The COVID-19 pandemic is paralyzing social and commercial activity. This is not only because of social distancing, but because this unprecedented, modern, and global pandemic has brought with it profound uncertainty. No one knows how long this will last, or what the human or economic toll will be. No one knows how large the psychological […]

A number of major companies across restaurants and retail made announcements last week regarding their April rent payments (and beyond).  Cheesecake Factory announced it would not be paying April rent, and is in negotiations with landlords regarding what will happen with rents that are “otherwise payable during the period of the COVID-19 related closure.”  The […]

As we face the COVID-19 pandemic, references are often being made to war.  It is true that today there is hardship, a great sense of uncertainty, and fear.  C.S. Lewis told an incoming class at Oxford in 1939 – on the cusp of World War II – that war makes more obvious the permanent human […]

As the pace and gravity of COVID-19 headlines markedly increased last week, it became clear that a number of spheres of public life in this country will be impacted in the next several weeks, and potentially longer. Daily life has begun to change in healthcare, travel, education, commerce, hospitality, entertainment, and more. Here at Consensus, […]

Last week, three major U.S. department stores, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, and Kohl’s, topped analysts’ fourth quarter earnings and revenue estimates. Despite exceeding expectations (which were already tempered by a generally soft Holiday season), notable risks still loom for large brick and mortar retailers. The hazards are well documented: consumers have changed purchasing habits to favor […]