Author: openjargon

• Inventor Samuel F. B. Morse spent summers at his Locust Grove Estate in New York's Hudson Valley.
• The 14,000-square-foot Italianate villa, built in 1852, has 45 rooms over six floors.
• It was purchased in 1901 by the Young family and has remained uniquely preserved.

When Samuel F. B. Morse wasn't creating Morse code, inventing the telegraph, or painting portraits, he was relaxing on the grounds of his Locust Grove Estate in upstate New York.

Located about 80 miles outside New York City in Poughkeepsie, Locust Grove was built in 1852 on a bluff with views of the Hudson River below. The 14,000-square-foot Italianate villa has a total of 45 rooms over six floors.

Morse, his wife Sarah Elizabeth Griswold Morse, and their four children spent every summer there until his death in 1872. (Morse also had three adult children from his first marriage to Lucretia Walker, who died in 1825.)

The home was then rented to a wealthy local couple, William and Martha Young, who purchased it in 1901 and spent about $15,000 renovating the interior and installing modern amenities like electricity and central heat, according to Locust Grove's official website.

The Youngs' daughter, Annette, recognized the historical significance of the estate and established a nonprofit that continues to preserve and maintain the property. Locust Grove opened to the public in 1979.

While the grounds are open year-round, tours of the home are available from May through October on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays and cost $20 per person.

"It's a really unusually preserved house, so people that are interested in art and history and architecture can always find something here," Ken Snodgrass, director and curator of the Locust Grove Estate, told me on my tour.

Take a look inside Locust Grove.

Located in Poughkeepsie, New York, Locust Grove once belonged to Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of Morse code and the telegraph.

The estate is situated on 200 acres of land. During my springtime visit in 2023, I enjoyed walking through the fragrant gardens to reach the house.

The home didn't look very big from the outside, but my tour guide, Ken Snodgrass, described Locust Grove as "deceptively large" with 45 rooms spanning 14,000 square feet.

Morse worked with architect Alexander Jackson Davis to design Locust Grove in an Italianate style inspired by Italian villas, with decorative arches and a wraparound veranda.

Locust Grove's interior is unique because it's almost exactly as the Young family left it, as opposed to other historic homes that have been restored by curators, according to Snodgrass.

Our first stop after the entryway was the dining room decorated with portraits of members of the Young family, who purchased the home from the Morses in 1901.

Just off the dining room was the pantry, where some of the estate's 14 full-time staff members plated meals brought up on a dumbwaiter elevator from the basement kitchen.

The drawing room was used to entertain guests before and after dinner. The Youngs also hosted dances and concerts here since the furniture was lightweight and easy to rearrange.

In the tea room, my tour guide said that Locust Grove residents and guests enjoyed afternoon tea with a silver tea set from Tiffany and Co.

The music room, another entertaining space, features color-corrected scans of the original wallpaper from 1908.

This receiving room was used for lounging with family and close friends. Martha Young also hosted card games here twice a week.

The library at Locust Grove was decorated in an Italian Gothic style, and I loved the collection of 75 teapots atop the shelves.

The second floor contained three family bedrooms and three guest bedrooms, one of which included a dollhouse made for the Youngs' daughter Annette by her uncle in 1895.

The spacious primary tower bedroom, the largest bedroom in the home, featured gorgeous views of the Hudson and portraits of the Young children over the bed.

I couldn't believe how large the billiards room was. It functioned as a playroom of sorts, where guests played on a pool table from 1895 and listened to music on a phonograph.

Our last stop on the tour was the basement kitchen, where staff prepared meals on a wood-burning stove until it was upgraded with coal in 1910 and gas burners in 1920.

Between the estate's 14 bedrooms and five bathrooms, every day was laundry day at Locust Grove.

Next to the laundry room, the servants' dining room and lounge was usually full of staff members writing letters, mending clothes, or carrying out other household tasks.

After my tour, I visited the museum and gallery at the estate's visitor center, which featured artifacts from the development of Morse's inventions, as well as some of his paintings.

I enjoyed learning about Locust Grove's fascinating history, touring the perfectly preserved interiors, and taking in the stunning Hudson Valley views. I can see why Morse's family wanted to come back year after year.

• NOAA issued a G4 geomagnetic storm watch for the first time in nearly 20 years.
• This type of storm generates dazzling aurora, but can also cause radio blackouts and outages.
• Experts say we should look out for aurora, but shouldn't worry about major issues. 

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecasted a "severe" G4 geomagnetic storm to hit this Friday, dazzling states across the northern US with aurora.

G4 storms are the second-strongest type of geomagnetic storm. "If geomagnetic storms were hurricanes, 'severe' would be category 4," according to SpaceWeather.com. 

