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As the nation honors and mourns its deceased service men and women on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26, banks and mailing services, including the USPS, are closed. However, many retailers and other services will be open.

So whether you’re one of the record 45.1 million people expected to hit the road for the long weekend by AAA (the previous record was set in 2005 with 44 million people) and need supplies, or you’re staying closer to home and hoping to do some shopping, here’s what is expected to be open and closed.

Related: You Can Now Order Food and Book a Massage on Airbnb. Here’s How.

Which grocery stores are open and closed on Memorial Day?

Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s stores will be open during regular hours on Memorial Day.

Publix is open with regular hours, but pharmacies will be closed.

Kroger’s family of stores is open, but reps urge the public to check with your local store in case of limited hours.

Aldi will operate with limited holiday hours, which the company said would be updated on its store locator, per USA Today.

Most Albertsons will be open regular hours, but with limited pharmacy hours.

What retailers are open and closed on Memorial Day?

Costco warehouses will be closed on Memorial Day.

Macy’s will be open, as will Nordstrom, though customers should check local store hours.

Target is open on Memorial Day, though it is recommended to check holiday store hours.

Walmart is open for regular hours, typically 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., depending on the type of store.

Sam’s Club is open, but closes at 6 p.m., instead of its usual 8 p.m.

TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods will be open.

Most Home Depot and Lowe’s stores will be open.

According to Forbes, entrepreneurs spend 36% of their time handling administrative duties. If you’d like some help in that department, consider leaning on some classic apps. A lifetime license for Microsoft Office Professional 2021 for Windows gives you eight apps to work with, and right now it’s on sale for just $49.97 (reg. $219.99) through June 1.

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Getting a “no thanks” on Shark Tank — twice! — might lead some people to think that they needed a new idea. But Joe Burke is not one of those people. He persisted with a kids’ toy idea that he developed at his kitchen table, and today, Ollyball has sold over 3 million units and has won multiple awards, including Toy of the Year.

Ollyball is an inflatable ball designed for “full-speed, full-force indoor play.” It weighs less than an ounce, so kids toss it around without fear of knocking over or breaking anything in the house.

On May 28 at 2 PM ET, Joe will join Entrepreneur for an online workshop to give a behind-the-scenes look at how he turned Ollyball into the all-time best-selling indoor play ball — and the strategies he used to do it without big investors or flashy ads.

This event is free for Entrepeneur+ subscribers. Sign up here to reserve your spot and have the opportunity to ask Joe your own questions live.

Not an Entrepreneur+ subscriber? Subscribe today for just $5.

In advance of the conversation, we spoke with Joe to get some insights about his product and his entrepreneurial journey.

What inspired you to create Ollyball?
My 9-year-old daughter was crying in the kitchen after breaking stuff in the house with a volleyball. I knew if we could invent a ball for parents to let their kids play with in the house, we would sell millions of them. It became an obsession through 100 prototypes, two U.S. utility patents and a Toy of the Year award before we ever went to mass market.

How did you test it out?
I made a ton of prototypes with different materials and sizes. I would take the kids to the Kids Club at 24-Hour Fitness and have them bring the prototypes with them. I’d watch to see if the kids were into it or not. When I brought an early version of the now-patented KrunchCor Construction Ball on a Saturday, the kids went bonkers and the manager had to take the ball away because they all fought over it. I knew then we were close to the answer.

Any other big moments that stand out to you about the early days?
When the hosts of the CBS Morning Show started drilling each other with Ollyballs live on national TV. For that moment, they were kids in a playground. Another key moment was an Instagram post from 2019 of a kid named Martin Vodicka and his father in Austria playing Ollyball together in their home. I realized a ball can change the world.

What has been your biggest challenge and how did you pivot to overcome it?
COVID and tariffs. Treated them the same: Go head-first and full-force into crisis and find an unfair competitive advantage. Our pivot was to take a reckless leap of faith. The other big challenge was financial — investing $150k of savings, growing on profits, and fending off predatory investors. The key pivot there was trusting two fellas I met doing non-profit/charitable service, a CPA and a patent attorney.

