Retail

Gasoline prices are keeping up their record-setting ways. California drivers paid an average of $4.358 for a gallon of regular gasoline, up 6.6 cents from a week earlier, the Energy Department said Monday. That's a fresh record high for this time of year and is 48.4 cents above the year-earlier price. Nationally, the average rose 7.2 cents to $3.793, also a record for this week, according to Energy Department statistics. A year earlier, the average U.S. price was 27.3 cents lower.

High-end outdoor clothier and gear maker Patagonia Inc. is out to prove that a company can generate strong sales while being nearly fanatical about environmental concerns. The Ventura company was the first major clothier to make fleece jackets out of recycled bottles. Nearly a third of the power for its headquarters and adjoining child-care center comes from solar. And it donates 1% of its sales to environmental causes. With Patagonia being a privately held company, its finances are not public, but it says it's riding a growth curve.

At Citadel Outlets, the sounds of jackhammering and the whir of electric drills are as common these days as a can't-miss deal. The City of Commerce shopping center has been in expansion mode, building a wing last fall that brought 36 new stores and an additional 152,000 square feet to the mall. Construction workers are currently putting the finishing touches on half a dozen more stores, including Coach Factory Store and Not Your Daughter's Jeans, and getting ready to build another wing that is slated to open by the holiday season next year.

Add slowing retail sales to the story of the payback for the warm winter weather. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that retail spending in April rose a tiny 0.1% from the previous month, seasonally adjusted. Details of the report made clear that the unusually mild winter had pulled some spending forward — resulting in a spring correction, as was also seen in job growth last month. A separate government report showed the consumer price index, after three months of increases, unchanged in April because of lower fuel costs.

Profitable Period at Carter Hawley: Carter Hawley Hale Stores said debt reductions and asset adjustments stemming from its emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization helped the company generate net income of $1.2 billion in the nine-week period ended Oct. 3. The Los Angeles-based parent of the Broadway stores last week reported sales for the four-week period ended Nov. 28, 1992.

Danny Meyer began doing most of the household grocery shopping when his fiancee started graduate school. Meyer goes to Whole Foods in Chicago for produce and specialty items, Jewel-Osco for staples and Trader Joe's when he needs to really stock up. He says he is not particularly brand-loyal and is susceptible to impulse buys. "I walk in and go with the flow of the store, going aisle by aisle," he said. "I like to walk through all the aisles even if I don't think I need anything there, because sometimes something will catch my eye. " Meyer, 35, is part of a growing contingent of men taking over grocery duty.

Even as shoppers struggled with a tough economy, many loosened their purse strings during the crucial holiday season, bringing some stability to the battered retail industry. Sales figures released Wednesday by two firms that track retail spending indicated a better Christmas than in 2008, when a sharp consumer pullback led to the worst holiday season in decades. Although retailers fared better, analysts said the results still fell short of the highs seen before the recession and noted that it was easy to beat 2008's dismal performance.

Having spent over 35 years in the retail markets of apparel, food and hardware as a supplier and sales and marketing specialist to firms from "mom and pop" to national chains in size, I read with interest and amusement the Aug. 23 article "A Time for Big Decisions in Little Saigon." The article contained both the difficulties and solutions of the Saigon in America dilemma. The photos of the Vietnamese mall shops showed signs printed in a "chicken-tracks" style font that cannot be read by English-speaking Americans.

It isn't the cozy Shop Around the Corner — the indie bookstore of "You've Got Mail" movie fame — but it is the multilevel behemoth on the corner of Westwood and Pico boulevards that shoppers have browsed since 1995. And, now that Barnes & Noble has confirmed the unprofitable store's closing at year-end, lovers of things literary are bemoaning the demise of yet another Westside book merchant. "We're terribly distressed. We're devastated," said Teri Geske of Cheviot Hills, who one recent evening was checking out J.R.R.

Gap, the clean-cut San Francisco clothing brand, is embracing its edgier side in Los Angeles. To bring its 1969 Premium Jeans line closer to the heart of the designer denim industry, the apparel giant last year opened a creative design office in a gritty section of downtown L.A. near the fashion district. Now Gap is putting its L.A. vibe at the core of a global marketing campaign that launches Monday, complete with food trucks and a dog. "This is the center of creativity," said Seth Farbman, Gap's newly hired global chief marketing officer, during a recent interview at the design studio, where a staggering number of jeans were stacked on shelves, tucked into cubbyholes and hanging from clothing racks.

