans to go public last year, perhaps realizing that the public is not quite ready for the mood ring renaissance.—MM

Before artificial intelligence takes over the world, it might take care of your gift list. For the first holiday season (likely of many), generative AI is expected to help many online shoppers fill their carts this year.

We’re already heeding more of its advice. Online traffic to retail websites from chatbots like ChatGPT doubled between January and August this year, according to Adobe’s annual online shopping forecast. And 2 in 5 shoppers plan to use generative AI to sift through the endless cereal aisle that is Black Friday deals.

Yo dawg, I heard you like personal shoppers. To address our help-me-robot behavior:

• ChatGPT rival Perplexity AI launched a shopping assistant bot earlier this month that basically does the product reviews-reading and cross-referencing of a dad with a free afternoon. Pro subscribers can also order eligible items through Perplexity and get free shipping.
• Walmart and Amazon, the top two e-commerce retailers in the US, also rolled out new online shopping bots this year that answer questions like “What’s the best TV for watching sports?” with personalized product recs. Amazon’s bot, Rufus, is flanked by new AI-powered gift guides on Amazon’s app and mobile site.

That’s where most of the online action will be: Adobe is expecting the “most mobile” holiday shopping season ever, with deal-hungry thumbs ordering a record $128.1 billion in merchandise—53.2% of total online spending vs. desktop.—ML

Vending machines aren’t places to exchange your wrinkly dollar bills for expired Little Debbie brownies anymore. The $18.2 billion industry is undergoing a revitalization as a growing number of companies look to tech innovation to up their game.

Hot to go: One huge area of growth and innovation for vending machines is hot foods. The hot food vending machine sector in the US and Canada is worth nearly $5 billion, according to Future Market Insights research. And more companies are exploring how to use the autonomous tech to bring you better food:

• The burger vending machine RoboBurger uses a grill, toaster, and condiment dispenser to make freshly grilled burgers in less than five minutes.
• Just Baked Smart Bistro machines can make giant cinnamon rolls, bao buns, breakfast sandwiches, and many other options. You may see them everywhere soon—global food conglomerate Sodexo recently closed a deal to use the machines at schools and hospitals across the US.
• LBX Food Robotics, another maker of vending machines that serve hot food, recently announced it would work with Bake Xpress—a vending machine with a smart oven that can work as convection, infrared, or microwave—to offer unlimited foods on demand at the University of Berkeley.

Big picture: It’s only a matter of time before your childhood dream of printing a pizza becomes reality. Led by a nationwide desire for fast- and cheap-but-nutritious food, and fueled by a labor shortage that makes automated food kiosks even more desirable, the vending machine industry’s growth is likely just beginning.—CC

Amazon.com was supposed to be the death knell for indie bookstores, but the scrappy literature purveyors aren’t just hanging in there—they’re thriving.

The number of indie bookstores keeps rising, with 291 new stores popping up last year, bringing the total to 2,433 in the US—almost double the number since 2016, according to the American Booksellers Association. And another 190 are set to sprout in the next two years.

Secret sauce

Many readers still turn to local indies because they offer qualities that the e-commerce behemoth doesn’t possess: soul, authenticity, and a special papery smell.

• Brick-and-mortar booksellers compete by curating a unique selection (sometimes specializing in topics like drama or horror reads).
• They also employ bookworms who have recs at the ready, and organize in-person readings and lectures often advertised on social media.

And while Americans are reading less than they did a generation ago, instead choosing to stare at brain rot on their phones immerse themselves in digital activities, indie bookstores have found an unlikely ally: TikTok. The bookish corner of the app, BookTok, has popularized titles ranging from Sally Rooney’s award-winning Normal People to Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us.

They’re not just selling books…but also often coffee and pastries as well as George Orwell bobbleheads and other giftable tchotchkes to help diversify their revenue streams.—SK

The global board game industry is getting exclusively ladders. The tabletop market, which includes everything from family classics like Monopoly to elaborate strategy games like Warhammer, was worth around $13 billion last year and is expected to jump to $32 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.

The industry received a significant boost during the Covid-19 lockdown, when people had nothing to do but cry and complete puzzles. Hasbro’s gaming division brought in $1.76 billion in revenue in 2020, up 15% from the year before. And unlike those who bought Peloton bikes in the pandemic, most people who picked up Settlers of Catan then are still into it.

• Games Workshop Group, the company behind Warhammer, reported $526 million in revenue for FY 2024, almost double what it generated in 2020.
• Last year, Magic: The Gathering raked in $1.1 billion.

Looking ahead…while oversaturation in the market used to be the industry’s biggest concern, there might be a bigger one now: President-elect Trump’s promised tariffs on Chinese products could devastate board game-makers. Nearly 70% of games are made in China, and industry experts warn that there is very little infrastructure to make them elsewhere. Even if the US tried to build out factories, it could take a decade for them to get up and running.—MM