consumer trends

A spooky retail season

The Costume Closet, a Kapahulu-based costume rental and sales store, achieved record sales last year. "It was our best year ever," said owner Yvette LaFontaine, who opened her year-round small business in 1991. "I even... more »

Deb & Co. Gives Two Paws Up For Pets This Holiday Season

(BUENA VISTA, Va.) -- Many memorialize the Christmas holidays annually by purchasing a keepsake ornament, like baby's first Christmas or a couple's first Christmas together, and now it's time to share that tradition with our... more »

The Buzz: Retailers hope season bright

In all of the dour retail and economic news, there are glimmers of cheer.But you need to look for them.As retailers prepare for the start of the Christmas shopping season, there are glass-half-full types charging... more »

Seda France Home Fragrances Expands Operations, Bucks Economic Downturn

(AUSTIN, TX) – Seda France Home Fragrances of Austin is expanding its operations with a 5% increase in workforce and the addition of 18,000 square feet of office, warehouse and production space to create and... more »

Two Leading Gift Companies Merge

(Bloomingdale, IL, Bainbridge, IN) -- Roman, Inc. and Cottage Garden Collections, two award-winning, family-run gift companies well known in the industry for their inspiration and sentiment product lines, have announced a merger effective October 15,... more »

Monrovia’s ‘Main Street’ copes with tough times

Monrovia, CA -- There are no palm trees on Myrtle Avenue. This pleases Hollywood location scouts, who frequently dispatch film crews here when they need a backdrop that suggests a town in the American heartland.... more »

Half of Americans Plan to Shop “Green” This Holiday Season, Survey Says

Madison, VA — Call it a "Green Christmas." A recent national survey commissioned by Plow & Hearth, one of the country's leading retailers, found that half of Americans plan to purchase an environmentally friendly gift... more »

City seeks ideas for downtown

Farmington, NM — Not enough people shop downtown, so Shawn Carlson and Frances Maness are moving their business east. The owners of antiques shop Regenerated Treasures decided not to renew their three-year lease on the... more »