shopping

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Japan Loses Its Taste for Luxury

From food to handbags, high-cost items are suffering

(Newser) - Hundred-dollar melons and pricey designer handbags used to sell so well in Japan that companies considered luxury goods a mass-market sector. But while the Japanese kept on shopping through previous recessions, this one has produced a sea change. The luxury industry has been hard hit, and the change may be...

Baby Crap You Don't Need
 Baby Crap 
 You Don't 
 Need 
Sep 16, 2009 11:47 AM CDT

Baby Crap You Don't Need

(Newser) - If you’ve had a few kids, you know that you don’t need half of the baby products littering the shelves of Babies “R” Us, but new parents are easy prey for marketers. Brad Tuttle offers a list of the silliest, most useless crap in Time:
  • Crib bedding
...

Man Charged With Striking Stranger's Child

Annoyed by crying, Ga. shopper pledged to 'shut her up for you'

(Newser) - A Georgia man is being held on charges of felony cruelty to children after he slapped a stranger’s crying child in Wal-Mart, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Roger Stephens, 61, approached the mother and said, “If you don’t shut that baby up, I will shut her up for...

Website Finds Others to Do Your Chores

RunMyErrand.com pairs doers with can't-be-bothereds

(Newser) - The Internet is often considered a time waster—now it can be a time saver, too. RunMyErrand is a Boston-based startup that has other people do your pesky chores for you, Mashable reports. A typical errand (grocery shopping or returning something to the store, say) costs less than $10. The...

Long Receipts Get Shoppers in a Twist

But some like the extra coupons

(Newser) - Buy a pack of gum at a New York drugstore, get a foot-long receipt. That’s just one example of the paper-trail overload generated by many retailers in recent years, the Wall Street Journal reports. What was once a record of your purchase has become a ribbon of countless coupons,...

Back to School Sales in Slump
 Back to School Sales in Slump 
Aug 15, 2009 5:20 AM CDT

Back to School Sales in Slump

(Newser) - Retailers are seeing the slowest back-to-school season in many years as consumers cling to their cash, the New York Times reports. Estimates on sales, an early indicator of how stores will fare in the holiday season, show declines of 3 to 8% from last year, which saw a 1% increase....

Mizrahi Hits Cable TV, Hawks Cheesecake

(Newser) - Fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi is back, designing for Liz Claiborne, hosting a Bravo show, and … hawking cheesecake? A new QVC series will follow Mizrahi in his daily life and record his colorful chatter as he sells everything from food to furniture, the Wall Street Journal reports. As for the...

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...

How You Can Shop —and Help the World

A list of retail strategies to do good while you buy

(Newser) - Want to do some shopping and do some good—at the same time? Sandy Stonesifer, writing for Slate, offers some ways to buy for the betterment of humanity:
  • Go for products that donate a portion of proceeds to charity—like Product (Red) iPods, which give to the Global Fund, and
...

Levi Goes Hollywood ... Sort Of
 Levi Goes 
 Hollywood 
 ... Sort Of 

interview
Jun 17, 2009 10:32 AM CDT

Levi Goes Hollywood ... Sort Of

Bristol's baby-daddy wants a reality show

(Newser) - Now that he’s free of the Palins, Levi Johnston is going Hollywood, trying to turn his fame into fortune with acting gigs or a reality show, reports Renata Espinosa of the Daily Beast. She caught up with Johnston and Tank Jones, the giant style-conscious black lawyer who’s acting...

Old Days&mdash;Good and Bad&mdash;Are Back: Noonan
Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan
OPINION
Apr 17, 2009 10:36 AM CDT

Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan

In slump, simple pleasures are chic as traditional values gain

(Newser) - Reading about a Michigan family that shed modern excess in favor of a self-sufficient farm life didn't strike Peggy Noonan as shocking in these economic times. Her fellow New Yorkers have already begun responding to the same forces, causing Noonan to predict the rise of "a certain authenticity chic,...

Some UK Advice for US Topshop Virgins
 Some UK Advice for 
 US Topshop Virgins 
OPINION
Mar 31, 2009 2:32 PM CDT

Some UK Advice for US Topshop Virgins

(Newser) - The wildly popular British clothing store Topshop opens its first outpost in New York this week, and Emily Rotberg has advice for uninitiated Americans. First and foremost, “don’t be afraid to push" she writes in the Guardian. "They’re not your friends.” Other nuggets:
  • "Sales
...

Marketers Bank on Women in Recession

(Newser) - Some recession-wary companies are marketing more to women these days, the Economist reports. After all, women make more than 80% of discretionary buys in America, and are more loyal, product-plugging (or bashing) customers. But one expert says the strategy could turn off male buyers in traditionally masculine marketing areas like...

Consumer Spending Rises in Jan.

But experts don't expect boost to last

(Newser) - Consumer spending rose in January after falling for a record 6 consecutive months, pushed higher by purchases of food and other non-durable items. But the increase is expected to be fleeting given the problems facing the US economy. Spending rose 0.6% in January, better than the 0.4% gain...

Stop Shopping, Spend $$$ on Good Times: Study

You'll be happier buying experiences

(Newser) - Can you buy happiness? Maybe, but don't try buying it at the mall, according to a new study, which concludes that spending money on experiences—like a vacation or a night out—will make you happier than spending it on shoes. Researchers say that’s likely because experiences tend to...

'Sea Change' In Store for Retail

Shops to shut, brands to fold as bankruptcies soar

(Newser) - Shaken by a tough holiday season and bracing for more trouble, the retail scene may look very different in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some stores will be reducing inventory and cutting suppliers, which could force small manufacturers to fold. Retail bankruptcies could abound. "We will have a...

Storms Threaten to Wipe Out Retailers' Last Hopes

Double whammy for desperate stores struggling to sell in last holiday week

(Newser) - Retailers were extending hours and cutting prices deeper in a last-ditch attempt to attract a final wave of holiday shoppers and mitigate the impact of major storms in the Midwest, Northwest and Northeast, Reuters reports. Some two-thirds of shoppers still have holiday shopping left to do, according to surveys, but...

Shopping: Patriotic, or Soul-Killing?

Wouldn't we rather have factories than malls?

(Newser) - These days, it’s patriotic to be a shopaholic. “We neurotically monitor the retailers' latest financial results and our identification with the fortunes of the big stores seems absolute,” writes Andrew Martin of the Guardian. But Martin suspects we’re just waking up to the fundamental absurdity of...

Where Have All the Girdles Gone?
 Where Have All 
 the Girdles Gone? 
Commentary
Dec 6, 2008 6:03 PM CST

Where Have All the Girdles Gone?

Daphne Merkin hunts for anti-gym fix

(Newser) - In these belt-tightening times, Daphne Merkin wonders why she can't find a decent girdle.  Spanx abound and corsets have been re-conceived as fetish objects or ironic fashion statements, but the real body armor has become taboo, she writes in the New York Times T Magazine. "Try Brighton Beach,...

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