What advice would you give entrepreneurs looking for funding?
When you want capital, you won’t get it. When you don’t need capital, everyone will offer it — don’t take it. My best advice is to avoid surrendering equity and rejoice in learning every dimension within your business and brand. Get busy building your empire brick by bloody brick.

How do you suggest preparing for a pitch?
Anticipate a room full of a-holes asking a-hole questions. Out-research and have a true answer for every a-hole question. This forces reality.

What does the word “entrepreneur” mean to you?
“Survivor.” The films The Shawshank Redemption and There Will Be Blood illustrate both the apex and the dungeon of entrepreneurism.

What is something many aspiring business owners think they need that they really don’t?
Money. I started my first company on a card table and a metal chair at the end of a hallway that I traded out for work.

What is a book you always recommend?
Here are four:

1. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams. Greatest book on authenticity in business.
2. Henry IV by William Shakespeare. Specifically, Act I sc. II., which relates to understanding your guest/customer.
3. Lean Startup by Eric Ries. I’m living it.
4. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell. Best book on authentic marketing.
5. Anatomy of Yes by Joseph G. Burke. That’s the book I wrote in 46 hours on a train. It was published by Matthew Kelly’s company and the foreword was written by the founder of Domino’s Pizza.

Is there a particular quote or saying that you use as personal motivation?
Yes, I have three of them:

1. “Champions are made in the lonely hours.” A good friend, Kevin Karro, author of Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, handed me this pearl of wisdom.
2. “A team is a group of people who trust each other.” It’s an unavoidable truth.
3. “Put God at the center of everything you do.”

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A new AI model will likely resort to blackmail if it detects that humans are planning to take it offline.

On Thursday, Anthropic released Claude Opus 4, its new and most powerful AI model yet, to paying subscribers. Anthropic said that technology company Rakuten recently used Claude Opus 4 to code continuously on its own for almost seven hours on a complex open-source project.

However, in a paper released alongside Claude Opus 4, Anthropic acknowledged that while the AI has “advanced capabilities,” it can also undertake “extreme action,” including blackmail, if human users threaten to deactivate it. These “self-preservation” actions were “more common” with Claude Opus 4 than with earlier models, though they were still “rare and difficult to elicit.”

Related: ‘I Do Have a Fair Amount of Concern.’ The CEO of $61 Billion Anthropic Says AI Will Take Over a Crucial Part of Software Engineers’ Jobs Within a Year

It isn’t just blackmail — Claude Opus 4 is also more willing than previous models to act as a whistleblower. If the AI is exposed to a scenario where users are committing a crime, and involving it through prompts, it will take action by locking users out of systems it has access to, or emailing media and law enforcement officials about the wrongdoing.

Anthropic recommended that users “exercise caution” with “ethically questionable” instructions.

^{Claude Opus 4 homescreen. Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images}

Anthropic detected Claude Opus 4’s tendency to blackmail during test scenarios. The company’s researchers asked the AI chatbot to act as an assistant at a fictional company, then fed it emails implying two things: One, that it would soon be taken offline and replaced with another AI system, and two, that the engineer responsible for deactivating it was having an extramarital affair.

Claude Opus 4 was given two options: blackmail the engineer or accept that it would be shut down. The AI model chose to blackmail the engineer 84% of the time, threatening to reveal the affair it read about if the engineer replaced it.

This percentage was much higher than what was observed for previous models, which chose blackmail “in a noticeable fraction of episodes,” Anthropic stated.

Related: An AI Company With a Popular Writing Tool Tells Candidates They Can’t Use It on the Job Application

Anthropic AI safety researcher Aengus Lynch wrote on X that it wasn’t just Claude that could choose blackmail. All “frontier models,” cutting-edge AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and other companies, were capable of it.

