holiday shopping

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Chill Out, Activists: Working Black Friday Is Fun

There are other ways to fight for retail employees: Angela Harmon

(Newser) - People like to hate on Black Friday and its gradual encroachment onto Thanksgiving, often "offering righteous indignation on behalf of retail workers who can’t spend the holiday with their families," writes Angela Harmon on Salon . But as a former retail employee who volunteered to work the midnight...

What Stores Are Doing to Prevent Black Friday Freakouts

Tickets, Segways, live bands aim to keep shoppers calm

(Newser) - Ever since a Walmart worker was trampled to death five years ago on Black Friday, the chain has increased its efforts to ensure safe shopping. Now, a range of top retailers are trying everything from live music to off-duty police hires to prevent a recurrence of the tragedy. Among their...

Hate Crowds? Shop Dec. 4
 Hate Crowds? 
 Shop Dec. 4 
Nov 29, 2013 8:53 AM CST

Hate Crowds? Shop Dec. 4

Wednesday will be least-busy holiday shopping day: analysts

(Newser) - If you're willing to sacrifice a deal or two for some peace, Dec. 4 is the holiday shopping day for you. Wednesday will be the quietest day of the season, says ShopTrak, a firm that tracks shopping across 750 top brands. The deals are particularly plentiful on Black Friday...

Do Not Buy These 6 Things on Black Friday

24/7 Wall St. lists the worst deals of retail's busiest day

(Newser) - You may be looking to spend less this holiday season—a Gallup poll says buyers will shell out an average $704 on presents, down from $770 last year—so 24/7 Wall St. wants to help you out. In order to get the most bang for your buck this Black Friday,...

Sears Owner Defies Thanksgiving Order

The day is for family, she tells head office

(Newser) - If you want to go appliance shopping on Thanksgiving evening, forget about doing it at the Sears Hometown store in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Franchise owner Holly Cassiano says it only took a couple of seconds for her to decide to angrily reject the head office's order to open at...

Here's How to Fix 'Black Thursday': Stay Home

Just ... don't ... shop. It's pretty simple: Ellen Galinsky

(Newser) - Based on the Facebook outrage and all the online petitions, a huge chunk of America is pretty upset about the growing trend of stores opening on Thanksgiving Day. But, uh, the way to fix this has nothing to do with signing a petition and posting it on your Facebook wall,...

In Gwyneth's Holiday Gift Guide: $100 Slingshot

Entire guide would set you back $23K

(Newser) - Gwyneth Paltrow has released her GOOP holiday gift guide , and let us start by reminding you that this is the woman who brought you the $90 white T-shirt and who considers $970 glitter boots to be an "essential" wardrobe item. The gift guide is predictably amusing, and E! runs...

Height of All Leg Lamps Amazon Sold: Tall as Everest
Height of All Leg Lamps Amazon Sold: Tall as Everest
holiday shopping
Dec 28, 2012 12:22 PM CST

Height of All Leg Lamps Amazon Sold: Tall as Everest

Amazon shares its quirkiest holiday shopping stats

(Newser) - Holiday spending may have been Scrooge-like , but it's not like we didn't shop at all. In fact, Amazon sold an eye-popping 26.5 million items on Cyber Monday alone, according to a post-Christmas press release that gives us a peek at the company's seasonal sales. The Wall ...

Not Very Merry: Holiday Spending Was Scrooge-Like

Shoppers eying fiscal cliff, storms sat on their wallets

(Newser) - With Christmas officially in the rearview, the first snapshot of holiday spending is rolling in and the picture isn't too pretty: In the two months leading up to Christmas, sales of popular gift items like electronics and apparel grew only .7%—a measly increase well below analysts' expectation of...

Earthly Riches Abound at Vatican's Duty-Free Store

Opulent, little-known department store sits behind St. Peter's Basilica

(Newser) - Money might not buy you a ticket to heaven, but at the Vatican's duty-free store, $3,840 can buy a 65-inch Samsung TV for that devout Christian on your list who has everything. The AP takes a look at the little-known three-story commercial haven that sits mere steps away...

