retail

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Black Friday Brings Out the Shoppers

Consumers not too downtrodden for 5am campouts

(Newser) - Economic woes didn’t prevent shoppers from camping out outside stores across the country this morning, as retailers offered especially deep Black Friday discounts. Most opened early as well, with some, including Wal-Mart and many Old Navy stores, opening yesterday to get a jump on things. Toys R Us opened...

Requiem for the Soft Sell of the Catalog

As retailers focus online, the 'serene' paper version will be missed

(Newser) - Greg Beato couldn’t care less about the impending demise of print stalwarts like newspapers and magazines, but he will shed a tear when the flood of mail-order catalogs in his mailbox slows to a trickle. Where online shopping is “largely functional,” and TV ads “noisy and...

How Twilight Rescued Hot Topic
 How Twilight 
 Rescued Hot Topic 
bloodthirsty
Nov 20, 2009 11:34 AM CST

How Twilight Rescued Hot Topic

Goth retail mainstay is relevant again thanks to books, films

(Newser) - Like much of America, Ylan Q. Mui had forgotten all about Hot Topic, the mall mainstay for baby Goth merchandise—and then Twilight came along and made the store relevant again. The uber-popular vampire franchise “accomplished what the store had tried but failed to do: It made goth mainstream,...

JC Penney Ditching 'Big Book' Catalog

Oversize book was a relic in Internet age

(Newser) - Retailer JC Penney is discontinuing its Big Book—the 1,000-page catalog as big as a telephone book—as customers increasingly buy from jcp.com. The Penney Big Book has long been a cultural fixture for many, but younger customers aren't following suit. "It was an outdated way of...

iPhone Users Get Leg Up on Black Friday

App lets shoppers check deals, and rumored deals

(Newser) - If you’re already getting your Black Friday game face on, consider making the Black Friday app the first thing on your shopping list. The free program from dealnews can keep you up to date on both officially announced bargains and deals that have “leaked,” and lets you...

Women Drive Recovery, But Dissed By Retail

Biz approach to females: take 'a male product and paint it pink'

(Newser) - Women who shop til they drop are stimulating the economy more than any Ben Bernanke, but the planet's greatest spending bloc feels dissed by retailers and service providers. Women control $20 trillion in annual consumer spending in the world—a figure likely to climb to $28 trillion by 2014. Despite...

Be Balloon Boy for Halloween
 Be Balloon Boy for Halloween 
Oct 22, 2009 5:38 PM CDT

Be Balloon Boy for Halloween

Canadian company hawks costume

(Newser) - It was inevitable: a Canadian model airplane company is selling “Balloon Boy” Halloween costumes on its website. For $19.99, you get a 38-inch mylar balloon with a small gondola. Supply your own helium, cardboard box, and string, notes ABC Denver. "Now you, too, can enjoy all the...

Target Will Pay Shoppers to Bring Their Own Bags
 Target Will Pay Shoppers
 to Bring Their Own Bags 
green & green
Oct 19, 2009 2:31 PM CDT

Target Will Pay Shoppers to Bring Their Own Bags

Large retailers join smaller niche stores to offer rebates for reusing

(Newser) - Target and CVS will reward customers for using reusable shopping bags, and the efforts could take a billion plastic bags out of circulation. Though some retailers—notably Wal-Mart—have been slow to hop on the eco bandwagon, initiatives at smaller chains such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have met...

Neiman 'Fantasy Gift' Pricetags Plummet to Mere $250K

Slowdown scales down costs as even super-rich turn 'frugal'

(Newser) - The slowdown in luxury spending has spurred Neiman Marcus to make its "fantasy items" in this year's Christmas catalog a lot less fantastic than in years past. For the first time in a decade there's no $1 million-plus items on offer, like the $20 million submarine offered in 2000...

