Adrienne Radtke plans to keep riding her bike to work even if gas prices drop.
A cyclist rides past a gas station in Santa Monica, California, last Wednesday. The soaring price of consumer goods, pushed up by oil price hikes, is reshaping the lifestyle of some Americans. AP
Steve Pizzini got rid of his Cadillac Escalade in favor of a 16-year-old Acura and does not expect to have another gas-guzzler.
"I had a paradigm shift," said Pizzini, a financial analyst. "I spent the money on a nice car. But to me, it's not worth it. I don't think I will go that route again."
Every economic downturn changes shoppers in some way.
But this time, experts say the new behavior - fueled by higher gas and food prices, tightening credit and a slumping housing market - are the most dramatic and widespread that they have seen since the mid-1970s.
So America's retailers, marketers and investors are all trying to figure out which habits shoppers will keep and which will they drop when the economy recovers.
Will the people who switched to store-brand ice cream go back to Breyers or Edy's?
Will shoppers return to department stores or keep looking for labels at discount prices at T.J. Maxx?
"We are looking at stuff that reminds me of the 1970s," said Patricia Edwards of investment manager Wentworth Hauser and Violich.
"Americans have seen a huge amount of their balance sheet evaporate. The effects will be more lingering."
