Results tagged “shopping”

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."

       

While many are celebrating the slashed prices today, Reverend Billy and his Stop Shopping Choir are lambasting the Black Friday masses and the corporate overlords that preside over them. This morning the good Rev hit Macy's for his annual Buy Nothing Day. In an op-ed yesterday, he wrote, "We'll be there at 5am, when shoppers who have been up all night wait in line rush the glass doors. This is the human comedy at its most sad, and it is an environmental shopocalypse."

Like clockwork, stores hyped up their Black Friday/Doorbuster sales and potential shoppers waited outside for hours, in hopes of getting great deals. A crowd was waiting outside a Jersey City Best Buy; one person told WCBS 2, "There's a lot of people on this line for laptops, like HP laptops for $197. Normally it's $500 or $600," with another possibly bragging that he "was here yesterday since 12 o'clock in the afternoon"—as in noon on Thanksgiving.

The people behind the Limelight Marketplace have released renderings of their future mall. They tell us "the storied 163-year-old venue in Manhattan’s Flatiron district is being transformed into a three-story shopper’s paradise." When it opens, expect to see jewelry, organic groceries, candy, art, home decor, a salon and a sneaker shop. Do not expect to see club kids, trannies and cocaine-coated floorboards.

A church becomes a nightclub, a nightclub becomes a store, NYC becomes Disney World, and so on. Remember that whole "the limelight is going to be a mall" and then "no, just kidding, it's going to be a film studio" thing? Well it's going to be a store now! The NY Post reports on the latest news surrounding the former famed nightclub, saying the "Jack Menashe, who owned nightclub Lounge in SoHo, is turning the long-vacant, 1849 Gothic Revival church into Limelight Marketplace with the help of designers James Mansour and Melisca Klisanin," whoever they are. Will the ghosts of drugged-up trannies and club kids haunt the soon-to-be shopping mecca?

The British are coming! Surely you've heard of Topshop (and Topman) by now, it's like H&M but with 100% more Kate Moss (in fact, she'll be helping to officially open their flagship U.S. store tomorrow at 11 a.m.). We stopped by their 25,000 square foot Broadway outpost for a press peek earlier today, but it seems the store is a bit camera shy. We did manage to grab a shot when the door cracked open however, and as you can see, the shop is heavily adorned in sunflowers. Interesting.

Animal lovers everywhere can consider themselves victorious. One small step was made for the anti-fur set, as the Humane Society of the US's president announced that, "JCPenney, with more than 1,000 stores in 49 states, has become fur-free, making it the first multiple location, traditional department store to be fur-free in stores and on its website. The company is currently fur-free and has no plans for fur items in the future." Racked is skeptical however, and thinks that the store's motives "can't be completely golden; we're sure the current economy's effects on both shopper's budgets and store bottom lines played major parts in the decision." Earlier this year the HSUS called out some other NYC department stores for mislabeling their fur products. JCPenney will be opening their Manhattan Mall store this summer, and maybe the PETA strippers will be doing their shopping there.

By all accounts, for any shoppers interested in buying during these tough times, do retailers have a deal for them! Apparently consumers spent 20% less on women's clothing, electronics and jewelry this month and last month versus the same period last year, so retailers slashed prices (holiday sales can make up 30-50% of their bottom lines). Retail industry analysts said the many deals will be found in "bundled" deals—like "Buy a laptop, get a free printer, ink cartridges — and paper." However, there was a bright spot for one retailer: Amazon.com said it had its best holiday season ever. The Wall Street Journal reports that on Amazon's biggest day, December 15, "it received more than 6.3 million orders, at a record pace of 72.9 items per second." The online retailer's big sellers between Nov. 15 and Dec. 19 include the Wii, Eyeclops night-vision goggles, a 52" Samsung plasma TV, Apple's 8GB iPod Touch, and the Acer 8.9" netbook.

If you were too scared to see what, say, Target looked like earlier this week, Brownstoner has some shots of their Atlantic Center outlet on December 23rd—and it ain't pretty. While the empty shelves and picked over clothing racks might make them wonder "what recession?"—we wonder if it's because prices were really low or if the store didn't bother to stock back up. Either way, it's likely to look the same today: Black Friday 2!

