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Do you know how many times over the last year you visited a grocery store?  I don’t either, but it feels like nearly every day, I need to drop by just to get that one thing (which turns out to be at least five more items). My experience reflects industry statistics indicating that the average U.S. household makes approximately 294 grocery trips per year (about 5.6 trips per week), a 1% increase from 2025, according to 2026 data from NielsenIQ. Despite the rise in e-commerce, physical grocery stores remain the primary channel for the vast majority of households. However, a challenging economic climate is still driving many closures in the sector. Earlier this month, major national chain Grocery Outlet closed 36 underperforming stores, following a fourth-quarter comparable sales decline. These closures are concentrated in the East Coast (Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) and West Coast (California). Grocery Outlet is not the only grocery retailer forced to optimize its operations to improve profitability. For example, Kroger is in the process of shuttering roughly 60 “unprofitable” stores over an 18-month period extending through 2026, reported TheStreet’s Kirk O’Neil. Another Lucky supermarket in San Francisco closes for good The Save Mart Companies, the parent company of popular regional supermarket chain Lucky, recently confirmed it will close its store at 1750 Fulton St. near the University of San Francisco, reported San Francisco Chronicle. The closure is set for September 11, 2026, affecting 48 employees.  “We routinely assess the performance of all of our stores to ensure they meet business standards. Through the normal course of business, we sometimes have to make the tough decision to close an underperforming location,” Save Mart’s senior director of communication and government affairs told the Chronicle.  All 48 employees at the grocery stores, including 31 multipurpose clerks and five store managers, have been notified. Some of them might be able to transfer to another store, according to the company’s letter, SFGate reported. 

A Lucky supermarket near the University of San Francisco is set to close its doors.Sundry Photography/Shutterstock

Why is Lucky closing another grocery store in San Francisco? Lucky was founded back in 1925 in San Leandro, Calif. Over the decades, the brand’s ownership changed many times, and since 2007, it has been a part of The Save Mart Companies. Currently, the chain includes about 57 stores in and around the San Francisco Bay Area, according to The Save Mart Companies’ website. More Retail:Target is making 4 big changes to win back customersLowe’s makes major change to how you interact with its stores   Amazon rival brick-and-mortar chain closing more storesDollar General makes key move Target, Walmart can’t beat “…our Associates are passionate about the diverse flavors that Californians love to make and eat. Lucky stores provide customers with great value on everyday items and has everything they need, all with a flair and diversity unique to the Bay Area,” reads the description on the official web page. In November 2025, Lucky closed its Bayview location, just three years after it opened. The closure dealt a crushing blow to a neighborhood that has historically struggled with a lack of full-size grocery stores. “This is extremely disheartening and another blow to the Bayview community,” shared District 10 Supervisor Shamann Walton in an Instagram post, as previously reported by SFGate. Now, after the Fulton Street store’s closure this fall, there will be just one Lucky in San Francisco, located at 1515 Sloat Blvd. Keene noted that the latest store closure is “based on economic factors.” “Closing a store is not a decision we take lightly, but this store has had performance issues for an extended period of time. We have worked to enhance and remodel the location, but it has not shown the sales and profit needed to continue operations. In fact, despite the best efforts of a great team, we have lost money year over year at this location,” Keene wrote in the letter. San Francisco remains a key market for retailers Despite Lucky’s struggles to remain profitable across its stores in San Francisco, the second-most densely populated American city remains an important market for retailers. In addition to the high population density, San Francisco has the second-highest median household income in the nation at $143,900, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Q4 2025 report. High average household income makes an area important for premium grocers such as Whole Foods, Bi-Rite, and high-volume value players like Trader Joe’s. With the latest closure, NoPa residents and University of San Francisco students, whose campus is just steps from Lucky’s closing Fulton St. location, will have to shop at Trader Joe’s, Target, Arguello Market, Gus’s, Whole Foods, or Bi-Rite Market, all of which are within a mile of the closing grocery store, pointed out SFGate. Moreover, retail sales in San Francisco grew 4.2% year over year as of late 2025, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s Q4 2025 report.  This suggests that San Francisco remains a major hub for retailers across industries. However, while demand shouldn’t be an issue, other challenges — such as high labor, energy, and insurance costs alongside fierce competition — play a role in declining profits for some retailers. The San Francisco energy index advanced 5% in just the two months ending in February 2026, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local shoppers express concern about Lucky’s closureGrocery chains across the United States face headwinds. In addition to fierce competition, supermarkets faced a spike in inflation after the Covid pandemic, as food-at-home inflation increased by 11.4% in 2022 and 5% in 2023, while revenue rose only 0.5% higher in 2022 year over year, before falling below 2021 levels in 2023 and 2024 and recovering in 2025, according to February data from IBISWorld.Some commenters also raised concerns about the risk of food deserts, making it harder for older people and those with lower incomes to afford trips to stores located further away. The news of Lucky’s closure reached Reddit, sparking a discussion and a series of comments expressing sadness and disappointment. “I don’t like closures that cause food deserts and impact seniors and more vulnerable people in our community,” wrote user Swimming-Squash-3573. “The neighborhood is losing the Lucky pharmacy along with the store. That is a critical one-stop shop for some people. Recently, the Fillmore lost their Safeway AND their Walgreens, surrounded by low-income senior housing. It makes it really hard for people.””This is my local store and it’s going to be absolutely devastating,” wrote user Belgand. “The only full service grocery store within walking distance is going away. Expensive? It’s definitely not as expensive as having to shop at Gus’ or Whole Foods and that’s what this closure is doing to the neighborhood.”Related: Home Depot borrows from Domino’s to fix major pain point

