BUSINESS

Looking for help with today’s NYT Strands puzzle? Here’s an extra hint to help you uncover the right words, as well as all of today’s answers and Spangram.

The red-and-white striped shirts originally drew praise, until confused fans suddenly saw them on the field and on TV.

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More award-winning craft breweries are collapsing in the Craft Beer Apocalypse and permanently shutting down operations.Great American Beer Festival gold medal winner Olfactory Brewing closed its San Francisco brewery in December 2025, Berkeley, Calif., taproom in February 2026, and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation on March 4, facing unsustainable costs, according to social media posts.

Memphis Made Brewing closes its taproom, but will continue making beer and distributing.Shutterstock

Memphis Made Brewing closes facilitiesAnd now, popular craft brewer Memphis Made Brewing Company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 7, 2025, about a year after closing its original brewery location, will close its second taproom on March 29, 2026.The brewery said customers will still be able to buy Memphis Made beer around Shelby County, Tenn., for the foreseeable future, as it will continue to brew and distribute its beer, according to a Facebook post.Its restaurant at Memphis International Airport will also remain open for business, the post said.”After much consideration, we are closing our Edge District taproom,” the brewery said on its Facebook page on March 23. “Our last day will be March 29th.”The brewery, founded in 2013, thanked its customers in a Facebook post for their support.”We want to thank everyone who has come and visited us over the years,” the post said. “Whether you came in once or we saw you every week, we thank you. Being a part of a community as special as Memphis has been a true honor. Cheers.”Brewer closes original location in 2024Memphis Made Brewing closed its original brewery and taproom in July 2024 in the Midtown Cooper-Young neighborhood when its landlord wanted the space to expand his own business.The company consolidated its operations in its Downtown Memphis location, where it began brewing beer earlier in 2024. The debtor did not indicate a reason for filing for bankruptcy on social media, its website, or in its petitionMemphis Made Brewing assured its customers in a Facebook post that it would continue operating after filing for bankruptcy in August 2025, according to WREG-TV3 in Memphis.”After the reorganization process, we believe we’ll be a better brewery on the other side,” the brewery said at the time.Brewery had only Memphis taproomMemphis Made was the fourth craft brewery to open in the city and was the only one with a taproom when it launched 12 years ago, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported.The brewery expanded its distribution over the years from Tennessee to Mississippi and Missouri.The brewery’s owners hinted that they would seek a buyer for the company when they filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2025.”When Drew (Barton) and I started Memphis Made, we really wanted to help make the city’s beer scene better,” co-owner Andy Ashby said at the time of the filing, according to the Commercial Appeal.Memphis Made hopes to find a buyer “Now there are more than a dozen breweries and brewpubs in Shelby County and we like to think we contributed a small part to the growth of craft beer in this area. We look forward to finding someone to continue that legacy,” Ashby said.The continuing Craft Beer Apocalypse may have prevented the brewery from finding a buyer for its facilities.The craft brewery has won several awards over the years, including a No. 2 ranking among the nation’s best airport bars from USA Today in 2023, the Commercial Appeal said.Related: 79-year-old Home Depot rival closes hardware store, no bankruptcy

While by April most are all too eager to see the days get warmer and put the last of the winter behind them, hardened skiers and snowboarders see the start of the month as the last chance to get some time on the slopes before the season ends and ski resorts clear.With most ski resorts opening in November and closing in mid-April, the exact timing of ski season depends on the altitude and amount of snow. This year, Utah’s Park City and Deer Valley will close on March 29 while Canada’s Whistler will run the gondola to the top of the Blackcomb Mountain until April 19.Luxury Colorado resorts Aspen and Vail have both also set their closing date on April 19. Over in Europe, various resorts have already begun closing for the season with only a few high-altitude resorts in France, Italy and Switzerland set to operate until early May.Why this ski and snowboard resort should be on your travel radarFor the snow bunnies who are able to plan a trip in the next two weeks, Laax resort in the Graubünden canton of Switzerland is operating until Sunday, April 12. Mentions of the town built around the 7,425-foot Crap Sogn Gion mountain can be traced back to the 13th century but the modern ski and snowboard resort was established in 1962 when a newly-constructed cable car granted access to the top of the mountain for the first time.Related: Can Uber Snowmobile expand post-Olympics?Today, Laax is home to 30 lifts and 224 kilometers (139 miles) of interconnected ski runs. This year, it also crowned Olympic skiers Eileen Gu and Luke Harrold as the champions of the Snow League World Championship founded by American Olympian and snowboard star Shaun White.The site for the new championship was chosen because Laax is home to, at 200 meters long and seven meters deep, the largest halfpipe in the world on which professional winter athletes can perform jumps.In the fall of 2025, local Swiss municipalities Flims, Laax and Falera came together to purchase the resort for 94.5 million Swiss Francs (roughly $118 million USD) in order to keep it locally-owned rather than getting bought out by a large American corporation like Vail Resorts.

