Author: Mae Anderson
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Chipotle hiking prices as it draws more customers
NEW YORK — Chipotle is feeling confident that customers are willing to pay more for its burritos, bowls and tacos. The Mexican food chain said Thursday that it would raise prices in the “mid-single digits” percentage wise for the first time in three years as its popularity continues to grow. Menu boards with the new…
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Fit chic: Gym clothes become fashionable
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So long, dingy sweatpants. Workout clothes for women, once relegated to the back of the closet, are moving to the front of the fashion scene. Yoga pants are the new jeans, neon sports bras have become the “it” accessory and long athletic socks are hipper than high heels. “I’ve actually had more excitement buying workout…
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Battle over shoppers heating up
NEW YORK – This holiday season, it’s Amazon vs. everyone else. The online giant has attracted customers from the likes of Wal-Mart and Best Buy with low prices and convenient shipping. Now, stores are fighting back and going head to head with Amazon as the contest for customers heats up during the busiest shopping period…
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Monster High dolls invade Barbie’s territory
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As far as catfights go, this is a doozy. Barbie, long the reigning queen in the doll world, suddenly has been thrust into the battle of her life. But Barbie’s competitors look nothing like the blue-eyed, blond-haired, long-legged fashion icon. And they don’t have the same old standards of beauty as the aging diva either.…
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Oh the drama! Super Ads go epic
NEW YORK — Super Bowl ads this year morphed into mini soap operas. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson shrugged off aliens so he could get more milk for his kids in a Super Bowl spot for the Milk Processor Education Program. Anheuser-Busch’s commercial told the story of a baby Clydesdale growing up and returning to his…
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Online retailers rev up deals to keep up momentum
NEW YORK • Retail Web sites kept amping up the deals today, the first day after the Thanksgiving holiday, to try to maintain the long weekend’s strong online sales. Though the Web is only about 10 percent of the holiday shopping pie, it’s seen most of the growth so far this year — an encouraging…
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Mattel lead settlement could add up to $50M-plus
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Mattel Inc. and its Fisher-Price subsidiary have agreed to settle a consumer lawsuit for what could total more than $50 million over the 2007 recall of millions of toys made in China that were found to contain high levels of lead. The proposed class action settlement, filed in Los Angeles on…
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Sales at stores – except Wal-Mart – haven’t grown
NEW YORK • Although consumer confidence may be increasing, it’s not showing up at the cash register yet. Many retailers posted disappointing May sales on Thursday, and food and necessities remained high on shoppers’ lists. According a Goldman Sachs/ICSC tally, overall same-store sales fell 4.6 percent, worse than the 3 percent drop predicted. The lower-than-expected…
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4th quarter was unkind to many large companies
NEW YORK • Retailers marched out a series of cheerless results Tuesday for their most important season of the year, the fourth quarter, when consumers seem to have put off buying almost anything they had a choice about. To survive, companies are laying off workers, renewing promotions of their low prices and closing stores and…
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Outlooks point to painful holiday for retailers
NEW YORK • Grim seemed an understatement for the retail sector on Friday, as J.C. Penney Co. and Abercrombie & Fitch Co. posted quarterly profits that fell by about half, and gave outlooks for the rest of the year that were far below Wall Street expectations. These are significant downward revisions and don’t bode well,…