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TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this dealBack-to-school season is unearthing a lot of unexpected nostalgia, particularly from the Y2K era. From transparent tech to millennium-esque novelty items, people are searching for ways to add more playful designs to their wardrobes and spaces, especially in the college scene. In Macy’s college essentials section, I noticed a name that was a staple during Y2K: Juicy Couture. The name alone brought me back to the heyday of its iconic velour tracksuits, but I’ve also seen the brand’s resurgence, namely with its handbags, while shopping around in stores. Beyond its apparel and accessories, it looks like the brand’s bedding is just as popular, as the Juicy Couture Plush Throw is one of the first featured items among Macy’s back-to-school picks. Right now, you can get the throw blanket on sale for only $14. It was originally $45, but thanks to a double discount during Macy’s Big Home Sale, you can get it for 68% off. Juicy Couture Plush Throw, $14 (was $45) at Macy’s

Courtesy of Macy’s

Shop at Macy’sWhy do shoppers love it?When you want to make a statement in your bedroom, whether it’s at home or in a college dorm, a throw blanket is the best way to do it. And what better way to make a statement than with one of the most eye-catching brands from the Y2K era?This Juicy Couture throw is made of plush material that’s “soft” and “luxurious,” according to shoppers. It’s the kind of blanket that you can use as decor, draping it over your bed, your sofa, or your chair, but also use it in a practical sense for extra warmth and comfort. It comes in 22 colors and patterns, with something for everyone. There are solid hues that lean more minimal. Then, there are the bold patterns that Juicy Couture is known for, like cheetah print, crowns, and the iconic Juicy Couture logo in gothic-style font. Related: Macy’s $100 8-piece striped comforter set is on sale for $35Details to knowDimensions: 50 inches by 70 inches.Colors: 22.Material: Polyester.Macy’s shoppers said they loved the blanket, noting its designs, texture, and durability. “For starters, it is adorable and has a fun color scheme and print, but it’s also very soft and has held up over time. Even with weekly washes, it has remained the same texture as when it first arrived,” a customer said. “It’s so soft and comfortable to lay with. It is also very lightweight but warm enough to keep you cozy while relaxing or through the night.”Shop more dealsLucky Brand Daisy Floral Cozy Plush Throw, $22 (was $45) at Macy’sWrangler Spotted Cow Faux Rabbit Fur Throw, $29 (was $59) at Macy’sBetsey Johnson Etched Leopard Printed Plush Throw, $23 (was $60) at Macy’sThe Juicy Couture Plush Throw is a soft, cozy home find that’s a steal, whether you’re back-to-school shopping for your college dorm or you’re looking to dress up your space with a playful pattern. Add it to your cart while it’s on sale for $14, as the 68% discount won’t last for long. 

Global expansion isn’t about forcing one business model into new markets — it’s about knowing what to audit before you cross the border, and what to rebuild once you get there.

The bookstore retail sector has been in recovery, led by the expansion of the leading chain Barnes & Noble over the last four years. Despite the recovery, companies are still forced to close bookstores for various reasons.The nation’s largest bookstore chain, Barnes & Noble Inc., will close a popular store location in Redwood City, Calif., which operated for 33 years, as its landlord will not renew its lease.The bookstore chain revealed in an Instagram post that its last day of operation will be Sept. 16.

Barnes & Noble was forced to close a 33-year-old location after the landlord wouldn’t renew the lease.Yellow Dog Productions / Getty Images

