Consumers

After the success of its "10 for $10" toy program last year, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is expanding its lineup of $10 toys for the holiday season to more than 100 items. The deals are expected to hit store shelves today. The move is the latest in an increasingly heated holiday toy battle as retailers race to attract frugal shoppers. Wal-Mart said it had worked with its suppliers over the last year to offer an assortment of top brands, classic toys and newly released items for $10, including Barbie dolls and Transformers action figures.

With thousands of Chrysler and General Motors Corp. dealerships closing, customers could be confronted with problems over warranty coverage, trade-ins or other matters. Both automakers pledge to make the contraction as painless as possible, but that doesn't mean there won't be problems. "When all of these relationships are disrupted, you can't help but have some elements of chaos, and some practical problems occur," said Aaron H. Jacoby, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents car dealers.

Long before banks started locating branches inside supermarkets, grocery stores acted as informal financial establishments, cashing payroll checks and personal checks to provide ready cash for their customers. That's starting to change. Whole Foods Market Inc. is considering banning the use of personal checks at its stores and this month stopped accepting checks at two stores in Los Angeles County and one in Arizona as a test. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the California division of British retailing giant Tesco, won't take personal checks at any of the 70 stores it operates in California.

Among heaps of antiques, collectibles and vintage clothing, frugal shoppers are rediscovering a recession-friendly place where prices are low and haggling is welcome. In growing numbers since the recession began 18 months ago, they are heading to one of about 135 flea markets and swap meets in California, including those at the Rose Bowl and in Long Beach and San Bernardino.

The Lincoln Continental with leather seats, the shiny gray Mercedes-Benz, the immaculate Lexus ES 300 and the impeccable Cadillac DeVille seem out of place in this San Fernando Valley junkyard, where wrecks of VW bugs and pickup trucks bare their smashed hoods like fangs at the pretentious newcomers. They may be luxury cars in name, but now they're just like the other clunkers surrendered for car-buying cash in the government's Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS. It might seem like a waste.

Lis Sines of Hermosa Beach loves watching her electric meter run backward. When that happens, she knows that the 20 solar panels on her roof are producing more power than she needs to run her 3,800-square-foot home. The excess electricity flows to the electric company's grid, and she gets its full retail value credited to her utility bill. Sines' electric bill has plunged since she and her husband, William, installed a photovoltaic system on their roof three months ago.

Anne Marie Sablock said she regularly drives past an Albertsons, a Whole Foods Market and several other supermarkets to shop at the Ralphs on Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. The Seal Beach mother of two teens is price sensitive and likes a broad selection of goods. She buys house brands and private label products. "I shop here because there is more choice and better prices," Sablock said as she dropped a box of Ralphs brand instant oatmeal into her cart last week.

The digital switch is the end of one TV era, but broadcasters and device companies hope it's opening up another. Their vision for the future: a world in which we access live television not just on big screens in our living rooms, but also on cellphones and computers and in cars.

With debt-burdened American consumers cutting back in response to the recession, many U.S. companies are increasingly looking outward, toward fast-developing countries such as China, India and Brazil. But instead of seeing these nations primarily as cheap producers of goods to sell to Americans, U.S. corporate leaders see them as potential customers for American products and services. That shift, which has been underway for several years but has intensified sharply during the downturn, comes as vast numbers of families in these emerging economies are moving into cities and spending like never before to improve their living standards.

Happy hour is getting happier, and that's making restaurants sadder. As the recession drags on, drinkers such as Luis Romero of Anaheim are gravitating to happy hour -- that late-afternoon period when bars and restaurants sell discounted drinks and food to attract customers during what otherwise would be a slow time. "You start watching your pennies a bit more," said Romero as he sipped a $3.