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• I’m an interior designer, and I love shopping at HomeGoods — but there are things I don’t buy there.
• I prefer to shop elsewhere for candles and sets of pots and pans. 
• Typically, I don’t buy large furniture pieces or mirrors from HomeGoods. 

I’m an interior designer and a big fan of HomeGoods.

The chain can be a really great place to find trendy decor, small furniture pieces, and a range of other household items that suit all sorts of styles.

As much as I enjoy shopping at the home-furnishing store, there are a few things I avoid getting there.

I get my larger furniture pieces, such as sofas, somewhere else.

HomeGoods can be a great place to buy a stool or a small side table, but I wouldn’t buy larger furniture pieces here.

For example, many of the sofas and big chairs I’ve seen in the store look amazing from afar, but the quality hasn’t impressed me much.

Plus, at HomeGoods, you typically buy floor models. Your couch could be on the sales floor for weeks, with hundreds of strangers sitting on it or carts bumping into it at every turn.

There may be some hidden gems at a reasonable price, but when it comes to large pieces that will get lots of use, I’m not willing to gamble on quality. I’d rather shop at dedicated furniture stores, like a CB2 or West Elm, or seek out made-to-order options.

The candles are too hit-or-miss for me.

The candle aisle at HomeGoods is my favorite part of the whole store. But as fun as the section is to peruse, the wide variety of brands, shapes, and scents can be a mixed bag.

I’ve found that many of the candles I’ve bought at the chain either don’t burn very well or lose their scent pretty quickly, even though they look great and smelled amazing in the store.

A lot of these candles are just fine in a pinch — and you might get lucky with a great one — but I’d rather spend more to buy something I’m confident is higher quality from an actual candle store.

Many of the large mirrors don’t pass my basic quality test.

In the age of the mirror selfie, I completely understand the desire to add the perfect floor-length mirror to a space. After all, they’re essential for good outfit-of-the-day posts.

That said, the large mirrors I’ve seen at HomeGoods haven’t impressed me yet.

Mirrors can be massive statement pieces, so I suggest taking the time to look for high-quality options.

One way I like to test the quality of mirrors in a store is by standing far away from them to see whether my reflection gets distorted. If I start to look funky, I’ll pass on the mirror.

It can be hard to find a solid set of pots and pans at HomeGoods.

Many of HomeGoods’ pots and pans look amazing — again, brands and quality vary — but I buy mine elsewhere.

Although you might get lucky and find name-brand items in the store’s aisles, I’ve bought many random pots and pans from here that looked nice but haven’t held up well.

Getting a full, matching set of cookware from HomeGoods is also tricky since not all stores carry the same pieces or multiples of a design.

If I’m supplying a kitchen from scratch or hoping to build a collection, I’d rather invest in a matching set from a trustworthy cookware brand.

Skip the kitschy letters and signs with quotes and phrases on them.

Choosing the perfect finishing touches for a space can be one of the trickiest tasks. However, I’ll never waste money on hanging letters or signs with quotes. Quotes are meant for journals, not walls.

I’ve seen a lot of signs at HomeGoods with overused phrases and cringeworthy quotes. Some pieces with basic labels like “coffee” and “tea” even feel like they’re paying homage to farmhouse design in an untasteful way.

I suggest choosing text-free art pieces and decor items instead for a classier look. (Luckily, HomeGoods has a lot of aisles filled with these, too.)

Full-priced holiday decor is rarely worth it to me.

HomeGoods has an impressive array of decor for every holiday and season I can think of — and it’s often on shelves long before whatever it’s celebrating begins.

However, as a frequent HomeGoods shopper, I’ve learned that if you wait until one day after the holiday, you can sometimes get up to 50% off on some seasonal items.

It can be risky, since the pieces you love may go out of stock before then, and sales aren’t guaranteed. However, the deals can be great and, as a planner, I actually prefer preparing for a holiday almost a year before it returns.

HomeGoods has some tasteful items for desk organization, but I still skip this section.

HomeGoods is generally a great place to find one-off special items, but not so much coordinated or matching sets.

I like matching sets too much to consider buying desk decor or office supplies here, from letter organizers to pencil cups.

I’d shop elsewhere for finishing touches for my home office — maybe Target or even Ikea.

This story was originally published on December 21, 2023, and most recently updated on July 7, 2026.

• Business Insider asked six tech workers about the biggest misconceptions in the industry.
• Workers challenged assumptions about AI, Big Tech, and what their jobs actually involve.
• Some said AI has changed the nature of tech work — but not in the ways many people think.

If you ask tech workers what people misunderstand about working in their industry, they’ll tell you — plenty.

In interviews with Business Insider, tech professionals from companies including Amazon, Google, and Snap challenged assumptions that their jobs are mostly coding, that AI has made their work easier, and that Big Tech is the only worthwhile career path. Some focused on misconceptions held by people outside the industry, while others pointed to misunderstandings from people already working in tech.