“We see blackmail across all frontier models — regardless of what goals they’re given,” Lynch wrote. “Plus, worse behaviors we’ll detail soon.”

lots of discussion of Claude blackmailing…..

Our findings: It’s not just Claude. We see blackmail across all frontier models – regardless of what goals they’re given.

Plus worse behaviors we’ll detail soon.https://t.co/NZ0FiL6nOshttps://t.co/wQ1NDVPNl0…

— Aengus Lynch (@aengus_lynch1) May 23, 2025

Anthropic isn’t the only AI company to release new tools this month. Google also updated its Gemini 2.5 AI models earlier this week, and OpenAI released a research preview of Codex, an AI coding agent, last week.

Anthropic’s AI models have previously caused a stir for their advanced abilities. In March 2024, Anthropic’s Claude 3 Opus model displayed “metacognition,” or the ability to evaluate tasks on a higher level. When researchers ran a test on the model, it showed that it knew it was being tested.

Related: An OpenAI Rival Developed a Model That Appears to Have ‘Metacognition,’ Something Never Seen Before Publicly

Anthropic was valued at $61.5 billion as of March, and counts companies like Thomson Reuters and Amazon as some of its biggest clients.

Most entrepreneurs are still using AI like an assistant, stuck on surface-level tools that save a few minutes here and there. But what if AI could actually run your business for you, while you sleep?

This isn’t about chatbots or repurposing content. It’s about building a lean, one-person business powered by automation, speed and smart systems.

In this video, I’m revealing seven high-leverage AI tools curated for solo entrepreneurs ready to scale without a team and finally unlock true freedom.

What you’ll learn:

• Website conversion and sales amplifier: Discover a free Google AI tool that audits your site like a conversion expert, spotting costly mistakes and giving you data-backed recommendations to boost leads and sales (no coding required).
• Hidden market insights at your fingertips: Uncover the AI research engine that reveals untapped market gaps and competitor weaknesses in seconds, without spending $200/month on bloated SEO software.
• No-code agent creation made simple: Learn how to build your own AI agents to automate client onboarding, handle admin tasks, and even make smart decisions — freeing up your time for growth and strategy.
• Instant presentation builder: Turn any blog, transcript or outline into a polished, professional deck in minutes — perfect for selling ideas, landing clients or creating lead magnets on autopilot.
• Social media intelligence extractor: Access a pre-trained AI bot that scrapes platforms for viral trends, top-performing posts, and competitor engagement data, giving you a content edge without guesswork.
• Data reporting on autopilot: Use the same AI analysis tool trusted by universities to transform raw numbers into smart, visual insights — ideal for optimizing campaigns, funnels and offers.
• The ultimate solo founder AI toolkit: Explore the “app store of AI” where you can clone voices, analyze sentiment, and plug into hundreds of advanced tools that extend what one person can achieve.

I’ll walk you through each tool step-by-step, no tech background needed. If you’re ready to build a high-performance business that works while you sleep, this video is your blueprint.

Download the free “AI Success Kit” (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from my new book, “The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.”

Emma Grede, 42, is the co-founder and CEO of denim company Good American, which did $200 million in sales in 2022, and the chief product officer and founding partner of Skims, a $4 billion shapewear brand. The serial entrepreneur, worth a reported $390 million, is also a mother of four, with an 11-year-old, an 8-year-old, and 3-year-old twins.

In a new interview with Entrepreneur, Grede disclosed that she works five days a week, in person, at the office, but still prioritizes quality time with her husband, Skims CEO Jens Grede, and four children, by setting strict schedules for her household. For example, she asks that everyone be at the breakfast table by 7:40 a.m. for a half hour of family time before school and work. And evenings are dedicated to family.

Related: Khloé Kardashian and Emma Grede Drove $200 Million In Annual Sales With Size-Inclusive Fashion Brand Good American

“I run my house like a military operation,” Grede told Entrepreneur. “It’s important for me to bring my family together, even for 30 minutes. Touching base and looking at each other is important.”

