PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Catalogs, those glossy paper-and-ink offerings of outdoor apparel, kitchenware and fruit baskets, are not yet headed for the recycling bin of history.
Until recently, the future appeared grim for the mailbox-stuffers. A one-two punch of postal rate increases and the Great Recession had sharply cut their numbers. Common wisdom had everything retail-related moving online.
But a catalog-industry rebound appears in the works, fueled in part by what might seem an unlikely group: younger shoppers who find its sometimes easier, more satisfying and even nostalgic, flipping pages rather than clicking links.