These professionals — including engineers, data scientists, and product managers — are working in an industry that’s changing rapidly. They say many people’s understanding of tech jobs hasn’t kept up.

Here’s what six tech workers believe are the biggest misconceptions about working in tech. (Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.)

My job is about much more than coding

Priyanka Devi Ramesh is a business intelligence engineer at Amazon. She’s 30 and lives in Virginia.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that working in tech is all about coding. People assume if you work in tech, you sit in front of a screen writing code all day. But my role as a business intelligence engineer is deeply rooted in understanding the business, talking to stakeholders, cleaning messy data, and telling stories through dashboards.

A huge part of my job is communication — translating complex data into something a non-technical customer or vendor can act on. Tech is far more cross-functional and people-oriented than most outsiders realize.

The perks are real. So is the pressure.

Sreeja Apparaju is a machine learning engineer at Snap. She’s in her 20s and lives in New York.

One misconception is that tech jobs are all hoodies, ping pong tables, and a four-hour workday. The perks are real, but they exist alongside the genuine intensity of on-call rotations, launch crunches, performance reviews, and the constant pressure to keep learning as the stack evolves under you.

There’s also the assumption that the work is purely solitary and screen-bound. The technical problems are only half of it; the other half is people: understanding what users actually need, negotiating priorities with partners, and communicating clearly enough that the right decisions get made even when you’re not in the room.

AI can’t do your thinking for you

Udit Mehrotra is a head of product at Amazon. He’s in his 30s and lives in Seattle.

The biggest misconception I come across right now is that you can outsource your thinking to AI. A lot of people have discovered that AI tools are genuinely impressive at producing output quickly, and the temptation is to let the tools drive.

The problem is that the quality of what comes out is almost entirely determined by the quality of thinking you put in. Garbage in, garbage out, except now it’s faster and looks more polished.

The bar keeps getting higher

Mike Kostersitz is a senior director, product management at Nike. He’s 60 and lives in Oregon.

A common misconception is that tech workers are coasting — making a lot of money for very little work because AI does the rest. That gets it backwards. AI doesn’t hand you free time; it removes the repetitive work that used to crowd out the important work.

The job hasn’t gotten easier — the bar has gotten higher. We’re expected to think more clearly, decide faster, and lead through more change in a quarter than we used to in a year.

Tech is much bigger than software engineering

Prerit Pathak is a security engineer at Google. He’s in his 20s and lives in New York City.

I think many people mistakenly believe that being a “tech employee” is synonymous with being a software engineer. The reality is that technology is a vast ecosystem of roles like Product Management, UI/UX Design, Data Science, and Cybersecurity.

These specialists act as the architects, maintainers, and protectors of the digital world, ensuring that technical tools solve important problems for our future generations.

Big Tech isn’t the only path

Iren Azra Zou is a software engineer at the trucking logistics startup Double Nickel. She’s in her 20s and lives in New Jersey.

I think some people in tech over-focus on working at the most famous tech companies. Those can be great, but they’re not the only path, and often not the best fit for everyone.

There are countless small and mid-sized companies doing interesting, meaningful work. I see a lot of people limit themselves because they think it’s either “Big Tech” or something boring and non-technical. That’s just not how the industry actually looks.

Do you have a story to share about how you’re navigating a career crossroads? If so, please reach out to the reporter via email at jzinkula@businessinsider.com, or via Signal at jzinkula.29.

• Netflix is adding short shows from publishers like Condé Nast to further diversify its content mix.
• Streamers have invested in snackable content to imitate YouTube.
• This deal is “straight out of the YouTube handbook,” analyst Brandon Katz said.

Netflix is leaning into snack-sized content as it seeks to claw viewing time from YouTube.

The streaming giant is bringing more short videos to its app as part of licensing deals with major publishers, including BuzzFeed Studios, Condé Nast, Hearst Magazines, Penske Media, and People Inc., Netflix said Tuesday. Starting in early August, subscribers can watch videos ranging from 3 to 20 minutes from brands like Bon Appétit, Cosmopolitan, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and Vogue. The videos center on topics like travel, cooking, and fashion.

Netflix has been investing in video podcasts and short-form vertical video to better compete with YouTube, which has been rapidly growing its share of TV viewership in recent years. YouTube had a 13.4% share of US TV viewing in April 2026, versus Netflix’s 7.8%, per Nielsen.

Netflix’s new licensing deals are “straight out of the YouTube handbook,” said Brandon Katz, the insights director at entertainment research firm Greenlight Analytics.

“It’s another attempt to court low-cost engagement with lean-back pop culture programming,” Katz said. He added that “Netflix is trying to become a more habitual source of entertainment without having to pony up the premiums for hit-or-miss original programming.”

