Japanese Stores Conquer Convenience

From food to handbags, high-cost items are suffering

(NEWSER) - Hundred-dollar melons and pricey designer handbags used to sell so well in Japan that companies considered luxury goods a mass-market sector. But while the Japanese kept on shopping through previous recessions, this one has produced a sea change. The luxury industry has been hard hit, and the change may be permanent, the New York Times reports. The local version of Wal-Mart, in the red for seven years, is finally on track to turn a profit this year. More»

(NEWSER) - The wildly popular British clothing store Topshop opens its first outpost in New York this week, and Emily Rotberg has advice for uninitiated Americans. First and foremost, “don’t be afraid to push" she writes in the Guardian. "They’re not your friends.” Other nuggets:

• "Sales assistants" aren't there to help. They're there to "demonstrate how to wear a $14 shoelace as a headband."

Shops to shut, brands to fold as bankruptcies soar

(NEWSER) - Shaken by a tough holiday season and bracing for more trouble, the retail scene may look very different in 2009, the Wall Street Journal reports. Some stores will be reducing inventory and cutting suppliers, which could force small manufacturers to fold. Retail bankruptcies could abound. "We will have a lot fewer stores by the middle of 2009,” said an expert. “It's happening very, very quickly.” More»

Major retailers neglect anti-theft encryption

(NEWSER) - Major US and European retailers routinely transmit sensitive data, including customer credit card and Social Security numbers, over wireless networks wide open to hackers. A recent undercover study by a wireless data security firm found half of stores in major shopping areas either exchanged data without anti-hacking encryption or used obsolete encryption easily foiled by thieves. More»

Nicola Furlong had apparently met duo at Nicki Manaj show earlier in evening

(NEWSER) - A pair of unnamed Americans have been arrested by Japanese officials after one of them was found in a Tokyo hotel room with a dying Irish exchange student, reports MSNBC . Nicola Furlong, 21, of County Wexford, died about an hour later in what officials are calling a suspicious death and possible strangulation. Details are sketchy: Furlong and a 21-year-old female friend apparently met the Americans at a Nicki Manaj concert earlier Thursday evening. More»