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Media Deals

Creator commerce infrastructure gets AI upgrade

Where Spirit Halloween stores are this year

A bar chart showing the most common previous tenants in retail spaces that now host Spirit Halloween stores. The chart shows the 10 most common former tenants nationally, led by JOANN (153 stores), Big Lots (103) and Party City (100). 

Spirit Halloween stores: What they used to be

Data: Axios analysis of Spirit Halloween store locator; Chart: Brad Jennings/Axios

Closer

Axios Closer

Amazon boots Meta's Muse in fight over AI shopping

Macro

Axios Macro

August consumer spending surprise

Retail sales surge as consumers keep spending

A column chart that shows monthly change in U.S. retail sales from January to August 2026. Sales fell 0.03% in January, rose to a peak of 1.72% in March, eased to 0.31% in June, dipped to a low of -0.54% in July, and rebounded to 1.24% in August.

Change in U.S. retail sales

Data: Census Bureau; Chart: Courtenay Brown/Axios

Exclusive: Fanatics combines betting, prediction apps

Finish Line

Axios Finish Line

America's next grocery shock is brewing

Walmart adding Apple Pay, other tap-to-pay options

Walmart posts worst comparable sales performance in six years

Target turnaround effort shows momentum as grocery sales jump

Retail sales slump in July

A column chart that shows monthly U.S. retail sales percentage changes from April to July 2026. Sales rose 0.67% in April and 0.93% in May, then slowed to 0.25% in June before falling 0.58% in July. Across the full series, changes ranged from -1.10% to 1.72%.

U.S. retail sales

Data: Census Bureau; Chart: Neil Irwin/Axios

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