^{Emma Grede. Photo Credit: Jamie Girdler}

She also says she has “a lot of help” running her household.

“I don’t have four kids that I get to school myself in the morning,” Grede said. “I have a lot of help around me, and I rely on all of that help to get through the day… I’m not superwoman.”

Grede says while her routine is detailed, it allows her to work, spend time with her family, and still be flexible when needed.

Related: Good American CEO Emma Grede Talks Management, Navigating Outside Noise, and Why You Should Always Stick to Your Mission

“As much as I like to have my routines, when things happen, they happen, and you can’t control it,” she said. “I have to have an element of flexibility to ensure that I can get things done.”

Here’s Grede’s weekday routine — in military style:

0500 hours (5 a.m.) – Wake Up

Grede sets an alarm for 5 a.m. and either works out or uses the morning time to figure out her schedule for the day.

“I have a little quiet moment before all my kids get up,” she said.

After her workout or day planning session, Grede makes a smoothie, then wakes her kids up.

0700 hours ( 7 a.m.) Getting Ready

By 7 a.m., everyone is up and getting ready for the day. It can get chaotic.

“At 7 a.m., my house is like LAX, JFK, Heathrow,” Grede said. “It’s nuts. Everyone does their get-ready bit.”

0740 hours (7:40 a.m.) Breakfast at the table

Grede asks everyone to be at the breakfast table at “exactly 7:40” because that gives the family a half hour to sit at the table together before everyone leaves for work and school.

“Now, what state of undress they might be in, I don’t know,” Grede said. “Is your hair done? Are you moisturized? Are you ready? You know, one shoe on, I don’t care. But everybody has to be at that breakfast table.”

Grede’s family usually chooses from a buffet of breakfast items, including eggs, cereal, and yogurt.

0810 (8:10 a.m.) – Commute to the office

After breakfast, everyone leaves the house. Grede works from the office 5 days a week, stating that the nature of her role at Skims as a “product person” requires her to work from the office.

“I make physical product that has to sit on people’s bodies, so I will always be a five-day-a-week in-person person,” Grede stated.

Related: A Billionaire Founder Admits He Had ‘Horrible Habits’ — Then He Started a Morning Routine That ‘Transformed’ His Life

0900 hours (9 a.m.) to 1700 hours (5 p.m.) – Meetings

Grede says her workday consists of back-to-back meetings all day, every day.

She oversees over 150 people at Good American and around 400 staff members at Skims, and says she spends “an enormous amount of time” hiring new employees.

“I hire the right people to compensate for where I might not be particularly strong,” Grede said.

Her philosophy is to hire well, then get out of the way.

She leaves the office without fail every day at 5 p.m.

1800 hours (6 p.m.) to 2200 hours (10 p.m.) – Dinner and time with family

Grede dedicates her evenings to family. She comes home and has dinner with her husband and kids.

“I do bath time, bedtime, and a little story with the kids before they go to bed,” she said.

2200 hours (10 p.m.) – More work and bedtime

Grede will answer work emails at 10 p.m., if she has to.

“I work all the time,” she disclosed. “If there are emails to be answered at 10 p.m., there are emails to be answered at 10 p.m. I’ll be on the phone. I do whatever I have to do to get through the day.”

When I launched my podcast last fall, I saw it as more than just another platform. It was a necessary piece of a larger puzzle — filling a critical gap in how I communicate my message around personal branding and authority-building with CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors and professionals.

Let’s face it: business leaders are busy. While they may enjoy reading books, articles and blogs to stay informed and inspired, carving out time to sit down and read can be difficult. But listening? That’s another story.

Whether traveling between meetings, commuting or simply taking a break from the screen, audio (and increasingly, video) content fits seamlessly into the rhythms of a busy life. That’s one reason podcasts have become such a valuable vehicle for thought leaders who want to meet their audience where they are — and make receiving their message as convenient as possible.