In the past, powerful geomagnetic storms have also been known to mess with electronics on satellites causing communication blackouts and disrupt the grid — triggering voltage control problems that can result in power outages.

For example, in October 2003, a G5 solar storm — the most severe type of g-storm — caused power outages in Sweden and damaged power transformers in South Africa.

In preparation for Friday's G4 event, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has notified satellite and grid operators of the oncoming storm "so they can take protective action," the center announced Thursday.

For example, grid operators will likely withhold maintenance on Friday and Saturday to reduce the amount of stress they're putting on the grid, Matt Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading, told Business Insider.

All that is to say, experts told Business Insider they don't expect to see any major issues this Friday.

"It's possible," Owens said. "If I was a betting man, I'd say there won't be serious effects. But I imagine there will be some impressive aurora."

What causes a geomagnetic storm

Geomagnetic storms occur when high-energy particles from the sun reach Earth and interact with our magnetic field.

But the sun is 93 million miles away, so to reach us these particles have to get a major boost. That boost comes from solar storms.

Solar storms happen when the sun shoots powerful explosions of highly-energized and magnetic plasma called coronal mass ejections toward Earth.

To be clear, the sun is constantly erupting and hurling particles into space. Most of them are directed away from Earth and never reach us. Occasionally one will come our way, sparking a minor G1 or G2 storm.

However, a G4 storm, like the one forecast through this weekend, is rare. The last time NOAA issued a G4 storm watch was in 2005.

Forecasts like these better help the folks managing satellites and power grids prepare. However, ultimately, we won't know how intense the storm will be until it's already here.

Forecasting solar storms is tricky

Forecasting solar storms is tricky. "Sometimes we find that the storms can be stronger than we thought, or they can be somewhat of a dud," Alex Young, the associate director for science at NASA Goddard's Heliophysics Science Division, told BI.

This particular storm is especially difficult to track because it's made up of five separate coronal mass ejections, all hurtling towards Earth at roughly 560 miles per second, Owens said.

In case the storm is severe and triggers outages, it's always best to respond how you would for any power outage: keep your fridge closed, disconnect appliances to avoid damage from an electrical surge, and check with local officials about heating and cooling locations. Also, a severe storm might disrupt GPS, so it's best to have a written record and directions to important locations, like hospitals.

Also all signs point to an incredible light show for northern US states on Friday night, potentially reaching as far south as New York and Pennsylvania, Young said.

• US home prices have soared 47% so far this decade.
• The price surge has outpaced the gains seen in the 1990s and 2010s, and is nearly ahead of the 2000s.
• The rising value of homes has coincided with a millennial-fueled demand surge and years of low mortgage rates.

US home prices have soared 47.1% so far this decade, according to a ResiClub analysis of the Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

The massive price gains seen in the first four years of the 2020s have eclipsed all of the growth seen in the 1990s and 2010s, according to the analysis. Housing prices in those two decades grew 30.1% and 44.7%, respectively.

On top of that, housing price growth in the 2020s is on the verge of eclipsing all of the growth seen in the 2000s, which was 47.3% after peaking at just over 80% before the 2007 housing market crash. 

This decade's strong home-price gains have been driven by an initial buyers' frenzy at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. That led to a rapid 12-month price appreciation of about 20%.

Since then, price growth has decelerated considerably, though an ongoing surge in demand from millennial home buyers has steadily pushed home prices higher. Even with mortgage rates at around 7% — more than double their COVID-era lows — US home prices are still on the rise, signaling just how much demand there is and how little supply is available.

The median US home sale price hit $420,800 in the first quarter of the year, well above the $327,100 price at the start of the decade. The median home price sold in the US was $219,000 at the start of the 2010s, $165,300 at the start of the 2000s, and just $124,800 at the start of the 1990s, according to data from the St. Louis Fed.

Housing price growth in the first 50 months of this decade has notched a faster pace than the same timeframe in all of the last three decades, according to ResiClub co-founder Lance Lambert. 

• Red Lobster is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy.
• The seafood chain's troubles include failed all-you-can-eat snow crab and shrimp promotions.
• Despite its current status, Red Lobster was once a pioneer in the casual-dining industry.

Red Lobster may finally be considering filing for bankruptcy after years of financial and executive-level turmoil.

The seafood chain, which has been operating for about 56 years, has weathered its fair share of storms, from a bungled snow-crab promotion that tanked the company's stocks to the recent fallout from its daily all-you-can-eat-shrimp promotion.

However, Red Lobster wasn't always on the hook. As a pioneer in the chain-restaurant industry, Red Lobster became famous for its casual dining atmosphere and fan-favorite dishes like its Cheddar Bay Biscuits and fried shrimp.

Here's the rise and fall of Red Lobster through the years. Red Lobster did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

1968: The first Red Lobster opened in Lakeland, Florida.