Laax is a mountain village and ski resort in the Graubünden canton of Switzerland.LAAX

Missed snow season? A summer trip to the Alps is also a good ideaThat younger and more casual community feel attracts both serious athletes and those interested in experiencing the stunning scenery of the Glarus Alps.More Travel News:Airline to launch unusual new flight to Cayman Islands from the U.S.Iranian strike hits major airport, injuries reportedUnexpected country is most luxurious travel destination for 2026U.S. government issues sudden warning on Switzerland travelAfter the ski resort closes for the season in 2026, local hotels like Rockresort, Riders Hotel and Signinahotel will start welcoming warm-weather travelers who come for the hiking, mountain biking and swimming in the crystal-blue waters of the alpine Lake Cauma.The Senda dil Dragun (“dragon’s path” in the local Romansh language native to the region) pathway connects the resort with the main village through a mile-long elevated path through the mountain forest.After arriving in Zurich, Laax is easily accessible through a 90-minute train ride to the Graubünden capital of Chur and a 40-minute local bus ride that winds through picturesque mountain towns and ends at the resort.Related: Major airline to launch new route to Sri Lanka, more flights to three U.S. cities

Duke faces UConn in Sunday’s NCAA tournament East Region final. Duke holds a six games to four edge in their head-to-head matchups. The teams haven’t played since 2014.

Guillaume Cizeron and Laurence Fournier Beaudry won ice dance gold at the 2026 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, adding to their Olympic gold in Milan-Cortina.

Gas prices keep going up, and that’s unlikely to change, unless the ongoing war in Iran ends.”The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is up 10 cents from last week and one dollar since last month,” according to data from AAA. Prices have been driven higher by the war.”Crude oil prices remain high as the Iran conflict nears the 4-week mark. The national average could reach $4/gallon in the coming days for the first time since August 2022. Gasoline demand is also on the rise as spring break season continues, another factor in rising pump prices,” the auto club added.High gas prices have a deep impact on how Americans feel about the economy.”Pretty much everyone felt worse about the economy and household finances in March as the Iran war pushed up gas prices and threatened the outlook for the future. That’s according to the University of Michigan’s survey of consumers Friday [March 29], which showed consumer sentiment dropped 6% in March from the month before to its lowest level since December,” Investopedia reported.That creates a short-term opportunity for low-cost gas providers, including Costco. The warehouse club, however, has chosen to make a longer-term bet that it can grow its memberships based on gas sales.Gas drives membership for Costco”The impact is really starting to add up when it comes to the increase in gas prices. And unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there’s necessarily going to be any slowdown just yet,” Patrick De Haan, a petroleum analyst at GasBuddy, a gas savings software company, told Investopedia.Costco, he noted, offers some relief to consumers.Some gas stations offer lower prices than others, especially those at wholesale membership clubs, such as Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s Wholesale Club,” De Haan said.Costco has used low-priced gas to drive memberships. “Generally speaking, we see about half of members that will shop at the gas station will also cross-shop at the warehouse. And obviously, as [Costco CEO] Ron [Vachris] mentioned, it is early days to know what the impact longer term might be from events in the Middle East at the moment,” CFO Gary Millerchip said during Costco’s second-quarter earnings call on March 5.For most members, Costco is not the closest gas station to their house, so they have to weigh the savings — which may include saving money shopping at the warehouse club — against the cost of driving to the store.“When prices are higher, that will tend to cause members to maybe take the extra mile that it might involve to get to the gas station because of the incremental value they see there,” Millerchip added.Related: History of Costco: Company timeline and factsCostco doubles down on gasTo grow its gas business, Costco has decided to add standalone gas stations.Costco’s first standalone gas station in the U.S. is expected to open to the public by the end of June, a spokesperson from Mission Viejo, California, the site’s location, confirmed to C-Store Dive.At least one second standalone station is scheduled to open in Honolulu in 2027, according to C-Store Dive.Costco hasn’t publicly responded on the openings.Standalone gas stations won’t drive incremental sales for the chain, but they could drive membership sales. In theory, people who live near the standalone gas stations could make up the cost of their $65 Gold membership just on gas purchases.More Costco:Costco quietly made changes to Kirkland Signature brandAs gas prices soar, Costco membership pays off moreCostco’s new energy drink delights fans, rattles competition“You save approximately 20 cents a gallon at Costco over other local vendors,” David Schwartz, who, with his wife Susan, authored “The Joy of Costco,” told CNBC. “That’s something we have seen time and time again across the country.” So, that’s $1 in savings, on average, for every five gallons of gas you buy. That means if you buy 325 gallons of gas per year, you pay for your membership in savings.

About half of Costco gas customers also enter the warehouse club.Shutterstock

Experts weigh in on Costco’s moveGlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders thinks Costco is making a smart decision, within reason.”Anyone who has been to a Costco knows that the gas station is one of the most crowded areas, often with long lines that back up into the parking lot and cause snarls. A fair proportion of visitors are there just for gas. It makes sense, therefore, to have stand-alone stations in select areas both to take the pressure off store-based sites and to give the customer more convenience,” he posted on RetailWire. He thinks the move will be additive for the chain.”This being Costco, it does not have to fear that such a move will reduce traffic to its stores: they are magnets in their own right,” he added.Brad Halverson, who has 30 years of brand marketing experience, agrees.”It’s a good strategy on two fronts — current Costco members are reminded of their benefits and why they joined, and it’s an opportunity for Costco to grow their highly profitable membership base. Potential new members doing the quick math on joining for access to gas stations is if each fill trip saves them $6-$7 over other stations, annual membership is paid for in only 10 trips,” he wrote.Scott Benedict, another RetailWire Brain Trust member who has more than 25 years of retail experience, agrees with the move.”Higher gas prices may actually amplify this advantage. When fuel prices rise, consumers become more price-sensitive and more willing to seek out lower-cost options — something that historically benefits Costco,” he posted.Related: Costco sees shift in member behavior

Trump claimed last week Iran allowed 10 oil tankers to pass through the strait as a “present” to the U.S.

Just a month after Alysa Liu claimed gold, the U.S. women came up empty-handed at the World Figure Skating Championships. Even with experienced Olympians Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, technical errors ended their medal hopes.