Skip to content
Opinion
Andrea Felsted

Shopping Is Going to Be A Lot More Painful in 2022

Consumers face a triple threat of spikes in omicron cases, inflation and interest rates.

The urge to go out.

The urge to go out.

Photographer: Alexander Spatari/Moment RF

The great rotation in consumer spending continues.

When the world shut down in 2020, we bought what we needed to stay home: Pelotons, pets, sweatpants and sourdough starter. In 2021, our shopping reflected reopening: We put on lipstick again, whitened our teeth and swapped loungewear for chinos and dresses. Most consumer, retail and luxury groups had a pretty good year.