Bill Darden opened the first Red Lobster restaurant in Lakeland, Florida (not pictured). He would later go on to launch Olive Garden, too.

At the time, there was a gap in the market for affordable seafood, especially in landlocked areas like Lakeland. Red Lobster's mission was to serve "delicious, high-quality seafood" to the masses, according to the restaurant's website.

"In most of middle America, you couldn't get decent seafood. Red Lobster brought it to the masses," Jonathan Maze, the editor in chief at Restaurant Business, told CNN. "Red Lobster was part of this casual dining revolution."

The restaurant's more relaxed environment and family-friendly prices cemented Red Lobster as one of the first casual-dining concepts.

1970: General Mills acquired Red Lobster and the business expanded across the country.

It was General Mills' first venture into the restaurant industry, according to the company's website.

General Mills put resources into the chain, allowing it to expand coast to coast and transforming the business into one of the first nationwide seafood-restaurant chains.

By 1978, Red Lobster had expanded to 236 restaurants and had made a total of $291 million in sales, CNN reported. By 1985, Red Lobster had expanded to almost 400 locations and $834 million in sales.

1980-1995: Red Lobster introduced iconic menu items like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits and held its first Lobsterfest.

In 1984, the company held its first Lobsterfest. The annual event celebrates lobster by releasing new and limited-time-only dishes.

Then in 1992, Cheddar Bay Biscuits, which remain one of the restaurant's most beloved items, were first released. Initially called "freshly baked, hot cheese garlic bread," they were served to people waiting for their tables in the restaurants' lobbies, per Red Lobster. But after a positive response, Red Lobster decided to serve them table-side instead, and five years after their launch, they were renamed Cheddar Bay Biscuits. In 2017, the restaurant reported that staff baked nearly 1 million biscuits every day.

Red Lobster founder Bill Darden died on March 29, 1994, at the age of 75. In 1995, after Darden's passing, General Mills restructured its restaurant division and changed its name to Darden Restaurants, Inc.

Red Lobster remained under the Darden Restaurants umbrella for almost 20 years.

2000-2003: Red Lobster continued to grow steadily through the early 2000s.

In December 2001, Darden Restaurants reported in a press release that Red Lobster had had "its 16th consecutive quarter of same-restaurant sales gains." Red Lobster made $534.9 million in sales for the quarter, an increase over the previous year, the company said.

"Red Lobster and Olive Garden enjoyed same-restaurant sales growth that once again surpassed the casual dining industry average," Joe R. Lee, then Darden Restaurants' CEO and chairman, said in the press release.

The restaurant chain was steadily adding restaurants and experimenting with promotional deals to bring value-minded customers through the doors.

2003: Red Lobster introduced its infamous Endless Snow Crab promotion.

In the summer of 2003, Red Lobster introduced its Endless Snow Crab promotion, which offered customers all-you-can-eat snow crab for $22.99.

But the promotion worked a little too well. Customers took advantage of the deal by ordering heaps of snow crab, and restaurants couldn't keep up.

Endless Snow Crab cost the company a reported $3.3 million in profits and the chain's then-president, Edna Morris, stepped down as a result. The New York Post also reported in 2003 that the bungled promotion cost Red Lobster a whopping $405.9 million of stock value in a single session after investors began rapidly selling off their shares.

The deal ended up being what Restaurant Business called "one of the biggest marketing blunders in industry history."

2004: The chain tried again with Endless Shrimp.

The shrimp deal, a much more affordable option at the time for restaurants to make all-you-can-eat, was a hit with customers and reinvigorated the brand.

The brand also made updates to its restaurants. Wood-fired grills were added to Red Lobster locations nationwide, and restaurant designs changed, inspired by the "historic fishing village of Bar Harbor, Maine," the restaurant said on its website.

2008: The economic downturn impacted fast-casual restaurants, and Red Lobster floundered.

The Great Recession majorly impacted the restaurant industry, and casual-dining brands took the brunt as people cut back on luxuries like dining out. Nationwide food-and-beverage chains like Bennigan's were forced to shutter, and others, like Starbucks, closed hundreds of locations, CBS News reported in 2008.

Restaurant Business reported that, after the Great Recession, Red Lobster was also struggling to make a comeback, putting pressure on Darden to turn away from the brand and focus on other restaurant concepts.

CNN reported that by 2008, Olive Garden's sales were outperforming Red Lobster's, and Darden was diversifying its portfolio of restaurants with fast-growing chains like Longhorn Steakhouse, Capital Grille, and Yard House.

Red Lobster was no longer Darden's darling.

2014: Darden Restaurants sold the brand.

