Occupiers to Black Friday Shoppers: Go Local

Activists fight back against Occupy Black Friday movement

(NEWSER) - There may be some common ground between the Occupiers and the Tea Partiers, but apparently not when it comes to Black Friday. The Tea Party is fighting back against Occupy Black Friday with its own campaign, BUYcott Black Friday, CNBC reports. As opposed to the Occupiers, who would rather you sit out today’s shopping extravaganza , the BUYcotters want you to go out and spend money to stimulate the economy. More»

Protests damaging small business, Milk Street Cafe owner says

(NEWSER) - Is Occupy Wall Street inadvertently hurting the little guy? That’s what Marc Epstein, owner of Wall Street’s Milk Street Cafe, claims. Thanks to the protests—and the resulting police barricades that line Wall Street, which he says somewhat hide his eatery and make it difficult for people to enter—sales are down 30%. So Epstein had to fire 21 of his employees last week, he tells DNAinfo . "What are [the protesters] trying to accomplish here?" Epstein says. "The end result is that I and all the wonderful people who work for me are collateral damage." More»

Black Friday madness in Madison!

(NEWSER) - Not a recommended Black Friday shopping strategy: cutting to the front of the line of patiently waiting shoppers ... then threatening to shoot them after they complain. A 21-year-old Wisconsin woman was arrested last night after making just such threats. The incident happened outside a Toys 'R' Us store in Madison that opened at 10pm last night. Police reported that several hundred shoppers were in line around that time when the woman tried to jump to the front. More»

People in Austin, Texas, most likely

(NEWSER) - It's Black Friday, so Americans are out spending money in droves—but who's spending the most? In the Daily Beast , Anneli Rufus gets us a little closer to an answer, by way of 15 spending stats:

• If you're an online shopper ... you spend 24.6% more than a brick-and-mortar shopper.
• If you're an LGBT adult ... you spend 26% more on holiday gifts than heterosexuals.
• If you're a heterosexual adult ... you are 85% more likely to shop for bargains during the holiday season than LGBT adults.

Sears and Kmart will be open, moans Francine Kiefer

(NEWSER) - Forget the Grinch, or Scrooge: This year's holiday-spoiling honors go to Sears, writes Francine Kiefer. Last year the title went to Kmart, which kept its doors open all day long on Thanksgiving. Sears will join it this year, tempting not-yet-stuffed shoppers from 7am until noon—and it's "enough to turn my gravy lumpy." It's no big surprise why this is happening, Kiefer writes for the Christian Science Monitor : Retailers are nervous about their bottom line, and weary Americans are on the hunt for the best deal. But "must America always put shopping first?" More»