Retailers were hoping for a last-minute holiday shopping push from consumers during the last weekend before Christmas. The AP noticed "shoppers swarmed racks offering 65 percent off women's clothing" at Macy's on 34th Street—not to mention other deep discounts around the store. But some shoppers, like N.C. resident Dee Dobbins, were a little more grim, "This is going to be a poor Christmas." The International Council of Shopping Centers believes that stores will be posting their "worst performance for the holidays since at least 1969, when it began tracking such data," but that's not stopping some Macy's stores—including 34th Street in Manhattan, Queens Center in Rego Park, and Staten Island locations— from being open 24 hours/day through Christmas Eve.

I'm only shopping for things that are discounted. Nothing full price."

When the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing Monday night to consider an ambitious proposal to raze the Pier 17 mall at the South Street Seaport to make room for boutiques, a hotel and a 42-story condo, there was fierce objection from the Municipal Arts Society, who opposed not just the "out of scale" tower but plans to relocate a 1903 landmark building from its current location in the shadow of the FDR to the pier's edge. Formerly part of the Fulton Fish Market, it's called the Tin Building, and NY1 reports that many people don't even know about it because of its lousy location and also because it was gutted by a fire in 1995. The developer sees moving it as an opportunity to restore and rebuild it with "authentic materials," but MAS says relocating it would "set a troublesome precedent...The Tin Building is important because it's really the only historic building on the water side of the FDR Drive."

Never mind that mall owner General Growth Properties—the current leaseholder of the South Street Seaport, as well other retail outlets nationwide—has been scrambling recently to refinance massive debt by selling off $2 billion in rapidly devaluing stock. The company is still pushing forward with an ambitious plan (rendered above) to turn the underwhelming Seaport tourist trap into a more vibrant destination, by razing the existing Pier 17 mall, relocating the landmark Tin Building, and throwing up a 42-story waterfront condo/hotel tower, as well as a wood-based boutique hotel and two-story retail structures designed by SHoP Architects.

The Brooklyn Paper has learned that a proposed BJ's in Red Hook would be part of a much larger project than originally believed. Documents obtained by the paper reveal that developer Joe Sitt wants to renovate a historic warehouse on the site of the now-demolished Revere sugar refinery and make the BJ's part of a six story shopping mall, Red Hook's first. Traffic-hating locals will surely find the proposal hard to swallow, but the real worry here is the proliferation of Brooklyn Paper headlines like these: "Hookers to get BJ’s in a mall." Sitt's plan, which he's been quietly passing around to solicit bids from architects, calls for a waterfront esplanade, some residential units, several new buildings for shopping, and plenty of free parking, all right next to IKEA. Watch your back, Paramus!

It's the first day of Fall and Target is already counting down the days to Christmas. One shopper spotted this jolly 'ol snowman, amongst the other seasonal characters, just a row or two down from the Halloween candy. Sure, shops are notorious for getting lots of play out of the profitable holidays, but according to Santa's clock, there are still 93 days to go til the big day.

More budget and waistline conscious New Yorkers around the city are packing lunches at least a few times a week. Aside from sporting a Spongebob Squarepants lunch box or re-using shopping bags, there are plenty of stylish and eco-friendly options out there.

"Everyone is super excited about the Target." Everyone! Or at least real estate players like Jessica Armstead of the Corcoran Group, who predicts that the Target store finally coming to fruition in East Harlem will “totally change” the area’s lagging pace of gentrification. "It appeals to everyone," she tells the Sun. "You go in to get toothpaste and come out with three bags. It's amazing." Armstead is already luring condo buyers into East Harlem with the amazing, exciting shopping utopia to arrive any year now.

The cost of rice has shot up dramatically in recent months, and some analysts say a domestic shortage is on the horizon. The price increase is part of an alarming trend that’s seen the cost of flour rise 13 percent, milk 10 percent, eggs 30 percent and soon – make sure you’re sitting down – beer 10-15 percent.

what else they come up with." So do we: While not as confounding as its print ad, it's curious that they used the Yankees NY logo, as the Bombers are in the Bronx. (Yes, it's clever to use the Y and N that way, but it's not very Brooklyn!)