Other Hollywood streamers have been leaning into short-form clips over the last year, in hopes of driving higher engagement and training users to open their apps throughout the day, rather than just at night.

“These partnerships help us deepen fandom and create more ways for members to carry those stories with them throughout their day,” John Derderian, the VP of Animation Series and Kids & Family TV, said in a statement about the deal.

Short-form video isn’t new for Netflix. The streaming leader first experimented with vertical clips in 2021 with a “Fast Laughs” feature that showed snippets from comedy shows. Netflix shuttered the feed a few years later, before adding short-form video again earlier this year. The streamer has also had videos of less than four minutes as part of its “WWE Legend Profiles” series.

Netflix has been looking to speed up the addition of YouTube content to its platform by offering publishers more relaxed licensing terms, according to two people who’ve had direct conversations with the streamer in recent months.

During its initial push to add podcasts in 2025, Netflix insisted that podcasters pull their video shows off YouTube. That would be a tough ask for some creators and publishers who’ve built big businesses on YouTube. (It did some early deals with creators like Ms. Rachel that didn’t have that requirement.)

Now, Netflix is regularly talking about licensing shows and podcasts without requiring them to leave YouTube, the two people said.

“It’s a real change,” one person involved in the discussions said.

However, podcasters and other creators will still have to consider whether being available on Netflix will cannibalize their YouTube audience — and if the licensing fee Netflix pays will make up for it.

• McClard’s has kept its barbecue sauce recipe in a bank vault for decades.
• The Arkansas barbecue restaurant has been family-owned since 1928.
• Bill Clinton once had McClard’s ribs flown to the White House.

Some family recipes are tucked away in a kitchen drawer or written down in a dusty recipe book.

At McClard’s Bar-B-Q in Arkansas, one family recipe is considered so valuable that it’s locked away in a bank vault.

The nearly century-old barbecue institution has been serving customers since 1928, and four generations of the McClard family have helped preserve the restaurant’s traditions.

But perhaps no tradition is more closely guarded than the recipe for its signature barbecue sauce — the recipe that helped transform a roadside tourist station into one of Arkansas’ most beloved restaurants.

Its top-secret barbecue sauce has become part of McClard’s legendary history

According to the restaurant, founders Alex and Gladys McClard operated the Westside Tourist Court, which included a gas station and diner, in the late 1920s.

When a traveler passing through couldn’t pay the roughly $10 he owed after staying for two months, he offered something else instead: a recipe he claimed was for “the world’s greatest barbecue sauce.”

The restaurant said the McClards accepted the recipe in lieu of payment, thinking it was better than nothing, and realized it lived up to the traveler’s promise. The couple began tweaking it to suit their tastes, and before long, their barbecue business became the standout attraction of their tourist court.

Reviewers describe the sauce as hot and spicy, with a rich, vinegary base layer that adds a tangy bite, and say it’s more similar to traditional Carolina barbecue sauces than Texas or Kansas City varieties.

McClard’s Bar-B-Q opened in 1928 and moved to its current location in 1942.

Rather than keeping the couple’s iconic barbecue sauce recipe in the restaurant kitchen, the restaurant says the handwritten recipe is still stored in a safety deposit box at a downtown Hot Springs bank to help ensure it remains protected for future generations.

McClard’s still prepares its sides from longtime family recipes, a tradition that has attracted generations of loyal customers, including presidents.

One of McClard’s most famous fans was former President Bill Clinton

Clinton, who spent much of his childhood in Hot Springs before serving as Arkansas governor and eventually president, remained loyal to the restaurant long after leaving the state.

He was known to be a fan of the restaurant’s spicy sauce, tamale spread, and chicken wings.

The Takeout reported that the then-president would have McClard’s ribs flown to DC on Air Force One, and they were even served at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains.

McClard’s is still a local favorite nearly 100 years after opening

The restaurant’s website said the new generation of ownership at McClard’s continues to see great success.

Each week, the restaurant serves 7,000 pounds of hickory-smoked beef, pork, and ribs, 250 gallons of spicy barbecue beans, 250 gallons of cole slaw, 3,000 hand-rolled hot tamales, and 3,000 pounds of french fries.

What began as payment for an unpaid motel bill has become one of Arkansas’ most enduring culinary traditions — and one secret the McClard family has no intention of letting slip.

• A Manhattan tower that formerly held Pfizer’s headquarters was at risk of collapse, officials said.
• The incident sparked a large emergency response and the evacuation of several buildings.
• FDNY said it found “buckled” columns and “sagging” floors at the high-rise at 235 East 42nd Street.

A Manhattan high-rise that once served as Pfizer’s global headquarters is at risk of collapse on Tuesday after New York City officials said the tower continued to shift hours into a massive emergency response that triggered multiple evacuations.

