Remember back in early 2015, when we heard rumors that a new cheese-stuffed shell called the “Quesalupa” was being tested in Toledo? The Quesalupa ended up as the centerpiece of a Super Bowl ad and is now a nationwide item. What’s on the menu only in Ohio now? A rolled-up creation that’s sort of a backwards Quesarito. [More]
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Sears Holdings Plans At Least 4 More Kmart Store Closures In May
By 3.2.16
After a tough year of losing half a billion dollars less than they did in 2014, Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, announced plans to close about 50 stores in the coming months. What the company no longer does is send out big announcements with lists of stores slated for closure, instead submitting local closings to local news outlets. That’s cool, but we’re a national news outlet that likes to pay attention to national trends, so we compiled a list for anyone who is interested. [More]
Here’s A Look Inside The Last Days Of Some Closing Walmarts
By 2.5.16
We expect that Walmart stores are crammed full of merchandise and people, and they look wrong when they no longer have either. Walmart recently completed a round of store closings, including the entire Walmart Express chain. Naturally, some of our readers were there, and brought their cameras. [More]
10 States Investigating Movie Theater Chains Over Antitrust Violations
By 12.17.15
You know how it’s almost impossible to ever see one of those big blockbuster films showing at the little movie theater down the street? That issue is largely the result of exclusive agreements between large theater chains and film studios that effectively prevent independent rivals from showing certain films. While these deals might be great for the bigger companies, they aren’t so awesome for consumers. And so, 10 state attorneys general are looking into whether or not the contracts used by Regal Cinemas, AMC Entertainment, and Cinemark constitute antitrust violations. [More]
Car Dealers Can’t Scream “Zero Down On All Leases” If Most Buyers Won’t Qualify For Deal
By 11.24.15
Car dealers are known for hyperbolic slogans like “Everybody rides!” or “Nobody walks away from our lot!,” but that sort of puffery is a far cry from repeatedly claiming that the advertised lease price includes “Zip, Zero, Zilch — Nothing Down!” only to hide the ugly truth in fine print that most people won’t understand. [More]
Ohio Voters Just Say No To Legalized Recreational Marijuana
By 11.3.15
A controversial ballot initiative in Ohio that would have legalized recreational and medical marijuana — but would have also concentrated the authority to mass-produce the plant in the hands of only 10 growers — has fallen flat, meaning the Buckeye State won’t become the fifth state to legalize pot for recreational use. [More]
Taco Bell Folds Croissants In Half, Calls Them Tacos
By 10.22.15
A croissant is a crescent-shaped, flaky pastry that consists of butter incidentally held together with some flour and egg. Taco Bell is a restaurant with a menu of inexpensive Tex-Mex food and a very loose definition of what a “taco” is. Put them together and you end up with… flat croissants folded in half to form breakfast tacos? [More]
Why Some Pro-Pot Ohioans Are Against An Initiative To Legalize Marijuana
By 9.3.15
Although the issue of marijuana legalization can seem straightforward in many ways — either you want medical and recreational to be bought, sold and consumed legally or you don’t — a current initiative in Ohio that would amend the state’s constitution to allow legal pot is meeting resistance from some of the people who are usually in favor of the stuff. [More]
Weirdly Symmetrical Tractor-Trailer Crashes Scatter Live Piglets, Cases Of Bacon Across Highways
By 6.9.15
Here at Consumerist, we have a completely understandable obsession with tractor-trailer accidents where food ends up strewn across the highway, especially when no one is seriously injured. Yet there’s a strange symmetry to two unrelated accidents in the last week that left thousands of live piglets running from the wreck in Ohio, and 70,000 pounds of bacon strewn across train tracks and a highway in Illinois. [More]
Report: Cleveland’s Cox Cable Customers Will Soon Be Subject To Data Caps
By 5.14.15
Cox cable customers are about to join many of the rest of us nationwide in a club that nobody particularly wants to be in: the not-so-illustrious crowd of those who have usage limits on their home broadband service, and have to cough up extra cash for any extra bits and bytes. [More]
IKEA Helps Out Senior Center After Robbers Steal All The Furniture
By 5.7.15
In February, residents of a recently opened senior center in Cincinnati found that their home hadn’t just been burgled — the thieves had made off with every piece of furniture and artwork in the lobby. While neither the purloined furnishings nor the ambitious burglars have been found, the folks at IKEA have decided to help out with some free stuff. [More]
Petition Wants To Make Ohio The Fifth State To Legalize Marijuana
By 3.24.15
A group in Ohio wants the state to join Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska in the legal recreational marijuana club, with a new petition to amend the state’s constitution. [More]
Ohio Residents May Need To Take “Quiz” Before Getting State Tax Refunds
By 2.11.15
If you’re an Ohio resident and you’re expecting a refund on your state taxes this spring, you might have to go online and take a personalized “quiz” in order to prove you are who you claim to be before you can get your money. [More]
Taco Bell’s Quesalupa Spotted In The Wild, Does Not Look Like A Case Of Lupus
By 2.6.15
A few days back, Taco Bell unleashed it’s latest vaguely Mexican-ish-sorta-sounding fast-food Voltron, the Quesalupa — or as Conan O’Brien dubbed it, the “Case of Lupus” — but only in Toledo. Because none of us live anywhere near the Ohio city and because fast food items tend to look very different than what’s advertised, we asked readers to send in photos of the Quesalupa in the wild. You obliged, and the results are surprisingly not horrifying. [More]
Taco Bell Unleashes “Quesalupa” Thingy With Cheese-Stuffed Shell, But Only In Toledo
By 2.4.15
Remember when Conan O’Brien visited the test kitchen at Taco Bell HQ and got to taste something whose name sounded like “Case of Lupus”? Well, we correctly guessed that it’s actually called a Quesalupa, and that it involves cheese. More accurately, it’s something that looks a bit like a taco but which uses a shell stuffed with cheese. It’s about what you’d expect from the Bell, but if you want to try it, you’ll have to travel to Toledo. [More]
Class-Action Suit Over Shortchanged Walmart Returns Allowed To Move Forward
By 1.21.15
While Walmart customers enjoy the ability to return items to any of the retailer’s locations, a number of these shoppers have claimed over the years that they were getting less for their returns than they should have because of sales tax differences between the purchase and return locations. Last week, a federal judge allowed a pending class action regarding shortchanged Walmart customers to continue. [More]
Ashley Furniture Franchisee To Hand Out $1.5M In Refunds After Ohio State Win
By 1.13.15
Ohio State surprised a lot of people last night by blowing out the University of Oregon 42-20 in the NCAA football championship game, but while many people in the Buckeye State were overjoyed by the resounding win, one furniture company was probably hoping that the game would have been closer. [More]
Secret Santa Gifts $15K To Pay For Strangers’ Walmart Layaway Items
By 12.5.14
It’s that time of year again, when generous folks around the country pop in to their local retailers and plunk down a pile of cash to make strangers’ holidays happier by paying for their layaway purchases. This time, some secret Santa in Ohio left a substantial $15,000 gift under shoppers’ trees. [More]
