“While analysts may disagree on whether or not the U.S. economy is in a recession, there is no question that the economy is in transformation,” Thom Blischok, president of IRI Consulting and Innovation, said in a special report on the economy. “U.S. consumers have been hit on all sides with record-breaking gas prices, dramatic increases in grocery prices, high unemployment and declining home values. These burdens are driving fundamental shifts in what consumers buy and where they shop. Consum...