Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

SALT LAKE CITY — Getting dinner on the table was rarely simple before high inflation hit the economy, but for millions of families, it has become a downright financial struggle.

The cost of food has jumped 10.8% over the past year. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, the cost of meat, poultry, fish and eggs jumped even higher – 14.3%.

Many beleaguered shoppers have turned to dollar stores. Those stores have lots of options to make a hearty meal, but the question from a KSL viewer: Does shopping there actually save any money?

Shopping dollar stores

One such store where consistent pricing is built into its brand is Dollar Tree. Step inside and most items are the same price, though not a dollar anymore. It is now $1.25.

While dollar stores are not known for fresh produce, there is stuff

REITs had a decent run in the 12 months leading up to May, and that’s when everything started to fall apart. Concerns of mounting inflation, rising rates, and tenant profitability have put a damper in the share prices of many REITs, and the shopping center segment has not been immune to this.

This brings me to Brixmor Property Group (NYSE:BRX), which has seen material share price weakness in recent weeks. In this article, I highlight what makes BRX a quality income buy amidst the market chaos, so let’s get started.

Why BRX?

Brixmor Property is one of the largest shopping center REITs in the US, owning and operating a high quality portfolio of 380 retail centers covering 67 million square feet. Its properties are well-located and spread throughout 118 metropolitan statistical areas, and are diversified across over 5K national, regional, and local

Typically, I do not shop in groups or in high-stress situations, like sample or archival sales, but when I do, the temptation kicks in. I’m not alone, either–impulse purchases are not rare. My colleague, Vogue Runway’s Fashion News Writer José Criales-Unzetta, recently purchased a pajama set from the Marni x Uniqlo collaboration sale that he was element of. “Everything was selling out, so I was like, ‘I must have it instead of other people,’ ” he says. “To be fair, I have already worn everything else from the collab I got.”

According to the Harvard Business Review, in a stressful situation—like a possibly once-in-a-lifetime archival sale—our brains react differently, forcing us to make reactionary decisions instead of thoughtful, rational ones. I was worried about missing out on a piece of that sought-after archival pie, even if it came in the form of something I didn’t necessarily want. It was

Twitter is testing a new shopping feature for previewing upcoming product releases. The feature, called Product Drops, allows brands to tease items before they go on sale, and customers can sign up to be reminded prior to the release through in-app notifications.

The company shared how reminders would work in a blog post today. When brands set up product drops, shoppers can sign up for alerts by clicking a “remind me” button. Product drop tweets act like other posts on Twitter and can be liked, retweeted, bookmarked, and shared. Users who opt in to get reminders will get a notification 15 minutes before the time of the release and at the set time of the drop. When it’s time to purchase and users click the notification, they’ll be directed to a “shop on website” button leading to the brand’s site.

Image: Twitter

The test is currently limited to iOS users