Luxury brands usually don't suffer much when the economy tanks. But Gucci is struggling and making a big shift to cheaper down-market goods. Meanwhile, Louis Vuitton is growing like gangbusters. Jill Barshay reports.
Just like food and energy, garment costs are going up. In fact, the increases are, in part, because of food and energy. Sarah Gardner unravels the cost of clothing.
Target says it's had to write off a chunk of its outstanding credit-card debt. It's bad news for one of the country's biggest retailers, and worse for card holders who are discovering they can't pay what they owe. Jeff Tyler reports.
The cost of flour has almost tripled for some bakeries, leaving owners with the uncomfortable option of raising prices and possibly losing customers at the same time. Ashley Milne-Tyte visits bread makers in New York.
Sam's Club, Wal-Mart's warehouse retailer, has joined Costco in limiting sales of some rice to four bags per customer. Sarah Gardner reports on rising food prices and consumer habits.
The dollar has hit another low against the euro. For Yanks living abroad the dollar's freefall demands a whole new mindset, as Eleanor Beardsley reports from Paris.
A growing chunk of college costs is the price of textbooks, on which the typical undergraduate spends $900 a year. So a group of college professors is calling for low-priced and free texts online. Congress is getting involved, too. Jill Barshay reports.
Over the next several weeks, the government is expected to mail out $100 billion in stimulus rebates. Retail stores and electronics makers are already plotting to take that money away. Jill Barshay reports.
Looking for new revenue sources, states are considering levying taxes on Internet retail. California is thinking about taxing music downloads, and New York says it's going to start hitting up companies like Amazon. Alisa Roth reports.
Faltering video chain Blockbuster is making a $1.3 billion offer for floundering electronics giant Circuit City. And that's prompting a lot of questions — like, where's it going to get that kind of money? Lisa Napoli reports.