Barnes & Noble closes longtime location”It is with great sadness that we let you know of the closure of this store, forced by the end to our lease and the landlord offering no option to continue,” Barnes & Noble Redwood City said in the Instagram post.The bookstore chain said that it is seeking a new location in the Redwood City area as soon as possible, but will open a new store in fall 2026 in The Crossroads shopping center, about 20 miles away in Cupertino, Calif.Barnes & Noble invited customers to visit its nearby stores in San Mateo and Burlingame, Calif.Company closed five other storesThe bookstore chain has closed five other stores in 2026 in Nanuet, N.Y; Pembroke Pines, Fla.; Waterbury, Conn.; San Bruno, Calif.; and Portland, Ore.Barnes & Noble previously closed its store in the Almaden Plaza shopping center in San Jose in January 2025, according to KRON-TV in San Francisco. Management was offered positions at other location, but associates were not.Barnes & Noble opening 60 storesDespite closing about six stores so far in 2026, Barnes & Noble said it plans to open about 60 new stores this year, according to a company statement. The chain opened about 67 locations in 2025 and 57 in 2024.Founded in 1971, Barnes & Noble had declined to fewer than 600 locations by 2023 but now operates over 700 bookstores in the U.S. after its recovery and expansion, according to the company. The chain also operates its e-commerce website BN.com.Barnes & Noble’s expansion comes after the chain downsized beginning in 2010 until 2022, closing about 150 stores. While Barnes & Noble, has been recovering from its company downturn, it has also pulled another bookstore chain out of the bankruptcy doldrums.Chain bought bankrupt companyBarnes & Noble acquired 175-year-old bookstore chain Books Inc. out of bankruptcy in 2025, which allowed the iconic nine-shop chain to continue operating.Books Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Jan. 20, 2025, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California seeking a sale of its assets. The bookstore chain won approval on Sept. 23, 2025, to sell its assets to Barnes & Noble for $3.5 million.“This agreement will ensure that Books Inc.’s legacy will continue for the foreseeable future,” Chief Executive Officer Andy Perham said in a statement. “With Barnes & Noble’s deep resources and world-class support, Books Inc. will be able to quickly modernize its operations so we can focus on what we do best: connecting people with books, ideas and each other.”Barnes & Noble’s acquisition of Books Inc. follows a previous purchase of distressed bookstore Tattered Cover in 2024, reflecting its strategy to support independent bookstores facing financial difficulties.Tattered Cover operates two locations in Denver and one in Littleton, Colo.Books Inc., which was established in 1851, claims to be the oldest bookseller in the West.Related: Major bath products retail brand files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Whether it’s regulators or industry experts, the consensus about Lidar seems to be that Level 4 autonomous driving platforms are incomplete without it. Tesla is not part of that consensus, as CEO Elon Musk has called light detection and ranging driver-assistance an “expensive and unnecessary” fool’s errand, just “expensive hardware that’s worthless on the car.”But Waymo, which has the most extensive autonomous driving network as well as the most miles driven autonomously, says that any robotaxi system that isn’t using Lidar isn’t operating at its full potential. “There has been a long-standing debate about what kind of sensors you actually need for autonomous driving. Naturally, more sensors means higher performance, but it also means higher complexity,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said this week during his Y Combinator keynote. “So humans, of course, can drive with just eyes,” Dolgov continued. “And if the goal was to just approximately match human performance or to build an assist product, then that is a very reasonable way to go. However, if you are targeting full autonomy and you’re targeting strongly superhuman performance, you find that weak sensing just leads to a safety curve that flattens out way too early.”Waymo vehicles use three different sensing modalities in their robotaxis: radar, Lidar and cameras. Meanwhile, Tesla uses just one: cameras. And though Dolgov never mentioned his top rival, it was clear who he was referring to during his speech.Why are camera-only robotaxis insufficient?SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers) considers advanced driver assistance systems, such as GM Super Cruise and Tesla Full Self-Driving, to be Level 2 automation, which requires the driver to remain engaged.Anything Level 3 and above is considered truly “autonomous.” This means no human intervention is required when the system activates features such as lane assist and automatic braking. However, the system must be enabled by a present driver who must take over when asked. J.D. Power lists Mercedes’ Drive Pilot as a Level 3 system.Waymo and Tesla Robotaxi operate on Level 4, but according to Dolgov, Robotaxi’s camera-only approach leaves some big holes in its safety profile.Related: Waymo vs. human drivers: Experts reveal which is safer”Cameras give you high resolution in color. But they are passive, and they degrade in darkness and glare,” Dolgov said. “Lidar and radar are active sensors, so that means they see just as well in pitch darkness or, for example, when driving into a blinding sunset.”Waymo’s three-pronged sensor stack includes radar, Lidar and cameras, and Dolgov says those three systems working in tandem help make Waymo safer than some competitors. “Lidar gives you a direct measurement of the 3-D structure of the world around you. Radar is good at punching through environmental conditions,” Dolgov said. “In our stack, each modality has an encoder, and the information from each of those sensors gets fused into a single view of the world around you that is much more precise and generally vastly superior to what you get with any one sensor.” He went on to show a video of a Waymo travelling down a foggy street with side-by-side images of the HD camera and Lidar systems working in tandem. The camera misses a pedestrian standing on the side of the road that the Lidar sees clearly.

Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov argues that cameras, radar, and Lidar are necessary.gremlin / Getty Images

NHTSA opens ‘engineering analysis’ into Tesla FSD camerasEarlier this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects and Investigations announced that it was escalating its investigation into Tesla FSD by opening an “engineering analysis” to evaluate Tesla Vision’s “degradation detection system.”In layman’s terms, the NHTSA is investigating how much camera visibility is degraded by roadway conditions such as glare and airborne obstructions, and whether Tesla FSD (Supervised) can detect and adjust to the resulting degradation and still work safely. “Available incident data raise concerns that Tesla’s degradation detection system, both as originally deployed and later updated, fails to detect and/or warn the driver appropriately under degraded visibility conditions,” the NHTSA said.More Tesla:Tesla sales rebound hides costly problem for investorsTesla record revenue masks cash burn, $1B SpaceX swingElon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX face serious questions from investorsThe agency has identified nine crashes in which it says Tesla FSD’s degradation systems may not have been functioning properly. It says FSD “did not detect common roadway conditions that impaired its visibility and/or provide alerts when camera performance had deteriorated until immediately before the crash occurred.And there could be many more instances that the agency does not know about because their review of Tesla’s responses to its request for more information revealed: “additional crashes that occurred in similar environments and where the system either did not detect a degraded state, and/or it did not present the driver with an alert with adequate time for the driver to react.”While Tesla FSD isn’t the same as Tesla Robotaxi in terms of its capabilities, both systems rely solely on cameras to function. Tesla explains why it does not need LidarWhile the NHTSA directly lists the lack of radar as a possible component in these crashes, Tesla says the system is unnecessary.Most experts consider a light detection and ranging driver-assistance system to be the state-of-the-art technology. Tesla competitors like Toyota offer Lidar, in addition to the camera-based system that Tesla FSD uses.Tesla Vision refers to the system and software that power the eight cameras on every Tesla vehicle, providing a 360-degree view of its surroundings. Tesla says the system relies on a neural network that allows it to bypass the need for radar assistance.Lidar uses lasers to measure distances and create highly detailed 3D models of its surroundings. Autonomous driving company Zoox uses this tech, along with cameras, long-wave infrared sensors, and microphones, to map the traffic around it. Related: Trump FCC gives Tesla a leg up in critical technology race

