L L Bean Inc

Consumers will find the customary sales events, holiday trim and marketing hype when they converge on the nation's shopping centers Friday, the official start of the holiday shopping season. This year, however, more and more retailers say they will seek a competitive edge by trying to make shopping more convenient for consumers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Dayton Hudson Corp.'s Target and Kohl's Corp. are expected to lead U.S. retailers in sales this Friday, as shoppers hunt for brand-name clothes, toys and household goods at bargain prices at the start of the holiday shopping season. The day after Thanksgiving--nicknamed "Black Friday"--is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Retailers use the four-day weekend to showcase their main gift ideas, drawing in consumers with moderate discounts or giveaways.

Question: My son, a freshman at Brown, says he's freezing to death at school. He's a native Californian and has not become acclimated to the cold weather in Rhode Island. I've bought him all the requisite thermal underwear and sweaters, and I've lectured him on the importance of insulating his body with layers of clothes but he's still cold. Any ideas?--J.J. Answer: Send your son a scholar's scarf.

In the post-recession shopping world where impulse buying largely has fallen by the wayside, retailers are doing their best to remove any obstacle that could make consumers think twice before opening their wallets. So it is little wonder that free-shipping deals are spreading this holiday season. With merchants in the biggest shopping months of the year, waiving shipping fees helps them capture a piece of holiday budgets. Among online retailers, 85% planned to offer free shipping at some point this holiday season, up from 79% last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

It's been nearly a decade, but George G. Bean still remembers the night a skunk sprayed his two Great Danes, an assault that helped put the sweet smell of success into his backyard business. Bean tried "everything in the book"--from tomato juice to vinegar--but had little success in neutralizing the skunk odor that wafted from the huge dogs, clinging to everything they rubbed against. "They wanted to roll on the Oriental rugs," he recalled in horror.

Every time John Remore steps up to his workstation to form a piece of sheet metal, he brings an intangible asset to the job: 42 years of experience, dating to lessons from his father. Remore, 60, doesn't brag, but that won't stop his boss. "He's invaluable. He is priceless," said Kellie Johnson, president of Torrance-based Ace Clearwater Enterprises, which makes parts for big aerospace companies.

When the shopping urge hits Brian Graifman of New York, he doesn't head for a store or thumb through the Yellow Pages. Instead, he consults a stack of mail-order catalogues, whips out his credit card, dials some toll-free numbers and has merchandise delivered to his door tax-free. In this manner, Graifman, a second year student at New York Law School, has acquired a videocassette recorder, a cordless telephone, stereo equipment and even a facsimile municipal parking meter.

The pervasive practice of sealing product liability settlements from public view, even when doing so could jeopardize lives, is coming under new scrutiny as a result of last month's Firestone tire recall. The recall of 6.5 million tires came only after accidents and deaths had piled up for eight years. Many of these cases were kept out of the public eye because Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and the Ford Motor Co., without acknowledging liability, quietly settled many lawsuits resulting from tire-related crashes.

The pervasive practice of sealing product liability settlements from public view, even when doing so could jeopardize lives, is coming under new scrutiny as a result of last month's Firestone tire recall. The recall of 6.5 million tires came only after accidents and deaths had piled up for eight years. Many of these cases were kept out of the public eye because Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and the Ford Motor Co.