Ashley Milne-Tyte

Japanese retailer Uniqlo courts US consumers

October 21, 2011

Listen here. Aired on NPR's Morning Edition.

Uniqlo has been big in Japan for 20 years. Now it wants to conquer the US. Last week it opened a vast, three-storey, 89,000-square-foot flagship store on 5th Avenue, just around the corner from the Museum of Modern Art. Today it's opening another huge outpost on 34th Street. I was at the 5th Avenue store at around 3p.m. on a weekday, and it was packed with everyone from twentysomethings to couples in their seventies, grabbing piles of cashmere sweaters or the high-tech thermal underwear Uniqlo is known for. There's so much I couldn't fit into this piece. Factoid: when I asked him why Uniqlo was different (and supposedly better quality) than any other inexpensive retailer whose clothes were made in China, US CEO Shin Odake told me that in the '90s the company started sending recently unemployed textile workers in their fifties and sixties to work with Uniqlo's Chinese factories to improve quality - they're called 'Takumi masters'. Odake says the company is doing the same thing today. In case you're wondering, I couldn't find anyone who had anything negative to say about the company's chances of making it in the US.

Creative restaurant pricing

July 2, 2011

Listen here. Aired on Marketplace Money over the 4th of July weekend.

This piece grew out of my experience at two chain restaurants back in March. Both restaurants were at an airport, and neither display menu contained any price information. I'd never experienced anything like it. How was I meant to make a choice of venue without knowing the price of the food? The chain, HMS Host, told me it simply did not want to re-print its display menus every time commodity prices changed, forcing a change in the price of ingredients. But restaurant consultant Tom Pirko says restaurants are being crafty: the less clear prices are, the likelier it is customers will spend more. 'Unclear' can take many forms, as you'll hear in the piece. California seems to be the capital of creative restaurant pricing (see coffee prices on menu at left).

Stores revamp for older shoppers

May 10, 2011 

Listen here. Aired on NPR's Morning Edition.

I'd never thought about this until I started researching this piece: the older we get, the less fun it is to go shopping. Our joints may ache, and we have less energy to negotiate a supermarket or other big-box store. Older people are hardly a new phenomenon, but the sheer number of aging baby boomers finally has retailers thinking about how best to serve an older population. A highlight of this piece was touring a couple of stores with interior designer and gerontologist Rosemary Bakker - she helped me see the shopping experience through completely different eyes. A version of this story also aired on VOA News.

Menus with no prices

April 18, 2011

I make all my buying decisions based on price and thought everyone else did too. So I was gobsmacked when, stuck at Raleigh-Durham airport last month, I noticed a few of the sit-down restaurants had display menus without prices. When I finally picked a place, I was handed a menu with food prices, but no drinks prices. I had to inquire about the cost of a glasss of wine. I'm not the only person who's noticed this. I've since discovered it's not unusual for chains to leave drinks prices off the menu. What I want to know is why restaurants feel they can do this even during a recession. Surely people are even more price conscious than usual? Does no one complain because we're afraid to look cheap?

Food coops multiply in NYC

November 3, 2010

Listen here. Aired on WNYC during Morning Edition. 

As more people become conscious of what they eat, food coops are becoming increasingly popular. There are around 200 coops in startup mode across the country, and seven of those are in New York City. Sounds great - who doesn't want fresh food at low prices? But starting a coop demands years of dedication on the part of volunteers before the coop can open its doors. Traditionally coops have opened in middle class neighborhoods, but the new coops in NYC are eager to attract residents of so-called food deserts, where little fresh food is available - something else that's not as simple as it might seem.

Compare your spending with the Joneses'

September 24, 2010

Listen here. Aired on Marketplace Money.

I'm as nosy as anyone about other people's spending habits. So I was intrigued when I heard about a new personal finance site called Bundle. Say you're married with two kids: the site asks you to enter some details about household status and income, then lets you compare your spending to that of other couples with kids in the same town, in the same age and income range. Initially it seems like harmless fun, but the founder says it's about much more than that: he wants people to use those comparisons to rein in some of their bad habits.