Police have rounded up 38 people accused of running a credit card fraud ring out of Queens for almost a decade. Officials say hackers in China and Ukraine have been breaking into the databases of major U.S. department stores, and then sending the credit card information of thousands of shoppers to the ringleader, Kwok Chow, 36, a Flushing resident known as “Tony.”

Over the weekend, Reverend Billy and his Stop Shopping Choir paid a visit to a closing establishment on 10th Street across from Saint Mark's Church. After 45 years Angelo Fontana's shoe repair shop is being priced out of the East Village, and the good Reverend was there to make some noise.

Gothamist has dined in all kinds of joints in Flushing’s Chinatown – killer Cantonese, top-flight dim sum and lamb-laden Northern Chinese. The area we haven’t explored much is the food courts, mazes of stalls so diverse that Tony Bourdain could easily cull material for an episode or two. It’s not that we are squeamish, it’s just that the signs are all in Chinese and many of the proprietors speak little English. A non-Chinese speaker would need a Rosetta Stone of sorts.

Hey, did you get your year end bonus yet? The bros at Goldman Sachs sure did, to the tune of $600K per employee, on average. Yep, $600,000 dollars, a number that stands out in a year when most Wall Street bonuses, though still obscene, are either diminished or staying even with previous years. In fact, 600K is double the average bonus paid at other firms, according to Reuters.

It’s that time of year again when New Yorkers debate how much to tip the – deep breath – doorman, super, handyman, locker room attendant, trainer, baby sitter, dog walker, beauty salon, cleaning person, day care center, garbage collector, mail carrier, paperboy and parking attendant(s). Sewell Chan, the Times’s Man on the Web, has tied himself to the tipping post with a 1,780 word monograph on the subject, largely sourced from Doorman, a book by Professor Peter Bearman, statistician and sociology professor at Columbia University.

ART: Art, fashion and blogs meet tonight at the Met. In an exhibition entitled blog.mode: addressing fashion, viewers will be able to comment on what they see. It's "the first in a series of shows designed to promote critical and creative dialogues about fashion. The exhibition presents some forty costumes and accessories dating from the eighteenth century to the present." Visitors are then encouraged to share their reactions online or from a "blogbar" of computer terminals in the exhibition galleries. Pictured is one of the dresses -- you know you have comment about it.

Native New Yorker Melissa Murphy is the mellifluous force behind Sweet Melissa Patisserie, a beloved Brooklyn house of tempting treats that opened in Cobble Hill in 1998. A graduate of New York’s French Culinary Institute, Murphy has spent the past decade building a budding dessert empire, bolstered by a profile-raising appearance on the Food Network and a baking book to be published by Viking in March. Last year Murphy added a second Sweet Melissa location in Park Slope and went on to claim the Zagat award for Best Tarts and Pies.

In case you haven't noticed, 'tis the season for giving and all that jazz. You've got a friend/relative/other loved one who can't get enough of the epicurean lifestyle, and you're looking for the perfect gift. Never fear -- 'tis also the season of gift guides, which will steer you to gifts that will guarantee a smile. First, our own five gifts for the foodie under $50, all available online, including a beautiful olive wood mortar...

It appears that Judith Nathan, the current Mrs. Giuliani, may have been enjoying taxpayer-funded car service provided by the police while her affair with former Mayor Giuliani was unknown. Giuliani's admitted that he gave his girlfriend a security detail once their relationship became public because of possible threats against her, but it appears that Nathan was enjoying New York's Finest as a taxi service months before anyone even knew the two were involved with each...

Zagat's updated Best of Brooklyn 2008 guide was released yesterday, filled to the brim with all that the city's largest borough has to offer, including 216 restaurants, 141 nightspots, 355 shops, 25 tourist attractions and more. Like all Zagat guides, this one is a complilation of surveys from the public and each entry is rated on a scale of 1-30. The guide is broken up into five sections: Dining, Nightlife, Shopping, Gourmet Shopping & Entertaining,...