Recession Retail Madness - The Positives In Fashion

I used to love to shop; that was before I started paying all my bills, had the time to browse through the racks for good deals and as of late, before the recession (or so I thought on this last point)....

Never in my young shopping years have I seen so many sales and great deals, especially before the biggest shopping day of the year, Black Friday. If I get one more email about my favorite retailers' special sales, I will begin the unsubscribing process. All of a sudden I'm every retailers' "friends and family." I remember when that discount actually applied to friends and family only and made you feel special. Thanks to the recession we are all special now...I urge you to TAKE ADVANTAGE of this one ironic double edge sword positive of the recession as I did at Saks Fifth Avenue yesterday.


Now I'm not your typical Saks Fifth Avenue Shopper. Once in a blue moon I might treat myself to that incredible designer dress (Diane Von Furstenberg is my woman of choice) or impossibly unique item that can not be duplicated by any design imposter retailer wannabe, whom my wallet and need for style are extremely thankful for. My typical shopping experience at Saks involves what I like to call "fashion shopping," browsing the beautiful windows and floors to get a taste of the latest trends and styles and then heading to H&M, the more affordable design imposter wannabe retailer, across the street to find them at an eighth of the price. That all changed yesterday when Black Friday came a week early with Saks sales prices equivalent to that of H&M. I'm talking up to 70% off almost all their inventory!!!!

The funny thing is that Saks' sale is the one email I didn't get and when I asked the sales associate about it she said "we're relying on word of mouth." Are times that tough that a huge retailer like Saks can't even afford advertising or emails about their huge pre-Black Friday sale?

According to an article published in the New York Times at about the start of Saks' huge sale, "Saks lost $42.8 million for the three months that ended Nov. 1, compared with a profit of $21.6 million for the period a year ago" or another way to look at it is "Saks sales fell 11.5% for the period compared with a sales gain of 11.4% for the same period last year."

Yes, these numbers are scary, but as always in life let's look at the bright side as I did yesterday when I left Saks with my Diane Von Furstenberg purchase that totaled $65.00, originally marked $325.00.

In my next article we'll take a look at how this recession is affecting less superficial fashion values in the world of organic and natural living, but in the spirit of Black Friday and Thanksgiving I wanted to make sure to share this sale information with you and extend some sort of thanks for once for the recession.

Happy Turkey Day!

W.A.T.C.H. Your Toys

The trend and demand for increased awareness on content labels started with food. It's easy to understand how food is the primary focus in how the content of our everyday products can be affecting our health and standard of living. Everyone loves to eat and eating is so obviously internal, but what about the toys our children play with and toddlers chew and suck on while teething???

What better time of year for us to be more aware about the toys we are purchasing to celebrate the lovely upcoming gift-giving holidays, christmas and chanukah. Thanks to the non-profit organization, World Against Toys Causing Harm, Inc. (W.A.T.C.H.), which is dedicated to educating the general population about the dangers lurking in some toys, we can be more confident in the purchases we make this holiday season.

W.A.T.C.H. published their 2008 top ten nominees for the "10 Worst Toys" based on "examples of packaging and labeling which fail to give the consumer fair warning of dangers that are known, or should be known, by the manufacturer." The "Pucci Puppies" Toy, photographed above, is listed on W.A.T.C.H's top ten because the packaging does not indicate that the small parts that come with the toy could be easily ingestible by a child.



Now if I was browsing the aisles for a toy for my little cousin Ariana, the "Pucci" Pup would stand out as the perfect gift for her because she has a real pup named Pucci; she also has a little baby brother running around under the recommended age for this toy. In seeig this item on the shelf I would probably get so excited by the idea behind the toy I might not think twice about the fact that the bite size accessories might be choking hazards for little baby brother.

In this case maybe a label would make me think twice about purchasing this toy for Ariana and I am thankful for non-profits like W.A.T.C.H. that look out for my sometimes thoughtless shortcomings.

W.A.T.C.H. is fighting for our labeling and safety rights, but manufacturers and consumers also need to take more responsibility in our product purchasing and production habits. If manufacturers take more responsibility in being more conscious about what they're producing and consumers take on the responsibility of accepting their product choices instead of suing companies for accidents that unfortunately do happen and are unforseeable, maybe this list of ten would be more like five.

Happy Responsibile Shopping!

26 at 81 and Running the NYC Marathon

At 26 years old, the thought of running 26 miles scares, so when I hear of 81 year olds, like defending 80-and-over title winner, Joy Johnson, running the 26 mile New York City Marathon without a complaint, I feel so lame.

Johnson finished this year's Marathon in 6 hours, 5 minutes, and 58 seconds, nearly an hour faster than her time last year!

I am so curious to know where her true motivation comes from. I would have to guess a part of her motivation this year came from a desire to keep her title against newly turned 80 year old competitor, Bertha McGruder who completed the race last year in 6 hours and 15 minutes. McGruder finished this year at 7 hours, 9 minutes and 31 seconds, so not only did Johnson finish before McGruder this year, but she beat her time from last year.

Although victory is sweet, no matter who won,loss or finished before the other yesterday, I truly respect all 40,000 participants for setting such high goals.

Special kudos though to my most inspiring 80 year old females!