Well, we do tend to have longer hair, which usually requires five products all things told…

Men’s Vs. Women’s Grooming Products is a post from: The Inquisitr

Not sure if confused shopper or she just said “screw it” and took the bottom basket.

Please Place Empty Baskets Here is a post from: The Inquisitr

Retailers looking to get out of the red this past Thursday and Friday were generally in luck. A study of the weekends sales show that a record number of goods were purchased during the busiest shopping day of the year.

According to Bloomberg $11.4 billion was spent at retail stores on Friday night and morning, up by 6.6% compared to the same time last year and the largest one-year gain since 2007.

According to one retail expert:

“Those who have jobs have been willing to spend.”

Before Black Friday many analysts believed it would be a lousy year for retailers as consumer confidence hovered near record lows with the Consumer Comfort Index falling below minus 50 for nine of the last 10 weeks, the first time such a long stretch had been witnessed since the index was started 26-years-ago.

According to one analyst while consumer sentiment is extremely negative that isn’t the entire story of why people buy what they do.

Does this mean the U.S. economy is headed in the right direction? Not necessarily, as one analyst points out:

“Still, it’s just one day,” and “It remains to be seen whether consumers will sustain this behavior through the holiday shopping season.”

It will be interesting to see how much those numbers increase when Cyber Monday deals begin in just a few short hours from the time of this post.

Were you one of the 150 million people who headed out to stores on Thursday night and Friday morning to take advantage of Black Friday deals this year?

Black Friday Passes With Record Number Of Sales is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google announced that it has received a worldwide license to Visa payWave, enabling consumers to make payments at retail locations by simply waving their mobile phone in front of a payment terminal.

This license sets the stage for Visa-issuing banks worldwide to enable Visa account holders to add their credit, debit and prepaid accounts to Google Wallet– a mobile application that turns a smart phone into a digital wallet.

Stephanie Tilenius, vice president of Commerce and Payments at Google, said:

“This agreement extends Google Wallet to Visa account holders worldwide. This is a crucial step towards realizing our shared vision for the future of mobile commerce – one that creates a rich shopping experience for consumers and merchants alike.”

Stressing Visa’s commitment to enabling mobile payments, Jim McCarthy, global head of product, Visa Inc. said:

“Mobile technology is transforming how people pay for goods and services. This agreement builds on Visa’s strategy of enabling consumers to make mobile payments with whatever device they choose using the trusted accounts they already have.”

Google Wallet is designed to enable an open commerce ecosystem enabling consumers to carry payment cards, offers, loyalty and gift cards . Google is currently working with top retail brands to create a new mobile shopping experience.

The goal for everyone now is to simplify things, especially shopping experience. How can you simplify it further other than simply using your mobile phone to settle payments.

Not To Be Left Behind, Visa Joins Google Wallet is a post from: The Inquisitr

Yes, but can you check in there?

If constant auto-publishing to your Facebook and Twitter feeds isn’t enough of an announcement to all your friends that you have a smartphone and you’re not afraid to use it, you can now buy real life buttons, stickers and t-shirts at the Foursquare store so the un-socially networked can share in your love of Foursquare.

Foursquare announced the store’s opening in a blog post, and hinted at possible future check-in tie-ins:

So many of you have been asking how you can rock the t-shirts we wear every day here at foursquare HQ, so we made a store for you to get your own! The great thing about this is that it’s really not just a store, but a distribution channel that will allow us get swag out to all our biggest supporters and loyal superusers (love you guys!).

In the future, we hope the store will make it possible for us to do a lot of really cool things—like tying badge unlocks to real-life swag—so you can show off your foursquare accomplishments! Check out the cool voting feature where you can pick which one of our designer Mari’s awesome designs makes it into the store next.

Catch that? So the next time someone asks you what the point of Foursquare is or why you care about retaining a mayorship, you can explain it to them in terms of tangibility that non-Foursquare users seem to value so highly. The two shirts posted so far are pretty cute and fetchingly form fitting- with the added bonus of functioning as a shibboleth to other location aware geeks, possibly boosting your friend count and in-game status. If that’s not worth $20, I don’t know what is.

Storesquare! Foursquare now selling real-life stuff in an online store is a post from: The Inquisitr

No thanks, I don’t need a basket.

[offbeats via reddit]

Parental ingenuity, it knows no bounds is a post from: The Inquisitr

Just in time for Christmas, an iconic Easter candy got a dedicated retail store in Oxon Hill, Maryland.

Marshmallow Peeps, largely associated with Easter, are available for Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween in shapes such as hearts, gingerbread men, black cats, Christmas trees and snowmen. And now Peeps fanatics have a retail location to satisfy all their Peeps-related shopping needs. Peeps & Company (often abbreviated to the Tiffany-eque “Peeps & Co.”) opened a Peeps shop at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland on Thursday.

In addition to everything one could possibly want that is Peeps-themed, the store also carries merchandise related to Hot Tamales and Mike & Ike, products of the Just Born line of candies. In a statement announcing the grand opening of the location, Just Born indicated the store would offer ” an array of high-quality branded items such as apparel, gear, china and toys within a fun, branded retail location.”

Peeps have a strong fan base, frequently featuring in internet humor- according to the company, 1/3 of Peeps purchased are not consumed, but played with. A filmmaker, who documented Peeps fandom in a 45-minute film, spoke to the LA Times about the cultural fascination with Peeps:

“They manage to straddle the world between cute and horrible,” he said. “You can look into their black beady eyes and see your childhood. Or you can look into their black beady eyes and see the bleakness of the soul.”

Marshmallow Peeps get dedicated retail store in Maryland is a post from: The Inquisitr

First Katie Holmes was bringing in a dismal number of All My Sons sales (presumably in part from her husband scaring people away), but it look like She’s Back. According to Variety, things aren’t as bad as they might seem. They claim that All My Sons is “selling just fine“:

“However, if the advance figure released by producer Eric Falkenstein is accurate, “All My Sons” looks to rank alongside “Equus” as one of the fall season’s biggest nonmusical box office performers.”

What? Really?! It’s too bad that this report comes waaay too late for anyone to believe it. Then again, these anti-Scientology protesters might do the trick in terms of publicity. Things could turn around after all!

Will you watch Katie on Broadway?

Image: WireImage

Katie Holmes Might Just Do It! is a post from: The Inquisitr