On Black Friday itself Americans spent $11.4 billion but that's nothing compared to what we spent over the Thursday-Sunday "Black Friday" holiday weekend. According to the National Retail Foundation $52 billion dollars were spent in that period! And, if the NYC Economic Development Corporation is correct, a whole lot of that cash was spent here in town. more ›

When Four Loko was pushed to remove caffeine from their formula, we wondered: is it even worth drinking anymore? Apparently the answer is no. Senator Klein and Commissioner Farley can stop worrying about removing the drinks from bodega shelves, because everyone realized that without the caffeine high they were just drinking jolly ranchers dissolved in malt liquor, and that's disgusting. more ›

As we've been saying all along, Charlie Sheen's shows at Radio City Music Hall never sold out, despite what the NY Post, TMZ, and other outlets have been reporting. Ever since they've gone on sale it's been possible to buy tickets via Ticketmaster (see for yourself)... which has those who bought in bulk hoping to turn a profit in rough shape. According to the Daily News, there are more than 2,800 seats for Sheen's upcoming New York shows available on StubHub, and plenty more on Craigslist going for below face value. Maybe the MaSheen should consider having LCD Soundsystem open (or headline!) his shows. more ›

Sex and the City fans are already getting Carried Away, buying tickets far in advance for the May 27th opening of the movie. The Hollywood Reporter notes "it was nearly 20% of [Fandango's] daily sales when it first went on sale, outpacing Kick-Ass, which was 17% of sales." more ›

Even in spite of the at-times-pouring rain, shoppers flocked to stores yesterday to take advantage of big sales—and perhaps return some Christmas gifts. With items on sale for 60-75% off, there were deals, but only if you could find the products. One woman told 1010WINS that she had been eyeing $11.99 pajamas at a JC Penney before Christmas, "Now there's nothing. Everything's been picked over." more ›

Anecdotal reports suggest that crowds on Black Friday—the day after Thanksgiving—were up compared to last year, but retailers won't know how that translated into sales for another few days. Macy's president and CEO Terry Lundgren told the NY Times that over 5,000 waited outside the Herald Square location yesterday (more than last year) and said this year's customer was going to be more careful, "They've got a budget that they’ve planned to spend and I think most consumers will stick to that. We expect that this will be a market-share holiday season. We don’t need consumers to spend more money. We just need to make them spend more money with us." more ›

Depending on which real estate brokerage's report you read, Manhattan home sales have fallen by either 47% or 58% during the first quarter of 2009. The NY Times, using the 58% number (from a Brown Harris Stevens & Halsted report), put the news in perspective this way: "The drop in sales was worse than the decline in the auto industry. In March, sales at General Motors were off 45 percent from March 2008." more ›

More Americans are coping with the economy's crash by chasing a sugar high, if sales data on mass-produced proletariat candies are to be believed. Up until the fourth quarter of last year, sales of candies like Hershey Kisses, Gummy Bears, and Jelly Bellies were losing out to fancy, high-end brands; now, according to Edgar Roesch, a food analyst with Soleil Securities, that trend has been reversed. Cadbury reported a 30% rise in profits for 2008, and Nestle’s profits grew by 10.9%. At Economy Candy on the Lower East Side, owner Jerry Cohen has had to increase his orders by 10%. Of course, there's always a down side to the sugar high. Liz Josefsberg, who runs Weight Watchers meetings in Manhattan, tells the Times candy talk has dominated recent meetings: "I’m hearing a lot about Skittles and Mary Janes." (Though if Mary Jane's your problem, you're probably in the wrong meeting.) And there may be a historical precedent for the current candy renaissance; it's worth noting that Snickers, Tootsie Pops, Mars bars with almonds, and Three Musketeers were all introduced during the Great Depression. more ›

Meet Janet Faello (and pop a Zoloft): The 53-year-old divorcee with two daughters in college has been trying since May 2007 to sell her and her ex's Long Island 6-bedroom home. Her initial asking price was $829,000, then $750,000, now $699,000. Care to guess how many offers she's gotten? If you said anything more than zero, you're not depressed enough. Faello, whose experience is emblematic of the current housing implosion, is stuck in the home, surrounded by memories of her failed marriage and steep property taxes. She tells the Times, "I’m not ashamed to say to you, I have had to borrow money from my father." The article paints a bleak portrait of NYC suburbanites who feel like hostages in homes they can't sell. Pending home sales in the Northeast fell 14.5% from December 2007 to December 2008, and are not expected to "hit rock bottom" for at least another year. As one frustrated Connecticut home seller puts it, "Sometimes dreams just blow away." For further reading, curl up with a bottle of pills and George Packer's disturbing article about Florida's housing apocalypse. more ›

The big real estate brokerages released their 2008 4th quarter reports, and here's how the NY Times put it: "For those New Yorkers who wondered what the Manhattan real estate market might be like without the ever-rising bonuses of Wall Street’s elite, the answer is now emerging: an abrupt decline in transactions, tottering prices and buyers who are still looking but unwilling to sign a contract. " more ›

Doesn't your heart just bleed for the luckless developers who saturated our fair city with luxury condos on the eve of this catastrophic economic collapse? Despite a concerted effort by brokers to manufacture the illusion that they're making sales, industry insiders tell The Real Deal that "little or no sales activity has taken place since the fall of Lehman Brothers in September." One top dog at a residential brokerage firm says "sales of condominiums in buildings which are not in final stages of completion of units are far and few," and at least 10% of scheduled closings are falling through because of purchasers' inability to secure mortgage financing. And some buildings, like Magic Johnson's nearly-complete Viridian monstrosity in Greenpoint (pictured), are switching to rental. But really, shouldn't they all just skip the formality and go straight to squat? more ›

The addition of Katie Holmes to the cast of the upcoming production of All My Sons has done zilch to boost advance ticket sales, according to the Post. "I bought 1,000 tickets to the show," says one broker. "I still have them." Another wonders, "Where are all the Scientologists? Don't they want to see her?" Sure they do, but who has money left for theater after all those expensive classes on the way to OT VIII? The Post also has it that the cast has been forced to sign confidentiality agreements to keep them from blabbing about Holmes’s behavior to evil SPs. more ›

The new Joker action figure modeled after the late Heath Ledger has started arriving in stores and is reportedly flying off the shelves, as toy collectors scoop up as many of the snuff toys as they can get their hands on. After completing filming on The Dark Night, Ledger died in January from a prescription drug overdose. more ›

Stores were packed with post-Christmas shoppers, as retailers marked down their products in hopes of boosting holidays sales. So far, holiday period sales are up 3.6%, which is the "lower end" of expectations according to MasterCard Advisors. more ›