Nostalgia for 2016 Could Re-Energize Some Retailers

Justin Bieber’s music and mall shopping are “in” with many of today’s younger shoppers, who yearn for what they see as the simpler days of 2016, CNBC reports. “Experts say nostalgia is functioning as a form of risk aversion, as consumers gravitate toward brands that feel familiar amid economic uncertainty,” writes the news service’s Lisa Kailai Han.

Retail observers told Han that the following brands could benefit from this trend:

* Abercrombie & Fitch, both its flagship brand and Hollister unit.

* American Eagle Outfitters

* Foot Locker, now a unit of Dick’s Sporting Goods

* Levi Strauss

* Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger, both units of PVH

* Urban Outfitters

* Vans

* Victoria’s Secret

However, cashing in on the nostalgia trend takes something of a balancing act for the above brands, many of whom have fallen out of step with an ever-evolving consumer landscape. “There’s just so much of the past that isn’t welcome in the present,” Jamie Cohen, a digital culture expert and assistant professor of media studies at Queens College in New York, told CNBC.

Click here for Han’s full story.