Retailer coupons can be your ticket to great deals, but what happens when you forget to clip or bring along your coupon? If you know when to ask, sometimes the store will have your back. If not, these stores often have coupon-stuffed flyers at the entrances, or smartphone apps you can use to dial up your own. [More]
shopping
What Purchases Should You Make And Avoid In January?
By 1.2.14
Are you in the market for a new television, some furniture, a gaming console, or new winter clothes? It might seem like the post-holiday sales frenzy is the perfect time to shop for all of these items, but that isn’t necessarily the case. [More]
During Shipping Frenzy, Amazon Limited Prime Memberships
By 12.26.13
Now that the Christmas shopping and shipping frenzy is over, Amazon is providing free extensions of their Prime no-limit free shipping service to shoppers whose packages didn’t arrive. Before the holiday, though, Amazon was actually limiting signups for Prime during peak periods. Maybe they didn’t want to clog up the shipping works with boxes containing single packs of cookies and other small impulse items. [More]
Man Commits Suicide In Mall While Shopping With Girlfriend
By 12.10.13
When we began to see this story from China propagating around the newsphere, we hoped that it was something from the strange imagination of the Daily Mail. It couldn’t be true: a man in his thirties argued with his girlfriend while shopping, and then jumped seven stories to his death. [More]
Is Sephora Really Banning Customers Who Spend Thousands Every Year?
By 12.3.13
It was news to us that beauty superstore Sephora recently debuted a new tier to its customer loyalty program. VIB Rouge is for customers who spend at least $1,000 per year at Sephora stores, because some people manage to do that. Some customers report that they were banned from online purchases for placing too many orders. This seems like a bad idea. [More]
Walmart Sold 2.8 Million Towels This Weekend
By 12.2.13
Sure, we in the media like to focus on the people who punch each other over televisions at Walmart stores during the weekend after Thanksgiving. While the mega-retailer sold millions of TV sets this weekend, that wasn’t their top seller. What item did they move the most of over the long weekend? Towels. [More]
Black Thursday Is No Big Deal In These Three States — Because It’s Illegal
By 11.27.13
Twas the night of Thanksgiving and no shoppers were stirring, not even Neighbor Bob who is always up to something. At least, they won’t be in three states where Black Thursday is actually against the law. In Rhode Island, Maine and Massachusetts, most big stores are barred from opening on Thanksgiving day. [More]
Annual Survey Confirms: Yup, There Are Dangerous Toys On Store Shelves This Season
By 11.26.13
It’s a hectic time of year — shoppers dashing through the toy aisles in stores around the country, grabbing toys as they go to appease the mighty appetites of children who absolutely must have this or that source of entertainment. But this year’s annual survey of dangerous or toxic toys shows that it also pays to be aware of what you’re buying before you bestow it upon your kid. [More]
How Stupid Does Bed Bath & Beyond Think We Are?
By 11.26.13
“How dumb does Bed Bath & Beyond think we are?” writes reader Kristina. Well…maybe they’re just working from assumptions about the average American consumer’s math skills. This coupon offers $25 off a $125 purchase, which is great if and only if you want to spend exactly $125 at the store. [More]
Mall Restaurants Open On Thanksgiving Because Someone’s Got To Feed The Hungry Shoppers
By 11.25.13
There’s nothing worse than a rumble in your stomach while you’re trying to focus on the hard task of shopping Black Friday or Thanksgiving sales. Maybe you left that plate of turkey and stuffing to get cold and congealed on the table in favor of scoring the best deals. Since many mall stores will be open on earlier on Thanksgiving this year, so will plenty of food court restaurants. [More]
What Is It About Elmo That Makes Him The Reigning King Of Holiday Toys?
By 11.22.13
Whether you want to hug him or not or buy him for any of the children in your life, Elmo has been the reigning king of holiday toys for nigh on 20 years. But what is it about the fuzzy red Sesame Street monster that keeps him so popular? And why does he like being tickled so much? [More]
What Do You Shop For In November?
By 11.12.13
Our power-shopping colleagues over at Consumer Reports don’t just test every product you can think of: they also keep track of what’s on the market and when is the best time to buy certain things. Looking over their November list, we wondered: what do Consumerist readers shop for during this month? [More]
Maybe Calling Itself A “Showroom” Isn’t The Best Holiday Marketing Plan For Best Buy
By 10.29.13
A showroom is a place where you go to look at stuff and think about buying it, but it may not necessarily be in stock or even available. In the e-commerce era, it has a slightly different meaning: the term “showrooming” means visiting a nearby store to check out an item in person, then buying that item online from a different company. [More]
50 Ducks Walked Into A CVS… There’s No Punchline, Just 50 Ducks In A CVS
By 10.28.13
Do ducks prepare for the winter by gathering supplies from nearby retail outlets? No, they don’t, so it’s not really clear why about fifty ducks reportedly wandered into a CVS drugstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and wouldn’t leave until an employee coaxed them out with popcorn. [More]
The Drinks Mix Themselves When Liquor Aisle Narrowly Misses Crashing Into Shoppers
By 10.8.13
The liquor aisle is a place brimming with possibilities — do you want wine or beer? Dark rum or light? There’s so much to choose from! The choices can become even more intimidating when they are all falling toward you in a wave of crashing glass and sloshing liquid. [More]
Make Your Own Instant Substitution When A Sale Item Runs Out
By 9.18.13
What happens if you make a special trip to a store to buy a sale item, but by the time you get there the item is all gone? You could pout and go home. You could buy a similar item that isn’t on sale. Or you could fight the power and try to get a discount on a similar item. [More]
Did Rue 21 Kick This Teen Out Of Store For Being Too Fat?
By 9.3.13
There are gracious ways to tell someone that your store doesn’t sell clothes that fit them. Throwing a teenage customer out of the store by saying, “You’re too big to be in this store. I need you to leave” is not one of them. That’s what an Oregon teen claims happened to her at a Rue 21 store at her local mall. [More]
Shopkeeper Stocked Store From The TJ Maxx Where He Worked
By 8.15.13
When you’re launching a new business, it can be a good idea to keep your day job so you can keep some steady income as well as any benefits you might have. However, you should avoid the worker-to-owner transition that one Brooklyn man made. He allegedly stocked his little store with merchandise that he took off the shelves of the TJ Maxx store where he worked. [More]
