Christmas Eve shoppers avoid crowds Rick Ruggles / Omaha World-Herald The shop clock expired Friday with a pop, not a bang. Malls in the metro area attracted reasonably high numbers of customers, but they were far from swamped. Janice Opal wore a Santa hat as she roamed Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs for […]

Sarasota-area cash registers ringing loudly Kevin McQuaid / Sarasota Herald-Tribune Shoppers are flooding Southwest Florida stores in the days leading up to Christmas, providing a much needed — and hoped for — boost to area retailers. At the SuperTarget off University Parkway late Wednesday morning, holiday buyers packed aisles to sift through merchandise, seek bargains […]

7 tips to use to get deals, make returns Ely Portillo / Charlotte Observer With Christmas and gift-giving one day behind us, it’s time to hit the stores again. This time, shoppers are searching for day-after-Christmas bargains and trying to quietly return that unwanted gift – maybe the sweater their mother-in-law gave them. We talked […]

It’s crunch time for last-minute holiday shoppers Hubble Smith / Las Vegas Review-Journal It’s crunch time in the holiday shopping season, time to check your list twice and make one final drive to department stores and malls for those last-minute gifts. After nearly a week of steady rainfall, Las Vegas is feeling some pent-up demand […]

Holidays prove the power of online shopping David Kaplan / Houston Chronicle The 2010 Christmas shopping season is over, but trends that came out of it should reverberate for years to come. They point to the growing importance of the digital world in retail. Online sales increased dramatically this holiday season, and consumers took advantage […]

Retailers optimistic about critical shopping weekend Tim Tressler / Dayton Daily News This weekend is a critical time for retailers even as poor weather conditions could hamper shoppers’ plans. But retailers and analysts said Friday they remain optimistic that holiday-season sales will show at least a modest increase over last year. Jeff Green, a retail […]