Pizza lovers will have a harder time finding their favorite slice, as an economic downturn in the fast-food pizza dining sector has resulted in major chain franchisees closing 100s of restaurant locations and filing for bankruptcy.The nation’s largest pizza dining chain, Domino’s Pizza, is among the pizza giants whose franchisees have filed for bankruptcy.Major pizza chain Papa John’s, which has not filed for bankruptcy, announced in its fourth-quarter earnings call that it will close 300 underperforming restaurants, including 200 by the end of 2026. The company did not reveal a deadline for closing the remaining 100.Papa John’s also said it would cut 7% of its workforce.Papa John’s closing 300 locations“We have identified approximately 300 underperforming restaurants across North America that are not meeting brand expectations or lack a clear path to sustainable financial improvement, as well as locations where we can effectively transfer sales to a nearby restaurant,” Papa John’s CFO Ravi Thanawala said in a statement. Pizza Hut, which also hasn’t filed for bankruptcy, won’t be left out of closings as the company’s parent Yum! Brands in February said that it would close 250 underperforming locations as part of its Hut Forward plan in the first half of 2026.

Domino’s Pizza franchisee files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.Shutterstock

Domino’s franchisee bankruptcy And now, Domino’s Pizza chain franchisee, North County Pizza Inc., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its restaurant businesses.The bankruptcy filing will give North County Pizza breathing room to restructure its debt and reorganize its businesses under the bankruptcy statute, as it authorizes an automatic stay of any legal actions against the company during the bankruptcy case.Closings and layoffs unknownThe debtor did not state a reason for filing for bankruptcy in the petition and has not revealed if it will close locations or lay off any employees.Restaurant franchisees have blamed fierce competition, rising labor and food costs, and high lease rates that have required companies to launch restructurings or file for bankruptcy.Domino’s holds the title of largest pizza chain in the U.S. with about 7,090 units through the third quarter of 2025, according to the “Domino’s 101: Fun facts” on the company’s website.More bankruptcies: Troubled automobile maker files Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidationMajor gambling destination files for Chapter 11 bankruptcyMajor department store brand liquidates in Chapter 11 bankruptcyThe Oceanside, Calif.-based pizza chain franchisee filed its petition on March 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of California, listing $100,000 to $1 million in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities, according to Bankruptcy Observer.North County Pizza Inc. operates 18 Domino’s Pizza locations in the San Diego area, with about 450 employees, according to RK Consultants.Debtor has Round Table franchisesThe debtor also has an undisclosed number of Round Table Pizza locations under its franchise agreements with bankrupt Fat Brands Inc., and has a specialized niche serving Southern California military bases, such as Camp Pendleton, RK Consultants reported.A group of Round Table franchisees filed a lawsuit against Fat Brands in November 2025, alleging that the company mismanaged marketing funds for the pizza restaurants by diverting $800,000 from Round Table’s marketing fund to pay for its 2022 Fat Brands Summit conference, 1851 Franchise reported. Fat Brands was able to invoke an automatic stay against all legal actions under bankruptcy rules when it filed for Chapter 11 protection on Jan. 26, 2026, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.Related: Major fried chicken franchisee closes in Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Bill McDermott did not bury the headline. Unemployment among new college graduates “could easily go into the mid-30s in the next couple of years” as AI agents take over the entry-level work that young professionals have traditionally relied on to start their careers, the CEO of ServiceNow (NOW) told CNBC on Friday, March 13.That would be a roughly six-fold jump from where things stand today. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York put the unemployment rate for recent college graduates at about 5.7% at the end of 2025. The underemployment rate was even more alarming at 42.5%, the highest level since 2020.”So much of the work is going to be done by agents,” McDermott said on “Squawk on the Street.” “So it’s going to be challenging for young people to differentiate themselves in the corporate environment.”The AI threat to entry-level work is not a distant warningMcDermott was not speaking in hypotheticals. His own company is Exhibit A. ServiceNow has already eliminated 90% of the customer service use cases that once required human workers. Businesses using the platform can maintain the same headcount while growing revenue and free cash flow simultaneously.More Employment:Apple CEO Tim Cook drops strong immigration messageLayoffs in January reach recession-era levelsAmazon delivers Seattle purge ahead of earnings”I can literally have the same headcount going out of this year as I came into this year with, expand free cash flow margin, grow my revenues by an even greater amount, and deliver more shareholder value,” McDermott said. “And I would assume a lot of CEOs watching this are saying, ‘Wow, why aren’t I doing that?'”That is the core of what makes this warning land differently than the usual tech optimism. The CEO issuing it runs a $196 billion company that profits directly from replacing human labor with software.Corporate America is already moving fast to integrate AIMcDermott’s warning arrives as real layoffs are already hitting the workforce. The pattern is consistent: Companies cite AI, cut headcount, and watch their stock go up.Block’s Jack Dorsey cut roughly 40% of his workforce in February, explicitly citing AI automation. Atlassian followed days later, cutting 1,600 employees, around 10% of its global staff, to redirect capital toward AI investment. CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes was direct: “It would be disingenuous to pretend AI doesn’t change the mix of skills we need or the number of roles required in certain areas.”Amazon has trimmed its corporate workforce. Palantir grows revenue aggressively while holding headcount flat. The playbook is spreading fast.Companies cutting headcount while citing AI in 2026Block: Cut roughly 40% of its workforce in February, with CEO Jack Dorsey citing AI automation as the primary driver.Atlassian: Cut 1,600 employees, or 10% of its staff, on March 11 to fund AI investment and enterprise sales.Amazon: Trimmed corporate workforce, with HR leadership citing AI-driven transformation.Palantir: Growing revenue aggressively while keeping headcount flat, explicitly crediting AI agents.ServiceNow: Revenue up 22% with headcount-neutral growth, having automated 90% of customer service use cases.As AI enters the workforce, entry-level roles are the first to goMcDermott was specific about which jobs are disappearing first. It is not manufacturing or manual labor. It is the white-collar entry points that business school graduates, liberal arts majors, and junior coders have historically counted on: data entry, customer support, basic analysis, IT service requests, and HR onboarding.

AI threatens white-collar jobs the most.Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images

These are the roles that used to teach new graduates how to work. The rotational programs, the analyst tracks, the support desks. Companies are now asking a blunt question: Why hire when software scales infinitely at a fixed cost?This shift is particularly brutal for new grads because those entry-level roles served a dual purpose. They generated output for the company and they built the foundational skills that employees needed to climb. Without that on-ramp, young professionals face a steeper climb into a workforce that increasingly expects experience they have no clear path to gain.”I do think it’s coming quicker than people anticipate,” McDermott told CNBC.What McDermott says young people should do to navigate AI impact on job marketThe CEO did not just drop the warning and walk away. He offered a path forward, though it requires honest reckoning with a changed landscape.His advice centers on one word: differentiate. The roles that survive are the ones requiring genuine human judgment, domain expertise that software cannot replicate, relationship skills, and the ability to build and govern the AI agents themselves.That last point matters more than most new grads realize. Companies still need people who understand how to design, deploy, and oversee AI systems. The demand for that skill set is growing fast, even as demand for the output those systems produce collapses. New grads who position themselves as AI builders rather than AI replacements are in a fundamentally different conversation with employers.Generic degrees and standard analyst paths are no longer enough on their own. The graduates who thrive in this environment will be the ones who treat AI fluency as a baseline skill, not an elective. McDermott’s message is uncomfortable but clear: The market is not waiting for anyone to catch up.Related: Anthropic finally reveals which jobs AI cannot replace

President Donald Trump has threatened to postpone a planned meeting with President Xi Jinping if China does not help to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. attacked Kharg Island while a U.A.E. trading hub was hit by drones.

Gains came for crypto and stocks as tensions around the Strait of Hormuz appeared to ease slightly, sending oil prices lower.