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Another Big Recall May Hit Mattel
Mattel Inc. is close to announcing its second big recall of Chinese-made toys in as many weeks, according to people familiar with the matter, expanding a mounting crisis for the toy maker that could grow even more problematic as the holiday shopping season approaches.
Mattel earlier recalled more than a million toys — including ones based on characters from Sesame Street and Nickelodeon — that may have been tainted with lead paint. Now, people briefed on the matter say, it will recall possibly hundreds of thousands of more items.
Webkinz toys come to life online
Angel, a stuffed Webkinz Pegasus with a shiny pink mane and glimmering wings, sat lifeless next to a computer keyboard. On the monitor, Angel’s virtual self came to life before her owner, Grace Schiltz’s, very eyes. With a few key strokes and a click of the mouse, Angel moved about the screen in a virtual room Grace had furnished. She opened her closet and peeked at a cropped jacket, hair bow and teddy bear.
Master of soap making – Local resident
Asheville — Kimberly Masters has been making soap since 1999. Two years ago, with demand for her all-natural soaps increasing, she realized her hobby had the potential to become a full-time business.
The resulting enterprise, Essential Journeys, has become so successful that national sales representative Lieberman & Associates now sells and distributes her soaps, bath salts and lotions to shops around the country. Masters, 35, previously had placed her products in about 200 stores.
“It’s so cool that she’s local,” said Katie Skinner, owner of downtown gift shop L.O.F.T.
Home for hobbyists: Strasburg couple’s store has so much to offer its customers, even expanding can’t hold it all
Strasburg – The Internet downloads countless wonders but few more inspiring than the story of how the wooden “fetish kangaroos” were herded into Strasburg.
These little carved pieces are about the size of a quarter and aimed at crafters making jewelry, should those same crafters be overcome by an overwhelming urge to adorn a bracelet or something with a wooden marsupial.
Priced at a very reasonable 75 cents for two, the ‘roos are among thousands of crafting and quilting items jammed into a backyard Strasburg store called Olivier’s Country Creations & Gifts.
Six generations pour soul into Kentucky pottery
Waco, Ky. — Mustard-yellow clay dust covers the walls, the low walnut beams and the dirt floor at Bybee Pottery, where six generations of the Cornelison family have been turning, glazing and firing stoneware since the early 1800s.
Despite the constant motion of production, visitors are welcome to walk around the oldest continually run pottery operation west of the Allegheny Mountains. It could be a living history museum if it weren’t dedicated to the pottery business. And the time to see it is now: Though nothing is set in stoneware, the pottery’s long run may be coming to an end.
Family inspires business
Family is infused into just about everything at Barker Road Collection in Tacoma’s Old Town, and it starts with the name and the logo.
It’s a house, with palm trees fronting it, on Barker Road in Hong Kong, where the parents of three siblings – Ginger Shorey, Linda McElroy and William McElroy – who own and operate the gift shop met.
Then there’s the tea, now an Oprah favorite, but when Shorey was a child, the family carted it back by the case from England. Then there’s the bambi balls, which open to reveal gifts inside.
What’s best for business: How does growth affect the way — and where — people shop?
Just walk into Don’s Hobbies, and you can get a sense of the history.
The wooden floors at 815 10th St. have a gleam polished from years of wear. The ceiling has molding so intricate that it would cost thousands to recreate and, frankly, isn’t the type of craftsmanship that is replicated in new commercial buildings.
Sweet ‘n’ stylish; Winnipegger’s candy jewelry is cute, colourful and cavity-free
Designer Janet BrightCorne’s creations won’t melt in your mouth or in your hands.
As little girls, we wore colourful candy necklaces around our necks and pretended to be all grown up. Unfortunately, the jewelry didn’t last for very wrong — the temptation to eat it was far too great.But candy isn’t just for kids. And it isn’t just to eat anymore. It has become a fashion item.
A collection of handcrafted jewelry created by Winnipegger Janet BrightCorne features necklaces dripping with colourful jelly beans and Chicklet gum, rather than diamonds or pearls.
It looks good enough to eat.
