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With the last weekend before Christmas upon us, the holiday travel period has begun. This year, the American Automobile Association (AAA) says a record number of Americans will be making journeys122.4 million of them in total. While millions of those journeys will be made by plane or other forms of public transportation, the overwhelming majority109.5 millionwill be made by car. If youre one of those making your Christmas trip by car, here are the best and worst times to hit the road over the holiday travel period, which AAA defines as running from December 20 to January 1. Best times to hit the roads The 2025 holiday period spans 13 days this year, running from Saturday, December 20, 2025, to Thursday, January 1, 2026. The good news is that for four of those daysChristmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Dayroad traffic is expected to be minimal. Unfortunately, on the other nine days, traffic could become quite congested as people take to the roads to get to or come back from their holiday destinations. However, even on busy days, there are specific times of day when congestion is expected to be lighter. Here are the best times, according to information compiled by AAA from transportation data and insights provider INRIX: Saturday, December 20: After 9 p.m. Sunday, December 21: Before 11 a.m. Monday, December 22: Before 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 23: Before 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 24: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Thursday, December 25: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Friday, December 26: Before 11 a.m. Saturday, December 27: Before 11 a.m. Sunday, December 28: Before 11 a.m. Monday, December 29: Before 10 a.m. Tuesday, December 30: Before 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 31: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Thursday, January 1: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Worst times to hit the roads Now for the bad news: INRIXs data shows that on most days during the travel period, roads are likely to be congested for most of the 24 hours. Some of the busiest days are expected to be this weekend, as people set off on their holiday journeys, and December 26, when they begin returning. Here are the worst times to be on the road during the holiday travel period, according to AAA and INRIX: Saturday, December 20: 12:00 PM 8:00 PM Sunday, December 21: 1:00 PM 7:00 PM Monday, December 22: 1:00 PM 7:00 PM Tuesday, December 23: 1:00 PM 7:00 PM Wednesday, December 24: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Thursday, December 25: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Friday, December 26: 11:00 AM 8:00 PM Saturday, December 27: 11:00 AM 8:00 PM Sunday, December 28: 11:00 AM 8:00 PM Monday, December 29: 12:00 PM 8:00 PM Tuesday, December 30: 12:00 PM 7:00 PM Wednesday, December 31: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected Thursday, January 1: Minimal Traffic Impact Expected A record 122.4 million people will travel this holiday period A staggering 122.4 million people in America are expected to travel over the 13-day holiday period. Thats a record, according to AAA. To put that number in perspective, itt 2.2% more than the 119.7 million travelers last year, and 2.8% more than the 119.3 million who traveled in 2019, the year before the pandemic. When looking at automobile travel by itself, 109.5 million are expected to make the journey by car this year, a 2% increase from the 107.4 million car journeys last year and a 1.4% increase from the 108 million auto journeys in 2019. But cars arent the only mode people will be traveling by. AAA says air passengers will hit 8.03 million this holiday period. Thats up 2.3% from the 7.85 million who took to the skies last year, and 12% more than the 7.33 million who made car journeys in the 2019 holiday period. Finally, AAA says 4.9 million Americans are expected to make this years holiday journeys by bus, train, or cruise. Thats up 9% from the 4.49 million who did so in 2024, and up a whopping 24.9% from the 3.89 million who made similar journeys in the 2019 holiday period.
