A week before Halloween and two full months before Christmas, stores are desperately trying to outdo each other in hopes of drawing in customers worn down by the economy.
Three years ago, Wal-Mart ruled for convenience, selection and price. But today it is losing customers and revenue, and smarting from decisions that backfired.
Forget the returns line. Americans hit the stores after Christmas to buy stuff, indulging the rediscovered retail appetite that may have made 2010's holiday shopping season the biggest ever.
A dry cleaner and a men's clothing store fight the "Mancession" with donations of old suits. U.S. Labor Department figures show 82 percent of job losses have hit men.
The economic downturn hit Oregon hard, and even as things improve, our new economy has forever changed the way many of us live, spend and save. In Lane County alone, 4,500 people lost their jobs as the major industries collapsed.