In 2014, Darden sold the chain to Golden Gate Capital for $2.1 billion. At the time, the firm called Red Lobster "an exceptionally strong brand" with plenty of opportunities for growth.

On Red Lobster's website, the move was heralded as "charting a new course as an independent company."

To finance the deal, Golden Gate sold off Red Lobster's real-estate holdings to a separate company, meaning that Red Lobster would now be leasing its restaurants. Over time, this has proven costly for the brand.

2016: Thai Union Group, one of the chain's biggest shrimp suppliers, took over a minority stake in the brand.

CNN reported that Thai Union took a $575 million minority stake in the brand, and made efforts to become the main seafood supplier to Red Lobster and cut restaurant costs to increase profits.

However, many of the changes were begrudged by Red Lobster employees.

An anonymous former Red Lobster executive told CNN that Thai Union changed Red Lobster menus based on "cost-cutting decisions" and "executive opinion," rather than customer preferences.

Servers were also reportedly instructed to cover 10 tables per service instead of three in an effort to save on labor costs.

2020: Red Lobster leaned into to-go service amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Restaurants lost billions in sales in March 2020 alone, and two-thirds of people reported cutting back on fast-casual dining visits that month, Business Insider reported at the time.

Subsequently, restaurants and fast-food chains made major changes during the pandemic to drive business. Red Lobster was no different and began embracing pandemic-era initiatives like curbside pickup and to-go ordering.

Also in 2020, Thai Union assumed the majority ownership of Red Lobster after Golden Gate Capital announced its plans to sell its remaining equity stake in the chain.

2021-2022: Under new management, there was a period of unrest at Red Lobster, with multiple new executives leaving their roles.

Between 2021 and 2022, Red Lobster welcomed new executives into key executive positions, including CEO, chief marketing officer, chief financial officer, and chief information officer.

However, all of them departed from the company within a span of two years, CNN reported.

2023: Red Lobster expanded its Endless Shrimp to become a daily promotion, but it was a disaster.

In January 2023, Restaurant Business reported that Red Lobster had closed eight restaurants in the span of a few months as part of a routine review of restaurant performance. However, the worst was yet to come.

Initially a one-day-a-week deal for $20, Endless Shrimp became a daily promotion in summer 2023 to attract more customers as Red Lobster struggled to keep up with a changing industry.

However, inflation and the rising cost of seafood created rough seas for the chain. In 2023, Red Lobster raised the price of Endless Shrimp twice, eventually landing at $25 to cope with demand and improve profits.

Despite the increased price, the all-you-can-eat strategy backfired. The chain reported operating losses of $11 million and $12.5 million in the two quarters following the initial daily endless shrimp promotion launch.

In 2024, the deal is only available on Mondays.

However, Endless Shrimp isn't the sole cause of Red Lobster's demise, Business Insider's Emily Stewart wrote in an analysis of the chain's struggles over the years.

Changing tastes are also a major issue.

The seafood restaurant industry faces significant challenges in the US, Darren Tristano, the CEO and founder of Foodservice Results, a food-industry consultancy, told BI.

Many customers in the mood for seafood are more likely to seek it out at a steakhouse, rather than a seafood-specific restaurant or chain like Red Lobster.

"If anything, the Endless Shrimp deals are probably as much a symbol of just either desperation or poor management or both," Jonathan Maze told BI.

January 2024: Thai Union announced its plans to exit Red Lobster amid significant financial headwinds.

"The combination of the Covid-19 pandemic, sustained industry headwinds, higher interest rates, and rising material and labor costs have impacted Red Lobster, resulting in prolonged negative financial contributions to Thai Union and its shareholders," Thiraphong Chansiri, Thai Union Group's CEO, said in a statement.

"After detailed analysis, we have determined that Red Lobster's ongoing financial requirements no longer align with our capital allocation priorities, and therefore are pursuing an exit of our minority investment," he continued.

John Gordon, a restaurant analyst in San Diego, told BI, "They [Thai Union] were totally unprepared to hold a casual-dining restaurant."

April 2024: Reports emerged that Red Lobster is considering filing for bankruptcy.

Bloomberg reported that Red Lobster may now be considering a bankruptcy filing.

According to sources familiar with the situation who spoke to Bloomberg, opting for bankruptcy would enable Red Lobster to sustain its operations while reducing debts and expenses.

The report also indicated that Red Lobster was receiving legal guidance from the law firm King & Spalding, who didn't respond to Bloomberg's requests for comment.

Representatives for Red Lobster didn't respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

• Netflix is reportedly nearing a deal to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day.
• That's a big pivot for a company that always said it didn't want to have sports on the service.
• But the change makes sense: The reason to show sports is to sell ads. Netflix didn't use to be in the ad business — but now it is.

Netflix spent years telling everyone it had no interest in streaming sports.

