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Retail Debrief Recap: What Prime Day performance, back-to-school trends and more reveal about the state of the industry leading into the holidays

July 30, 2025

On Wednesday, Modern Retail hosted a live video event for Modern Retail+ subscribers to look at what summer sales trends say about how the holiday season may go for brands and retailers. Led by Modern Retail executive editor Anna Hensel, reporters Allison Smith and Mitchell Parton discussed how Prime Day went for brands, how big-box retail is faring ahead of back-to-school season and what it all says about the state of consumer sentiment. Here’s a recap of the conversation.