Los Angeles supermarket magnate Ron Burkle went upscale with the latest addition to his portfolio: fashion retailer Barneys New York. Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. and Perry Capital took ownership of Barneys in a debt-restructuring deal, Barneys announced Monday. Perry Capital is the majority owner. The deal slashes Barneys' debt to $50 million from $590 million. "This agreement provides us with increased free cash flow that will be used to revitalize our stores, invest in Barneys.com and further enhance our customer experience at a time when our operational financial performance is very strong," Barneys Chief Executive Mark Lee said in a statement.

Corruption allegations roiling the Los Angeles County assessor's office have reached a former Hollywood landmark: the Old Spaghetti Factory on Sunset Boulevard. Last summer, Ramin Salari, a property tax consultant and campaign fundraiser for county Assessor John Noguez, lobbied to reduce the shuttered restaurant's tax bill because, he said, the land it sat on wasn't worth the $14 million his clients had paid for it. He convinced Noguez's staff to assess the shuttered eatery, and four smaller parcels nearby, for $7.2 million.

Ascena Retail Group Inc. is venturing into the plus-size women's clothing market by acquiring Charming Shoppes Inc., parent company of Lane Bryant, for about $890 million. The purchase will allow Ascena, the Suffern, N.Y., company that owns Dressbarn and teen clothier Justice, to jump into the growing market for bigger-size women's apparel. Charming also owns the Catherines Plus Sizes and Fashion Bug brands. Ascena will buy Charming for $7.35 a share, a 25% premium over Tuesday's closing price.

Chrysler Group reported its third consecutive quarterly profit and logged its best financial performance in more than a decade. Chrysler said it posted net income of $473 million for the first quarter of 2012, up more than 300% from $116 million a year earlier. The company said the gains were driven primarily by a 40% increase in U.S. retail sales. It was the company's highest quarterly profit since it emerged from bankruptcy in 2009. "Another positive quarter - built on sales gains that have surpassed the industry average - is affirmation that the Chrysler team is maintaining its focus," said Sergio Marchionne, who is chief executive of Chrysler and Italian automaker Fiat.

Not only did Google launch its cloud service today, it also got into the retail phone business, selling the Galaxy Nexus directly to consumers through its Google Play marketplace. The unlocked, unsubsidized phone goes for $399 and is compatible with AT&T , T-Mobile and other GSM service providers. This one won't work on Verizon or Sprint. The Nexus runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). All the specs on the phone are the same as the ones sold with contracts.

--London has overtaken Dubai as the world's prime shopping destination, according to a new report. The British capital attracts the most retail brands among all the great shopping cities around the globe, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE. Last year, London and Dubai tied for first place and beat out shopping hot spots such as New York, Hong Kong and Paris. CBRE said London draws about 56% of all international brands, with Dubai close behind at 54%. In third place is New York, followed by Moscow, Paris and Hong Kong.

If every picture tells a story, then the "look back" photos on the Facebook page of the Every Picture Tells a Story gallery and bookstore speak volumes. There's Laura Numeroff, author of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" and dozens of other children's books, grinning next to Eric Carle, the eminent creator of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar. " There's Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man and the X-Men, and Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animation wizard. Every Picture Tells a Story closed earlier this month, after 23 years of selling original art from children's books, fantasy literature and Marvel Comics to the likes of Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, Judd Apatow, Jon Favreau and plenty of just plain folks.

For Wal-Mart shoppers, prices Saturday may look a little like those on Black Friday. Hoping to lure shoppers, the world's largest retailer will hold sales at its U.S. stores Saturday to give fans a peek at deals normally offered the day after Thanksgiving. The sale will start at 11 a.m. and go until midnight. The event, known as Super Saturday, will offer deep discounts on televisions, gaming systems and other items. Some of the featured items include gaming console Xbox 360 250 GB Console with Kinect for $399 plus a $50 Wal-Mart Gift Card; tablet book reader Nook Color, sales price $199, originally $249; and a flat-screen television LG 47-inch Class LED TV, $698.

WASHINGTON -- Forget high gas prices and stagnant incomes. American consumers are spending like the good times are back. Retail sales in March far exceeded analysts' forecasts, growing at a strong 0.8% pace after similarly robust gains in the prior two months, the Census Bureau reported Monday. "Consumers shot the lights out in the first quarter," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York, in a note to clients. Stocks rose in early trading on the news, but there were some caveats.

After turning dates like Mother's Day into consumer bonanzas and elevating Black Friday into a bona fide holiday, retailers have recently embraced Earth Day as yet another reason to shop. But Earth Day, founded by in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a former Wisconsin governor and senator, has a save-the-planet ethos that doesn't jibe well with the shop-till-you drop ads marking traditional holidays like Christmas. So some retailers are giving away eco-friendly items instead. Below is a list of some April 22 freebies and deals culled by dealnews.com: 1. Target Corp.