Stop Giving 'Disgusting' Grapefruit as a Holiday Gift

This terrible tradition needs to die: Katy Waldman

(Newser) - It's the holidays, which means some clueless older relative is sure to force a grapefruit or 12 upon you. Giving grapefruit as a holiday gift started up during the Great Depression, because people wanted their gifts to be "nourishing" during such tough times. But the tradition—the absolute...

Stores Make Holiday Shopping Awful On Purpose
Stores Make Holiday Shopping Awful On Purpose
OPINION
Dec 9, 2012 3:57 PM CST

Stores Make Holiday Shopping Awful On Purpose

Oliver Burkeman explains how stores make you miserable to make you spend

(Newser) - Do you hate holiday shopping? Does it sometimes seem like the entire experience—from the lights, to the confusing sales, to the incredibly loud endless renditions of "The Little Drummer Boy"—is designed to make you miserable? Well, that's because it is, Oliver Burkeman writes in today'...

Microsoft Hits Google: Don't Get 'Scroogled'

Media blitz says shopping search results are skewed

(Newser) - Microsoft is trying to skewer Google as a lousy holiday shopping guide in its latest attempt to divert more traffic to its Bing search engine. The attack started today with a marketing campaign focused on a recent change in the way Google operates the part of its search engine devoted...

Coming Tomorrow: First 'Giving Tuesday'

After a weekend of shopping, a time to give back

(Newser) - If the idea of fighting over cheap towels on Black Friday or pretending to work while actually shopping on Cyber Monday just depresses you, here's something that may bring back the holiday spirit: Charitable groups have dubbed tomorrow "Giving Tuesday." As NPR optimistically puts it, the idea...

'12 Days of Christmas' Gifts Will Set You Back $107K

Hey, swans-a-swimming aren't cheap

(Newser) - The perfect gift for that person who seems to have everything? How about 12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords a-leaping, and, well, you get the idea. This year, if you tried to buy all 364 items from the "12 Days of Christmas" song, including that partridge in...

Black Friday: Traffic Up, Sales Down

Thanks to Thursday store openings

(Newser) - There were nearly 308 million store visits on Black Friday this year, a 3.5% increase from last year, but sales were down 1.8% to $11.2 billion, according to a ShopperTrak analysis. Why? Blame stores that actually opened on Thursday night, CNN reports. "While foot traffic did...

10 Crazy Expensive Celeb Gift Ideas

Not sure what to buy? Go with a trip to space

(Newser) - Now that the holiday shopping season has officially begun, you're probably wondering what to get that friend who has everything. Maybe you can score some ideas from this list of the craziest, most expensive gifts of the stars, courtesy of E! :
  • Last year for Christmas, Nick Cannon got wife
...

The Craziest Black Friday Stories, Videos

Inside this year's throngs, crimes

(Newser) - It's not Black Friday until mob violence has erupted at a Walmart. Some of the craziest stories coming out of the day so far:
  • The Atlantic Wire points to two videos of crazy-looking throngs fighting over cheap cellphones at Walmart, and Mediaite has video of hundreds of young girls
...

Most Americans Plan to 'Self-Gift' ... to Tune of $140

We love shopping ... for ourselves

(Newser) - Go ahead and buy yourself that discounted cashmere sweater today. You deserve it. Wait. What? You had already planned to do just that? Yeah, we thought so. The National Retail Federation reports that "self-gifting" is poised to hit a 10-year high this year, with shoppers set to spend an...

Scenes From Black Friday
 Scenes From Black Friday 
Nov 23, 2012 6:30 AM CST

Scenes From Black Friday

Long lines, but no riots ... yet

(Newser) - So far, no reports of waffle-maker-esque madness yet, as hordes of shoppers descended on stores to snap up the best deals of the year. This year, stores such as Target and Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving evening, while retailers from Macy's to Best Buy opened their doors at...

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