Based on its annual return policy survey, Consumer World says that shoppers will find returns easier this year in some stores because of more lenient rules, while a few other sellers are becoming more strict. According to the National Retail Federation, 11 percent of stores are loosening their policies, while 17 percent are clamping down. [...]
Local thrift stores saw an increase in foot traffic this holiday season as customers searched for bargains. Store managers expect that trend to continue in 2009 as the recession deepens. Customers buy secondhand for a number of reasons, from wanting to stretch their dollars to buying recycled goods because it’s the green thing to do. [...]
Celebration, Florida, is often known as the “town that Disney built.” Situated outside Orlando, near the junction of I-4 and 192, it’s a quiet oasis in the midst of the theme park bustle and the tourist strip loaded with tacky souvenir shops and Sony stores. Many myths persist about Celebration. Here are three common ones: [...]
Only in hindsight does John and Terry Kiskaddon’s decision to move their plus-sized women’s clothier, Harper Greer Inc., from its 18-year-old location in South of Market into a tonier, newly remodeled space in Union Square seem like bad timing. The couple, who have been in the retail and wholesale business for 30 years, spent about [...]
After a very un-merry shopping season, stores are offering major sales after Christmas in the hope that customers with gift cards and returns will buy what’s left of inventories. “I got two pairs of jeans for about $40 and they would’ve cost me $100 if they were the regular price,” shopper Alexus Creel said on [...]
A couple of years ago I took the family on a winter vacation to New York City to soak up the holiday atmosphere. The longest lines that week weren’t in the Empire State Building lobby, at the Statue of Liberty ferry or any of the Big Apple’s other landmarks, but in a breezy plaza at [...]
Shoppers at Galleria Dallas found no crowds, easy parking and sales this morning as they made last-minute purchases for Christmas. While analysts say the recession, tighter credit and more layoffs have squeezed consumer budgets and retail studies have shown declining sales for major U.S. chains, shoppers at the mall today said the economy was not [...]
Local shoppers are calling the day after Christmas another “Black Friday,” as the prices of some items are lower now than they were just two days ago. While they walked out of the stores with plenty of bags, not all post-holiday bargain-hunters came away entirely satisfied. While many of the big retailers are desperate to [...]
Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN network settled a lawsuit by clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. over the cable channel’s logo for the international X Games competition. Quiksilver, based in Huntington Beach, said ESPN had violated a trademark. The companies didn’t disclose the details of the settlement in papers filed jointly Monday in federal court in New York. [...]
Wrapping up a tough holiday-shopping season, Central Floridians headed to malls and stores Christmas Eve mostly to pick up a few last-minute gifts. Many were in search of greeting cards, toys and gifts for people they had forgotten — although some had waited until the last minute even to begin their holiday shopping. But shoppers [...]