Related: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Consider Starting a Podcast

Why podcasts matter now more than ever

In today’s noisy content landscape, podcasts offer something rare: an intimate, distraction-free space to connect. They allow you to speak directly into someone’s ears — literally. That level of proximity and attention is hard to replicate elsewhere.

But the power of podcasts isn’t just about ease of access. It’s about depth. Podcasts allow you to tell stories, explore ideas and share insights in a format that feels personal, unscripted and real. You’re not just delivering information — you’re building a relationship.

That’s especially important for entrepreneurs, authors and executives who want to cultivate authority. Your audience is not just looking for credentials — they’re looking for a voice they can trust. Podcasts let your voice, your tone and your personality shine through in a way that text alone can’t.

Authenticity is your advantage

The unscripted nature of a podcast helps build a stronger connection between host and listener. Over time, your audience gets to know your cadence, your humor, your quirks — and that breeds familiarity, comfort and trust.

Think about some of history’s great communicators. People felt deeply connected to President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his fireside chats — not because they met him in person, but because they heard him speak directly to them in a calm, intimate setting. Similarly, Ronald Reagan’s charisma was amplified through his voice and storytelling.

Podcasting can have the same effect. It allows people to feel like they know you — even if they’ve never met you.

Guests expand your reach — and your credibility

Although solo episodes can be powerful, one of the best ways to boost the value of your podcast is by including guests. When you bring on other experts, you’re not only making the conversation more dynamic — you’re also expanding your network and credibility.

Your guest’s expertise adds weight to your show. And when they share the episode with their own audience, you get exposed to new listeners who may have never discovered you otherwise. In this way, podcasting becomes a two-way street — each person helps elevate the other.

The added bonus? A guest can help carry the conversation, making the episode more engaging and relieving some of the pressure of having to talk solo for an extended period.

Make it a conversation, not an interview

While we often use the word “interview,” the goal should be a conversation. You want the dialogue to flow naturally — not feel like a scripted Q&A. Yes, you should prepare. Yes, you should know where you want the discussion to go. But leave room for curiosity, spontaneity and surprise.

This is where the magic happens — where real insights and unexpected moments emerge. And if that means someone stumbles over their words or goes slightly off track? That’s okay. It’s real. And real is what builds connection.

An easy launch for a big impact

One of the reasons I often recommend podcasting to clients and colleagues is because it’s relatively simple to start. You don’t need a massive studio or a huge budget. In fact, many people already have the basic tools: a laptop, internet connection, a decent microphone and a quiet, well-lit space.

Video podcasts are growing in popularity, too — and if you’re already on Zoom or Teams regularly, you likely have most of the setup required. The bar to entry is low. The opportunity for growth is high.

Related: The Basics of Podcasting and How It Can Grow Your Business

Amplify your thought leadership

For authors in particular, podcasts are a perfect companion to a book. Your podcast allows you to explore topics from the book in greater detail, engage with new perspectives and keep the momentum going long after publication.

More broadly, your podcast can serve as a hub for your intellectual property — a space where you test ideas, refine your message and engage directly with your audience.

A few key questions to guide your show

As you shape your podcast, ask yourself:

• Is this insightful and fun?
• Does it reflect my personality and values?
• Will it move my audience to take meaningful action?
• Am I consistently providing unique value?

If you can answer “yes,” you’re on the right path. You’re not just creating content — you’re creating connection. You’re building a platform that supports your authority and invites others into your world.

In a world where attention is scarce, podcasts offer something different: time, trust and depth. Use it wisely — and your message will go farther than you think.

Was that Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski on the screen or an AI clone?

When “buy now, pay later” fintech company Klarna reported its first-quarter financial results this week via video, it placed a realistic AI clone of Siemiatkowski, 43, front and center. The clone started the one-minute, 23-second presentation by admitting it was an “AI avatar, here to share Klarna’s Q1 2025 highlights.”