Shoppers avoiding ‘Made in China’
New York – When Lisa Landry thinks ahead to holiday shopping for her 9-month-old boy, Ari, her concern isn’t which toy is most exciting. It’s which is safest.
“I’ll be looking for anything that won’t harm our child,” she says. “It may not be super-fun.”
Already crossed off from her shopping list: Toys made in China.
How Luxury Brands Alter Shoppers’ Price Perceptions; Buying a Keychain Instead
What is too much to spend on a suit?
The question weighed on Barry Schwarz as he scanned the racks at Boyds men’s store in Philadelphia, which were laden with $3,000 Brioni suits. “Their prices were just out of the world,” recalls Mr. Schwarz, a professor of psychology at Swarthmore College.
We’ve all been there: A window display or a recommendation lures us into a store — and we face unexpectedly astronomical price tags.
Shoppers playing it safe for summer
New York – The sluggish sales that have dogged the nation’s retailers this year are the result of two quite different sets of problems: Consumers are cautious — they’re paying more for gasoline and watching their home values fall.
Reaching out to a ‘forgotten market’; Shop caters to the female baby boomer
Traverse City — When it comes to women’s clothing, Traverse City entrepreneur Sandy Van Dyke says female baby boomers are a forgotten market.
“Everything is designed for juniors,” said Van Dyke, who opened her comfortable clothing shop, The Little Black Dress & Necessities, last year. “At our store, the goal is to take people from the beach to black tie.
Woman fulfills dream of owning gift shop
Kimball Twp.
Closet closing door on mall: Another local shop heads downtown
Reba Ruth, manager of Carol’s Closet, displays a new line of fall clothing Friday afternoon. The longtime women’s clothing store has become one of the last local businesses to leave Lakeshore Mall. The business is located on the square in downtown Gainesville.
Carol’s Closet, a women’s specialty store, has moved to the downtown Gainesville square after two decades at Lakeshore Mall.
The store opened Wednesday at 1114 Washington St.
“We had been looking for a new location for some time,” store manager Reba Ruth said.
Newcastle’s newest shop features fine arts
Inspired by the Old Town Gallery in Auburn, two longtime friends have opened their own art shop in Newcastle.
For first-time shop owners Susan Evans of Newcastle and Bobbi Harms of Citrus Heights, Bella Fine Arts and Gifts is an extension of their passion for the arts.
Evans is a photographer who specializes in black and white – though none of her work is on display at the moment.
“I’ve been so busy setting up the shop, I haven’t had time to frame my own work,” she said.
Harms focuses her creativity in making beaded jewelry and purses as well as knitted scarves and hat.
Back-to-school spending could be a retail bust
Chicago – (MarketWatch) — Many retailers are bracing for what could be one of the toughest back-to-school selling seasons in recent years as consumers deal with credit worries, higher gas prices and a sell-off in the stock market.
With nearly one-quarter of the country’s population in school, the three-month period when students of all ages stock up on notebooks, electronics and new clothes is considered the second-most important shopping period for retailers, ranking only behind Christmas.
Typically, parents consider back-to-school as a “must-spend” event, but this year many will be t
Retailer finds her cup of tea
Betsy Young has found her cup of tea. She’s sharing it with the birds – and consumers of artful, quirky and rediscovered antiquities for home and gift giving.
Tommy’s Goodie Shoppe — a retro field trip
Remember candy necklaces, wax lips and those little wax bottles full of delicious, colorful sugar-water?
Simmons family transforms eBay store into ‘brick-and-mortar’ store in High Springs
Adam Padgett, Suzanne Kent and Lani Simmons pose in front of some of the merchandise in their newly opened Back to Nature Gifts, located in downtown High Springs.
What began five years ago for the Simmons family as an eBay T-shirt sale has grown into a new family-run business in the middle of High Springs.
The owners of Back to Nature Gifts, which opened July 13, have years of experience selling and shipping all types of clothing and decorations across the world through the Internet.
The Simmons, however, chose High Springs for their first offline “brick-and-mortar” store, saying thei
Four Island General Stores Stock Very Specific Warmth Along With Life Necessities
They sell everything from fingernail clippers to fine cheeses, but the Island’s four general stores stock more than variety and necessity.