But that was then. Now Netflix looks like it is close to a deal to stream two NFL games on Christmas Day, reports Puck's John Ourand, citing "a bevy of sources."

If that happens, it will mean the streamer would have exclusive access to the biggest sport in America, on a day when many Americans are dying to watch sports.

That's quite a move from a company that used to patiently explain, over and over, why having live sports didn't make any sense for them.

Ourand has plenty of caveats in his report about the deal not being done, along with more significant to-be-sures: "Netflix has a lot more questions than answers right now about its Christmas plan, from who will produce the games to how much it will pay."

Does that mean Netflix doesn't know how much it will pay for the games? Or that Ourand doesn't know how much Netflix will pay? Those are two very different ideas. Still, Ourand is a well-sourced, longtime sports rights pro, so his story is definitely worth taking seriously.

I took a quick spin through media sources Friday morning, and couldn't confirm the story myself, though some industry folks said they'd heard similar. The NFL declined to comment; Netflix didn't respond to a request for comment.

If the deal does happen, it will be easy to step back and see how Netflix got there.

In an earlier version of Netflix, the company's argument was that live sports didn't make much sense for Netflix, since Netflix was an on-demand service that didn't have ads, and the main reason networks paid huge premiums for live sports programming was that it was the one way to gather big TV audiences — where you could show them ads.

Then Netflix started to morph. First it found success showing sports-adjacent content, like the F1 "Drive to Survive" reality series. Much more important was a major pivot in 2022, when the company said it would start offering an ad-supported version of the service. At the same time, it started experimenting with live, one-off programming, like comedy specials and made-up sports tournaments; that same year, it had begun quietly bidding on actual sports events.

And earlier this year, Netflix got really, really close to actual sports programming by making a $5 billion deal to show pro wrestling worldwide. All of which makes a big deal, actual sports package now seem inevitable, instead of out of character.

Is this one actually going to happen? We may only have to wait a few days to find out. The NFL now plans on releasing details about its upcoming schedule on May 15 — which also happens to be the day Netflix will host its "upfront" event in New York, catered to advertisers. Maybe that's a coincidence. Maybe it's not, at all.

• A nonprofit that's gifted Columbia $86 million pulled funding last month, the NYT reports.
• Unlike outspoken billionaires, the Berrie Foundation exerted influence behind the scenes.
• Columbia said the move wouldn't impact patients at a diabetes lab and treatment center.

Yet another Columbia University mega-donor yanked funding from the school — this time behind the scenes.

The New York Times reports the Russell Berrie Foundation — named for the gift-and-greeting-card entrepreneur — suspended giving on April 26 in a move that cost Columbia tens of millions of dollars.

It stopped donations as protests surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raged across Columbia and other US college campuses.

A Columbia spokesperson told Business Insider it was grateful for the Berrie Foundation's "support of innumerable and impactful diabetes initiatives throughout the years," and was "committed to sustained, concrete action to make Columbia a community where antisemitism has no place and Jewish students feel safe."

The Berrie Foundation primarily gives to diabetes and Israel-related causes, according to its website.

The nonprofit has given $86 million to Columbia over more than two decades, according to the Times, underwriting both the Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion and Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center.

A university official told BI it does not anticipate disruption to patient care, and that president Minouche Shafik has been in communication with the foundation.

Unlike super-donors Patriots owner Robert Kraft and billionaire investor Leon Cooperman, who have made their opinions on the protests known, the Berrie Foundation has been waging its influence quietly, according to the Times.

This has included emails to school president Shafik and a meeting with her last November.

Angelica Berrie, the wife of the foundation's late founder, who serves as the president of its board, called the decision to pull funding "painful," the Times reported.

"We will watch and see whether their actions actually rectify the situation," she told the Times.

The Berrie Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• Tesla's new update enables a hands-free trunk that opens when you stand behind it.
• The feature works on Model S and Model X made in 2021 and after, and the upgraded Model 3.
• Other changes include access to Zoom video calls using the interior cabin camera and a trip progress bar.

Tesla owners will now be able to load their cars with a bit more ease.

The EV giant released a series of updates on Friday, according to Not a Tesla App and it includes a hands-free automatic trunk that opens when you stand behind it.

Tesla's account on X, formerly Twitter, posted a video of the new feature in action on Thursday. The video shows a woman in a parking lot walking with a massive teddy bear. After a few seconds of the woman standing behind it, viewers can hear three chimes before the trunk opens.

The trunk software update works on the Model S and Model X made in 2021 and after, and the upgraded Model 3.

With the software update, if you stand behind the trunk with the Phone Key unobstructed, you'll hear chimes, and then your trunk will automatically open, according to the release notes.