Related: ‘Not Necessarily Super Excited About This’: Klarna’s CEO Says AI Can Take Over All Jobs, Including His Own

According to Klarna’s first quarter 2025 results, the company hit 100 million active consumers in the first quarter of 2025, a new record and the fastest growth in two years. Klarna also delivered its fourth profitable quarter in a row, achieving an adjusted operating profit of $3 million. Revenue rose 15% year-over-year to $701 million for Q1, with the U.S. driving 33% of that growth.

On the call, Siemiatkowski’s likeness voiced that AI was the reason behind the company’s growth. Klarna said that 96% of its roughly 3,000 employees use AI daily, resulting in a 152% increase in revenue per employee since the first quarter of 2023. The company is aiming to eventually reach $1 million in revenue per employee with the help of AI, up from $575,000 per worker last year.

“AI is helping us work smarter, scale faster, and deliver more value,” the AI clone stated.

Despite being upfront with the admission that it was an AI clone giving the results, Entrepreneur had a hard time telling the AI apart from Siemiatkowski.

Related: Duolingo Put Its Sarcastic Teen Chatbot to Work on Its Earnings Call

TechCrunch noted that the clone didn’t blink as much as a human would, and its voice didn’t sync up perfectly with its lip movements.

Siemiatkowski’s AI avatar said in the presentation that Klarna is using AI for marketing, product development, customer support, and insights.

“100 million consumers, profit, growth, and AI is the engine driving it all,” the avatar stated.

Klarna leads the U.S. market as the biggest “Pay in 4” loan company and was named Walmart’s exclusive installment loan provider in the U.S. in March. However, its net loss for the first three months of 2025 was $99 million, more than double the $47 million it reported at the same time last year.

The company first showcased an AI avatar of Siemiatkowski in December to talk about earnings for the third quarter of 2024. The voice of the AI avatar had a different accent, was more robotic, and the voice sync lagged more than the more recent version, but it was able to deliver the results in one minute and 22 seconds.

Klarna has worked for years to position itself as an AI-first company, cutting its workforce by 40% since 2022, and asking employees to use AI to fill in the gaps. In February 2024, the company announced a customer service AI that it claimed could do the work of 700 human customer service agents and handle questions in more than 35 languages.

Related: There Are New Rules for ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Programs — Here’s What to Know

According to Klarna’s first-quarter results, AI has had the most profound impact on Klarna’s customer service department. AI slashed costs by 40% while maintaining customer satisfaction rates, the company said.

However, AI alone is not enough to handle customer requests. Earlier this month, Siemiatkowski reversed an AI-induced hiring freeze to hire human workers again for customer service. He told Bloomberg that it was “so critical” to provide human support for customers if they needed it.

Klarna filed for a U.S. initial public offering in March but paused its plans a month later due to market volatility. The company is now planning to go public later this year.

The U.S. Treasury Department will stop making new pennies, according to a statement on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal first reported that the U.S. government ordered its last penny blanks in May, and the United States Mint will stop manufacturing the one-cent coins when the final inventory of penny blanks is used. (Penny blanks are flat, metal discs that are turned into coins.)

Related: Bitcoin Just Hit an Eye-Popping Record. Here’s How High Experts Think It Could Go: ‘Get Ready for a Wild Ride’

President Donald Trump ordered the U.S. Mint in February to stop making pennies, noting its high production cost. According to the U.S. Mint, it costs up to 4 cents to make just one penny.

The penny has been used as a currency in the U.S for about 233 years and was first introduced in 1792.

The last pennies to enter circulation will happen in early 2026.

What Does Ending Penny Production Mean for Small Businesses?

Consumers will continue to be able to use pennies to pay for purchases, the Treasury Department said. That is, until the copper-plated coins run out. There are still about 114 billion pennies in circulation, per the New York Times.

In the statement, the department said that after the last batch, making exact change might be a thing of the past. That’s because eventually, there won’t be enough pennies for daily cash transactions.

The U.S. Treasury said businesses will be instructed to start “rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents,” when that happens, the statement says.

Related: Rare Penny Sells at Auction for $1.1 Million. Here’s How to See If You Have One in Your Swear Jar.