Most people book engagement pictures thinking about one thing: a nice photo for the save-the-date. That’s fair. But the session often becomes much more than that.
Many couples later realize that their engagement photos hold a different kind of significance than their wedding images. Without the formality and fast pace of the wedding day, the session often captures them at their most natural, preserving the connection and excitement they shared before life became busier with wedding planning and married life.
There’s a mindset shift hiding in that session, and that’s what makes engagement pictures so meaningful.
Why the Proposal Is Really a Milestone
Think about what a proposal actually represents. Years of showing up. Awkward first dates, a few near-misses, moving cities, learning to argue without blowing things up. By the time someone kneels down, a whole quiet history sits behind that moment.
Researchers who study what’s called “narrative identity” argue that people build a sense of self by turning their experiences into a story—the wins, the setbacks, the turning points. Research Gate has covered this idea at length, and it maps neatly onto an engagement. You’re not just marking a decision. You’re closing one chapter and naming the next one out loud.
That reframe matters for anyone chasing goals of any kind. Progress feels invisible while you’re inside it but a milestone forces you to stop and look back.
Engagement Pictures as a Record of Growth
Here’s where the camera earns its keep. A good session captures the two of you as you are right now—before the wedding stress, before the mortgage, before the kids. Ten years on, those frames won’t just show younger faces. They’ll show the version of you that decided to bet on each other.
Many couples describe flipping through their old engagement pictures the way a founder rereads early journal entries. Not for nostalgia exactly. More like checking the receipts on how much they’ve grown since. If you want ideas for capturing that feeling honestly, this guide to engagement pictures breaks down poses that read as natural rather than stiff.
The trick is treating the shoot as documentation, not performance.
Make the Session Mean Something
A few things that separate the photos you’ll frame from the ones you’ll forget:

Pick a location with a backstory – the coffee shop where you met beats a generic park every time.
Bring one object that carries weight – a ticket stub, a beat-up book, the dog.
Plan for movement – walking, laughing, whispering. Static poses age badly.
Leave room for the unplanned shot – the best frame is usually between the ones you asked for.

None of this requires a big budget, just a little intention, which is the same currency that moves your commitment forward.
The Discipline Nobody Talks About
Booking the shoot is easy. Following through is where people stall, and it looks a lot like every other goal that dies in the planning stage. You schedule it, then you talk yourself out of the outfit, the timing, and the awkwardness of standing in front of a lens.
Push past that anyway. The couples who commit tend to be the same ones who treat their relationship like something worth investing in deliberately. Showing up for a photo session is a small rep, but small reps compound. In many ways, it’s the same principle behind why small habits build strong families.
Strong relationships, according to the Gottman Institute, are built less on grand gestures than on repeated small moments of connection. An engagement shoot is simply an hour of those moments, on purpose
Strong relationships, according to the Gottman Institute, are built less on grand gestures than on repeated small moments of connection. An engagement shoot is basically an hour of those, on purpose.
Turning the Engagement Pictures Into a Story You Keep
Digital files disappear into cloud folders nobody opens. That’s the real risk. The engagement pictures that shape how you remember this season are the ones you can hold.
Printing them changes the relationship you have with the memory. A book on the shelf gets picked up. A framed shot on the wall becomes part of the room. If you’re deciding how to preserve the set, you can learn more about turning a gallery into something physical and lasting here.
Some couples build a simple timeline: first date, the proposal, the engagement pictures, the wedding and hang it where they’ll see it daily. It becomes a quiet reminder of momentum, which is exactly the kind of fuel that keeps big goals moving forward, especially now that you’ll share and build a life together.
Start With One Frame
You don’t need the whole plan figured out. Book the session, choose a spot that means something, and let the rest happen. Engagement pictures aren’t only about looking good on a wedding invite—they’re a checkpoint, a way of pausing long enough to see how much ground two people can cover when they decide to build something together.
Look back at them a decade from now. The poses will fade from memory, but the feeling won’t. That’s the part you’ll carry with you.
The post Engagement Pictures: Turning Your Proposal Journey Into a Story of Growth and Success appeared first on Addicted 2 Success.