Tesla owners must enable the feature in vehicle settings and ensure that phone settings allow for nearby interactions for the Tesla app.

So far, the update is only available to iPhone 11+ users with the Tesla app 4.3.0+. However, a future update will extend the feature to Android users, according to Not a Tesla App.

Another change in the software update allows owners to attend Zoom video calls from the car using the interior cabin camera. While you can only use the video feature if you're parked, you can still use the app with audio only during driving mode.

Tesla owners can also monitor their trip progress in a bar on their display screen, and preview a clip of the Sentry Mode recording on their phone if the alarm vehicle is triggered.

• Declining foot traffic and rising e-commerce have led thousands of stores to permanently close.
• Former household names like Borders, Circuit City, and Blockbuster are now just retail history.
• Here are 49 once-beloved stores that no longer have a meaningful brick-and-mortar presence.

Brick-and-mortar retail is a tough business.

One day, your favorite brand can be riding high and enjoying strong sales from loyal customers, while the next it's fighting for survival and fending off creditors.

The only constant is change, especially as emerging trends, shopping patterns, and e-commerce players take larger pieces of the pie.

Here's a look back at some of the retail brands whose stores once greeted thousands of people each day, but are now consigned to retail's history books — or exist only online or as a tiny fraction of what they once were.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster got its start in 1985, and acquired the Sound Warehouse and Music Plus music chains to create Blockbuster Music in 1992. The music division was sold to Wherehouse Entertainment in 1998 before closing for good, but there remains one single Blockbuster video rental store in Bend, Oregon.

Thom McAn

Thom McAn was a chain of shoe stores that peaked in the 1960's and closed up shop by 1996. The brand's shoes continued to be available at Sears and Kmart.

Kinney Shoes

First opened in 1894, Kinney Shoes had 467 stores at its peak, all of which shuttered in 1998.

Warner Bros. Studio Store

Warner Bros. Studio Store competed with the Disney store until the company closed all of its locations in 2001.

Zany Brainy

Zany Brainy filed for bankruptcy in 2001 and closed all locations in 2003. The educational toy retailer's founder, David Schlessinger, co-founded the discount company Five Below.

Ames Department Store

Debt and poor sales forced Ames Department Store into bankruptcy twice., and in 2002, the remaining Ames stores closed.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, its parent company, Toys R Us, had closed them all.

Imaginarium was an educational toy store in the 1980s. Stores started closing in the 1990s, and by 2003, parent company Toys R Us closed all remaining locations.

Hecht's Department Store

Hecht's was purchased by Macy's in 2005 and all locations were either turned into Macy's stores or closed.

Marshall Fields

Federated Department Stores bought Marshall Fields in 2005 and converted the stores to the company's more recognizable flagship brand, Macy's.

Gadzooks

Gadzooks was a teen clothing store that was around from 1983 to 2005. It filed for bankruptcy in its final year and was purchased by Forever 21, which then closed all of the stores.

Kaufmann's

In 2006, Macy's retired the Kaufmann's name, and the brand disappeared.

Tower Records

Tower Records couldn't keep up with the rise of digital music, and all stores in the US were closed in 2006.

Media Play

Media Play was a big box store selling books, movies, software, toys and video games. It closed for good in 2006.

Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel's 103 stand-alone stores closed in 2007.

KB Toys

KB Toys announced it would be going out of business in 2008, and by early 2009 all locations were closed.

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy in 2008. But the company still sells merchandise through its website, catalog, and third-party retail partners.

Sharper Image declared bankruptcy and wound down its physical retail operation in 2008.

Levitz Furniture

Levitz Furniture declared bankruptcy twice — first in 1997, and then in 2005. It closed all of its stores in 2008.

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed. The company still does business online.

Linens 'n Things had over 500 stores in 2006, but by the end of 2008, they were all closed.

Mervyn's

Mervyn's once had almost 200 locations in the western US. In 2008, the company declared bankruptcy and closed all of its stores.

Limited Too

Limited Too's success began dwindling in the early 2000s, and all stores were eventually rebranded as Justice by 2008.

Tweeter

Tweeter filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and all of its stores were closed by the end of the year.

Circuit City

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and shuttered all stores the following Spring.

Steve & Barry's

Steve & Barry's filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and closed all of its stores in 2009.

Filene's and Filene's Basement

Filene's Basement's parent company went bankrupt in 2009, and by 2011 all of its stores were closed.

B. Dalton Books

B. Dalton was acquired by Barnes & Noble in 1987, which officially closed the bookstore in January 2010, except for a single location in Oviedo, Florida.

Waldenbooks

Waldenbooks merged with Borders in 1994, and all Waldenbooks stores closed when Borders Group liquidated in 2011.