City officials warned at a Tuesday afternoon press conference that conditions at the under-construction 38-story building at 235 East 42nd Street were “extremely serious” and “dangerous.”

“The concern is that since we have been on site in the early morning, we have seen continued shift of the structure,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

New York City Fire Department Chief John Esposito said that since the building is a steel-frame building, “it would not be a total collapse.”

“It would be more of a localized collapse, but that remains our concern, that it’s moving,” Esposito said.

Esposito added that a “collapse zone” has been set up.

FDNY officials said the department initially received a call about reports of falling bricks from the high-rise just before 8 a.m. ET.

After emergency responders arrived at the building, they found two support columns “buckled” on the 21st and 22nd floors, as well as “sagging” floors between the 21st and 26th floors.

The building was quickly evacuated, and other surrounding buildings were also evacuated as a precaution.

No injuries were reported, and Mamdani said that all construction workers who had been inside the building at 235 East 42nd Street were accounted for.

“Two structural columns have buckled, in addition to multiple cracks and sagging floors. The building remains unstable,” Mamdani said during the afternoon press conference.

Video footage circulating on social media appears to show structural steel beams bending inside the building.

New York City Department of Buildings commissioner Ahmed Tigani said crews will enter the building only after it’s deemed safe.

“Once we can determine that it’s safe to enter the building, we will then, in concert with the contractors, ownership, and with consultation with FDNY, be able to deploy plans to shore up that floor, and then continue to investigate further for any other weak points that need further help shoring,” Tigani said.

The former Pfizer headquarters is undergoing a major conversion from office space into a 1,600-unit residential rental development with a quarter of the units reserved for affordable housing.

The project, developed by the firm MetroLoft, is slated for completion early next year and is expected to include ground-floor retail space and 100,000 square feet of amenities.

Representatives for MetroLoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.

MetroLoft says on its website that upon completion, the project will be New York City’s “largest office to residential conversion to date.”

• As a Costco employee of 20 years, I love seeing the new items that come into the warehouse.
• This month, an eight-piece Calpak luggage set caught my eye.
• I also think the Upper Cut snack pack is a great way to get your protein in.

Even though I’ve been working at Costco for two decades, I still get excited to see the new items that come into the warehouse.

This month, the store is stocked with everything from chic luggage sets to outdoor-entertaining essentials. Here are seven items that caught my eye.

The Calpak 8-piece luggage set has everything you need to stay organized while traveling.

If you’re prepping for summer travel, I recommend checking out this eight-piece luggage set from Calpak.

It includes everything you need to stay organized while traveling — a 28-inch suitcase, a 20-inch carry on, three packing cubes, a laundry bag, a shoe bag, and a luggage tag.

I love that the roller bags have 360-degree spinning wheels, which make it easy to transport the bags through the airport. Plus, the set is on sale for $30 off until July 19.

Costco superfans will love these reusable shopping bags.

Costco’s four-pack of reusable shopping bags is perfect for fans of the warehouse.

Decorated with some of Costco’s most popular items, like the famous $1.50 hot dog and bakery items, these durable bags are great for grocery shopping or everyday use. There’s even a spot to hold a bottle inside.

Plus, they’re easy to fold for compact storage.

The Upper Cut snack pack is a great way to get your protein in.

The Upper Cut tapas snack pack is like a mini charcuterie board with white-cheddar cheese, crackers, salami, and dark-chocolate-covered cranberries.

It’s great if you’re looking for a protein-packed lunch or a quick on-the-go snack.

Illuminate your space with the Infinity X1 wireless lights.

Although this product is called an under-cabinet light, it can be used in closets, pantries, office spaces, or anywhere that could benefit from better illumination.

Each box comes with three Infinity X1 wireless rechargeable lights that are easy to install. There’s also a remote that allows you to adjust the lights to your desired color temperature.

Instead of going to the drive-thru, I like to pick up a box of Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccinos.

The ready-to-drink Bolthouse Farms mocha cappuccinos can be found in the refrigerated section at Costco.

Made with Arabica coffee, rich cocoa, and milk, this is the perfect grab-and-go solution for busy days.

The Excello Global Products pole set makes it easy to hang string lights.

Nothing screams summer quite like a backyard decorated in string lights. However, they can be tricky to hang without the right equipment.

Luckily, the Excello Global Products poles are easy to stick in the ground or mount on a deck. The set comes with all the brackets and screws needed for installation.

However, keep in mind the lights are sold separately.

The Ryl Co. iced teas are the perfect summer treat.

If you’re looking for a refreshing summer drink without loads of sugar or calories, you might want to pick up a pack of The Ryl Co. iced teas.

Each variety pack comes with 15 cans of iced tea in raspberry, Rocket Pop, and Southern sweet tea flavors.

Costco was not involved in the sourcing or writing of this story. The views contained within represent the author’s personal views.