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According to retail expert Brit Beemer, electronics are virtually tied with toys as the top Christmas-gift item for the first time in more than 25 years. In a survey conducted last weekend by Beemer's firm, America's Research Group, and UBS Global Equity Research, 30% of consumers cited electronics when asked what gift they were buying most often (30.8% said toys). Last year, only 23.7% of respondents said they'd purchase an electronics item. The sector's strength has compelled Beemer, for the first time in his 19 years of conducting Christmas consumer surveys, to revise his holiday...
Good riddance. Of course, the retailers risk cannibalizing their 2010 sales by offering such juicy deals at Christmastime. "The question is, Are we sucking the demand out of the first part of next year?" asks Hargreaves, the Pacific Crest Securities analyst. Perhaps. But that's of no concern to the consumer. For shoppers, cheap electronics in the aisles bring nothing but holiday cheer...
...McKinley and his friends decided to try a radical experiment. They urged congregants to spend less on presents for friends and family and to consider donating some of the money they saved as a result. At first, church members weren't quite sure how to react. "Some people were terrified," remembers McKinley. "They said, 'My gosh, you're ruining Christmas. What do we tell our kids?' " The pastors had to reassure people that they weren't advocating a Grinchy no-gifts kind of Christmas, but rather one in which people spend a little less and think a little more, expressing...
Houston voters made history in December, electing the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city. Annise Parker, 53, takes the oath of office on Jan. 1 to lead the nation's fourth largest metropolis, with some 2.2 million residents. Currently Houston's city controller, Parker has been open about her sexuality throughout her political career and has three adopted children with her longtime partner, Kathy Hubbard. "Tonight the voters of Houston have opened the doors to history," the Democrat said after winning the city's Dec. 12 runoff election. "But now, from this moment, let us join...
...seat on the Houston City Council in 1997 on her third try, becoming Houston's first openly gay elected official. Won her bid to be city controller - the No. 2 elected position - in 2003, and ran unopposed for re-election in 2005 and 2007. (Read "What's All That Secession Ruckus in Texas...