Borders Books & Music

Borders Books & Music stores closed shortly after the company was forced to liquidate in 2011.

CompUSA

CompUSA started in 1984, but by 2007, Best Buy and other superstores had taken over, and the last CompUSA closed in 2012.

Sam Goody

Sam Goody music stores suffered from the rise of digital media, and most Sam Goody stores were either ultimately shuttered or converted into other brands like FYE by 2012. Two locations remain: one in Clairsville, Ohio, and one in Medford, Oregon.

A&P

A&P filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010 and again in 2015, closing its stores that year.

 

Sports Authority

Competition drove Sports Authority into bankruptcy in 2016, when it closed all its stores and sold its website to Dick's Sporting Goods.

Sport Chalet

Sport Chalet, which first opened in 1959, abruptly closed all of its stores in 2016.

Wet Seal

Wet Seal, a teen clothing store, filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and closed for good in 2017.

Virgin Megastores

Virgin Megastores stopped operating in the US in 2017, but the brand continues online and in select international markets.

The Limited

The Limited abruptly shut down all of its stores in 2017, and the brand is now sold exclusively through Belk.

Teavana's 379 locations were closed by its parent company, Starbucks. in 2018.

Starbucks closed Teavana's 379 locations in 2018.

Bon-Ton Stores

The Bon-Ton stores included its namesake brand, as well as Bergner's, Boston Store, Elder-Beerman, and Younkers.

Toys R Us

Toys R Us and its subsidiaries closed in 2018, but in 2021 Macy's announced that it would open Toys R Us sections in hundreds of its stores, while Babies R Us is opening within Kohl's stores across the US.

Henri Bendel

After 123 years of business, luxury retailer Henri Bendel closed all of its stores in 2019.

Dress Barn

Dress Barn shut down in 2019 after 50 years in business.

Papyrus

At its peak in 2009, Papyrus had 500 stores across the US and Canada, but the company ultimately filed for bankruptcy and closed its 254 stores in 2020.

Lord & Taylor

Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy in 2020, leading to the closure of its 38 stores. An attempt at reviving the brand as a "digital collective" was unsuccessful.

Century 21

Century 21 closed its 13 locations after going bankrupt in 2020. The company reopened its New York flagship store in 2023 with a greater focus on e-commerce.

Olympia Sports

After a slow decline and a tumultuous stint with private equity owners, Maine-based Olympia Sports shut down its remaining stores in 2022.

Bed Bath & Beyond

Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy and closed its 896 remaining stores in 2023, though the brand was sold and relaunched online.

Tuesday Morning

The Dallas-based home goods company shut down all of its stores in 2023 after it had only planned to close half of its stores amid bankruptcy proceedings.

Christmas Tree Shops

The Massachusetts-based seasonal specialty retailer filed for bankruptcy in 2023, winding down the remaining 72 locations across 20 states.

Moosejaw

Just months after buying Moosejaw from Walmart, Dick's Sporting Goods closed most of the brand's locations and formed one team that would handle both the Public Lands and Moosejaw brands moving forward. Only three Moosejaw locations remain open.

Foxtrot

Chicago-based Foxtrot abruptly shuttered its 33 locations in April 2024 after it came up $35 million short of its 2023 sales goal.

• Interest rates on federal student loans are increasing for the upcoming school year.
• Based on the latest Treasury auction, borrowers are set to see the highest rates in over a decade.
• The rates are fixed, so they will only apply to borrowers taking out new loans this fall.

New student-loan borrowers are set to see the highest interest rates in over a decade.

Wednesday's Treasury auction dictated the new interest rates for federal student loans from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025 — and they're set to increase significantly for borrowers taking out new loans for the upcoming school year.

According to calculations based on the Treasury auction, these are the interest rates for federal student loans in the 2024-2025 academic school year:

• Undergraduate direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans: 6.53%, up from 5.50%
• Graduate and professional direct unsubsidized loans: 8.08%, up from 7.05%
• Graduate and parent PLUS loans: 9.08%, up from 8.05%.

Interest rates on student loans are fixed, and borrowers will pay the interest rate that was in place the year their loan originated for the duration of their repayment period. So, even if interest rates on student loans are increasing, borrowers who took out loans in years when the rates were lower will still pay the lower interest rate.

However, the high rates for the upcoming school year will likely make student loans more difficult for borrowers to pay off. As Business Insider has previously reported, interest is a primary reason many borrowers have seen their balances surge — if a borrower falls behind on payments or has to enter forbearance, interest continues to accumulate, which could make it difficult for borrowers to even touch their principal balance.

These rate increases are a response to economic conditions in the US. Starting in March 2022, the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates 11 consecutive times before pausing in September to help inflation reach the 2% target. The central bank could cut interest rates later this year, though, meaning rates for federal student loans have a chance of decreasing next year.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has emphasized, though, that he's not yet confident about cutting rates this year and it'll take more economic data to show the economy is moving in the right direction.