Category:
E-Commerce
Few brands have been more associated with the fast-fashion boom of the last two decades than Zara, the flagship apparel chain owned by Spanish clothing giant Inditex SA. It may surprise some consumers to learn, then, that Zara has in fact reduced its global footprint over the last few years since the pandemic. The brands decline in physical storefronts has been moderate but meaningful, from a third-quarter peak of around 2,139 stores in 2019 to just under 1,800 stores five years later, according to earnings statements from Inditex. Thats a reduction of 16%. Now, thanks to new accounting metrics from the company, weve learned that Zaras physical footprint is even smaller than we thought. Earlier this year, Inditex began breaking out store count numbers for Lefties, its discount chain. Lefties is small but growing. According to earnings data posted earlier this month, the chain had 213 global locations as of the third quarter of 2025, up from 203 locations from the same period last year. What’s more, Lefties stores had previously been counted as Zara stores in Inditex earnings reports, a spokesperson confirmed with Fast Company. That means Zara’s reported store count is now lower than it had been in earlier filings: Under the new metrics, it had just 1,528 stores as of October 31. Amaya Guillermo, who heads corporate communications for Zara USA, says the decline reflects a shift toward Inditex’s “optimization plan,” which began several years ago. “Under this strategy, smaller stores have been absorbed into larger, upgraded locations,” Guillermo said. “Creating distinctive retail spaces allows us to enhance the customer experience by incorporating the latest in-store technologies, including assisted checkouts, among many other features.” Guillermo further points out that while Inditex has fewer stores, its commercial space grew by 2% as of 2024, with sales up almost 5.9% that same year. Inditex’s stock price reflects the appeal of its more-with-less strategy among investors. Madrid-listed shares of the group have more than doubled over the last five years. window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r,i=0;r=e[i];i++)if(r.contentWindow===a.source){var d=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";r.style.height=d}}}); Where have Zara locations closed? Inditex breaks down Zara location counts by country in its annual reports each year. Comparing 2024 figures to 2017 reveals some interesting trends. The brand’s store count has declined in many of its core European markets, including its home country of Spain, where it reported 256 stores in 2024 compared to 306 in 2017. It has also seen declines in France, Germany, Italy, and elsewhere in Europe. Perhaps the most dramatic decline has been China, where Inditex reported just 73 Zara stores in 2024, compared to 183 in 2017. Zara’s store count has also grown in some markets over that same period, including the United States, where it reported 98 stores as of last year versus 87 in 2017. According to Guillermo, the United States remains a key market for Zara, with recent openings at the Las Vegas Forum Shops at Caesars Palace and in Charlotte, North Carolina. Could Lefties be the new Zara? Lefties is not new, but Inditex clearly sees the fast-growing chain as vital to a future. The brand began in the 1990s as an outlet for Zara “leftovers”hence the namebut it has become more popular and more important to Inditex’s portfolio as consumers have grown increasingly price conscious. With Gen Z shoppers flocking to ultra-cheap online platforms like Shein, Lefties has been called Inditex’s “secret weapon.” While store counts for Lefties are now broken out separately, sales are still reported as part of Zara’s overall sales. As of now, the Lefties chain operates in 18 countries, mostly in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Expect that number to grow in the years ahead.
Category:
E-Commerce
TikTok has signed agreements with three major investors Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form a new TikTok U.S. joint venture, ensuring the popular social video platform can continue operating in the United States.The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22, according to an internal memo seen by The Associated Press. In the communication, CEO Shou Zi Chew confirmed to employees that ByteDance and TikTok signed the binding agreements with the consortium.“I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued dedication and tireless work. Your efforts keep us operating at the highest level and will ensure that TikTok continues to grow and thrive in the U.S. and around the world,” Chew wrote in the memo to employees. “With these agreements in place, our focus must stay where it’s always beenfirmly on delivering for our users, creators, businesses and the global TikTok community.”Half of the new TikTok U.S. joint venture will be owned by a group of investors among them Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX, who will each hold a 15% share. 19.9% of the new app will be held by ByteDance itself, and another 30.1% will be held by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors, according to the memo. The memo did not say who the other investors are and both TikTok and the White House declined to comment.The U.S. venture will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors, the memo said. It will also be subject to terms that “protect Americans’ data and U.S. national security.”U.S. user data will be stored locally in a system run by Oracle. The memo said U.S. users will continue “enjoying the same experience as today” and advertisers will continue to serve global audiences with no impact from the deal.TikTok’s algorithm the secret sauce that powers its addictive video feed will be retrained on U.S. user data to “ensure the content feed is free from outside manipulation,” the memo said. The U.S. venture will also oversee content moderation and policies within the country.American officials have previously warned that ByteDance’s algorithm is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.The algorithm has been a central issue in the security debate over TikTok. China previously maintained the algorithm must remain under Chinese control by law. But the U.S. regulation passed with bipartisan support said any divestment of TikTok must mean the platform cuts ties specifically the algorithm with ByteDance.The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S. if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration tries to reach an agreement for the sale of the company.Three more executive orders followed, as Trump, without a clear legal basis, continued to extend the deadline for a TikTok deal. The second was in April, when White House officials believed they were nearing a deal to spin off TikTok into a new company with U.S. ownership that fell apart after China backed out following Trump’s tariff announcement. The third came in June, then another in September, which Trump said would allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States in a way that meets national security concerns.TikTok has more than 170 million users in the U.S. About 43% of U.S. adults under the age of 30 say they regularly get news from TikTok, higher than any other social media app including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram, according to a Pew Research Center report published this fall.Shares of Oracle jumped $9.07, or 5%, to $189.10 in after-hours trading. Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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