Christmas in September Leaves Shoppers Cold

No, you're not crazy, it is still September

(Newser) - Look around your local department store, and you might encounter a ridiculous site: a Christmas display. Yes, retailers are already decking their halls, desperate to get a piece of consumers’ dwindling holiday budgets before their competitors do. Consumers aren't buying it. “You can’t get in the Christmas spirit...

Abercrombie Sues Beyoncé Over Fierce Fragrance

Retailer says it's already trademarked the name

(Newser) - Abercrombie & Fitch has filed a lawsuit against Beyoncé in a tussle over her new fragrance, named for alter ego Sasha Fierce, Women's Wear Daily reports. A&F says it has owned the Fierce trademark since 2003, and that her plan "poses a likelihood of confusion" in the big-bucks...

Apple Stores Defy Recession's Bite on Retailers

(Newser) - Recession or no recession, customers have kept lining up to buy iPhones and other Apple products, Bloomberg reports. Apple’s store revenues grew 2.5% over the first six months of 2009, even as retail sales overall fell 9.2%. In New York, where boutiques on Fifth Avenue are largely...

Your Lowly Penny Can Actually Buy Something

Retailers lure back to school shoppers with 1¢ gimmick

(Newser) - Retailers, scrambling to connect with the fragile consumer psyche, have turned to the lowly penny for a boost, offering everything from clothing to crayons for a single cent, the LA Times reports. Nearly taken out of circulation three years ago, the penny may be a lousy coin, but it’s...

Lousy Retail Sales Will Delay Recovery

Recession isn't over as far as consumers are concerned

(Newser) - If the recession is indeed waning, nobody told consumers. Retailers of every kind reported lousy sales for the quarter ended Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reports. Target’s same-store sales fell 6.2%, Home Depot’s dropped 9.1% and Saks’ plummeted a whopping 15.5%. And with unemployment,...

New Kiss Disc to Land at Wal-Mart

Group becomes latest classic band to move merch through retailer

(Newser) - The deal was sealed with a Kiss: the heavy metal band is joining the ranks of classic bands releasing their music through Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, the AP reports. Their new collection, “Sonic Boom,” comes out Oct. 6 only at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club; it...

Michelle Inspires Shoppers—All the Way to the Hospital

Quest for Talbots dress KOs one imitator

(Newser) - Michelle Obama’s taste for off-the-rack clothes has been a boon for retailers—but occasionally hairy for shoppers. The $169 sleeveless rose-print Talbots dress Obama donned for her Essence magazine cover shoot has become the struggling retailer's best-selling item, the Boston Herald reports. And so anxious was one Dallas shopper...

Ho-Ho-Hold on a Minute, Xmas in July?

Stores launch summer promotions to snag holiday dollars early

(Newser) - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in malls across the country as stores angle for some extremely early holiday dollars, the Wall Street Journal reports. Retailers like Toys'R'US, Sears and Kmart have dragged Santa away from his summer break and launched July Christmas promotions, hoping to boost sales...

France May Ease Century-Old Ban on Sunday Shopping

(Newser) - France's Senate next week is expected to overturn a century-old law prohibiting most businesses in the country from opening on Sundays, CNN reports. The 1906 measure was intended to ensure a day of rest for the populace, and parties on the left and the right have been vocal in their...

Microsoft Ad Campaign Gets Under Apple's Skin

Laptop-browsing spot may be boosting Microsoft's 'value perception'

(Newser) - Apple demanded Microsoft ditch TV ads featuring shoppers mulling the relative value of PCs and Macs, CNET reports. In the ads, which Microsoft’s chief operating officer calls “completely unscripted,” shoppers get to keep money they save by choosing a PC over a Mac. “We got a...

Wal-Mart Plans Eco-Rating Labels

(Newser) - Wal-Mart plans to begin asking suppliers to provide info on the environmental impact of their operations so the store can put so-called green rating labels on its products, the Wall Street Journal reports.The first cards probably won't appear for a few years, but given Wal-Mart's clout as the world's...

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