But for now, new borrowers should be aware of the costs that accompany their debt. President Joe Biden's Education Department has made some efforts to address surging interest — for example, its new SAVE income-driven repayment plan has a provision that would eliminate remaining interest on balances if a borrower stays consistent on their monthly payments.

Additionally, Biden's new student-debt relief plan, which is in its public comment period, aims to cancel up to $20,000 in unpaid interest for borrowers. The Education Department plans to begin implementation this fall, but the election — and likely legal challenges — could push back that timeline.

• When I started college, my mother enrolled, too; she was 42 years old.
• She always wanted to be a teacher, so she studied hard while raising her three other children. 
• When she graduated and became a teacher, she became the woman I always knew she could be.

The year I went to college, my mother did too.

She enrolled at 42 years old after having three children. Some days, she questioned what she was doing in a classroom of kids my age. But my mother graduated at the top of her class with a degree in English and was named the recipient of a prestigious award.

After that, my mother became a teacher and morphed into a woman I'd seen glimpses of over the years — one buried beneath the expectation of sacrificing her own ambition for everyone else's.

Watching my mother chase her dreams and fight the odds has inspired me to this day.

For most of her life, my mother followed tradition

My mother met my father during her freshman year of college. When he transferred schools to be closer to home, my mom left with him. My grandparents encouraged her to go to a secretarial school. It would be a good job until she had a family — her real purpose in life, they led her to believe.

Three months after my father graduated, my parents got married. A year later, they had me. When I was 15 months old, my brother arrived. Two years after that, I got another brother.

My dad worked nights and weekends, coaching and umpiring to subsidize his teaching salary. My mother spent most of her time alone — well, as alone as you can be raising kids. She cooked, cleaned, grocery shopped, mopped the floor on her hands and knees, and broke up fights between my brothers.

Though my dad was a math teacher, my mother knew how to make numbers work. She sat at the dining room table with a stack of bills in her bathrobe and a mug of black coffee. For hours, she manipulated numbers that didn't quite add up, making sure the utilities were paid but also that my brothers' hockey camps and an Esprit sweatshirt for my birthday were too.

Creativity kept her alive — most of the time, late at night. She made a three-dimensional Wonder Woman birthday cake and a World Wrestling boxing ring out of toothpicks. Her sewing machine hummed while she stitched Halloween costume requests: Strawberry Shortcake, a pirate, clown, princess, Raggedy Ann, and a ninja.

When I was in junior high, my mother started doing day care in our home. My sister was a newborn, and my mother could stay home with her and also be around when my brothers and I got home from school. She loved her day care kids but not being in the house all the time.

For years, family members and friends told my mother she'd be an amazing teacher. She was quick to dismiss the thought. Who'd do the laundry? The pick-ups? She was too old, she thought, and missed her chance. Fear crept in. What if she failed? Yet the alternative to not pursuing her dream scared her more.

She finally decided to chase her dreams

While my mother typed my college applications, she was also typing her own — in secret. We both applied to English programs and received merit money. I chose a college in a bordering state. My mother chose an in-state school 20 minutes from home. We registered for classes. My mother was mindful of her kids' schedules; I was mindful that I wanted breaks during the day.

A month into my freshman year, my father said, "You know your mother is taking classes, too." At the end of our first semester, he bragged about my mother's 4.0. She hushed him, but I was in awe.

I complained about big exams and papers, and had endless hours of free time. My mother had three kids at home — one of whom was only 5. If she was overwhelmed, she didn't let on. My father pitched in and folded laundry while he watched the Red Sox, but my mother continued to run point on paying the bills, organizing five schedules, and planning princess birthday parties.

On my mother's college graduation day — a week after my own — her summa cum laude tassel waved to us as she walked across the stage to accept her diploma. I'd never seen her so happy, so proud of herself. A new version of my mother left the auditorium.

She became the woman I always knew she could be

My mother took a position teaching middle school English. After school, she helped students catch up on work and graded piles of papers. She felt seen and appreciated, something she didn't when she stayed home with us.

We ate frozen pizza when she got home late from school, and she gushed about her students and colleagues. "Everyone is so great!" she said. "I wish I'd done this years ago."

After catering to everyone else's needs for years, my mother gave herself permission to do the same. The move was bold. It made me respect her that much more. Her best friend told me recently, "I always wanted to be a nurse. I wish I had been brave like your mom."

We all won when my mother pursued her dream of teaching. She laughed more, hugged us tighter, and embraced store-bought birthday cakes. She loved being a teacher and loved being a mom. Her victory was finding a way she could be both.