Discount Stores

Baltimore County police say they have charged a former Goodwill employee with robbing three of the discount stores in November. Richard C. Pettaway, 29, of the 2000-block of Ramblewood Road in North Baltimore, was charged with five counts of armed robbery and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a crime. Police say Pettaway was involved in robberies on Nov. 11 and Nov. 16 at the Goodwill store at 1753 E. Joppa Road and on Nov. 18 at the store at 200 W. Padonia Road, where police said he had worked.

I'm trying to be as much of a do-it-yourself-er as I can for the wedding. With that, I've ventured into every craft store known to man. And who knew there were so many out there. I guess I just didn't pay attention to them all until I needed to. If you're considering doing some projects on your own, whether for your wedding or your home, or even gifts for holidays and birthdays, take a look at my personal reviews of the area's most popular craft stores. Michaels: This is probably the most common and well known craft store and for good reason.

I'm trying to be as much of a do-it-yourself-er as I can for the wedding. With that, I've ventured into every craft store known to man. And who knew there were so many out there. I guess I just didn't pay attention to them all until I needed to. If you're considering doing some projects on your own, whether for your wedding or your home, or even gifts for holidays and birthdays, take a look at my personal reviews of the area's most popular craft stores. Michaels: This is probably the most common and well known craft store and for good reason.

Robin Walker, unable to sleep, called up her online layaway account in the middle of the night, ready to make some grim choices about which presents her grandchildren wouldn't get. The answer, she feared, was most of them. She opened the first account, shocked to see the balance read "$1. " A computer glitch, she suspected. But when the second account said the same thing, as did the one after that, she started laughing. Someone, she began to realize, had paid all five of her layaway accounts down to a dollar.

Despite a weak economy this year, American consumers have been surprisingly loath to put away their wallets and purses. If the economy doesn't slip into a double-dip recession, it is these spendthrift consumers who deserve much credit. Spending could hardly have been described as robust, but the MARTS Retail Sales index has been in positive territory month-to-month for most of the year. The two big winners have been electronics retailers and discount stores. Two of the latter - BJ's Wholesale Club and Costco - are on our list, but two other standouts have nothing to do with discounting.

Retail sales grew at an expected slow pace in February, as U.S. consumers continued tightening spending amid a weakening economy. Sales at the nation's biggest chain stores rose, on average, 2.8 percent for the month, when retailers typically clear out winter merchandise, a Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi index showed. The gain fell short of a much healthier increase of 6 percent in February 1999, before consumer confidence began to ebb because of higher fuel costs and a plunging stock market.

Specialty apparel chains and discount stores saw their sales climb in August, while other retailers blamed sluggish back-to-school sales for disappointing monthly results.Sales at the nation's chain retailers, reported yesterday, rose, on average, a healthy 6.6 percent based on an index of 75 retail chains tracked by Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.Among those benefiting most from strong consumer confidence and spending during the first month of back-to-school shopping were mass discounters such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer.

Two boxes will arrive at Hampstead's door next year: One is called Wal-Mart; the other, Sweetheart Cup Co.When the boxes are opened, cars and trucks will stream out and come back in, sometimes as many as 623 more per hour than usual along congested Route 30.Residents fear not so much that things in Hampstead will change, but that they will get worse.The owners of Bob's Variety Store worry that the increased traffic will go beyond the rush-hour crawl that already keeps patrons from their doors.

Drugstores, discounters and furniture stores helped lead a rise in retail sales last month as consumers continued hunting for bargains while shying away from department stores and specialty and apparel stores. Many retailers were helped by the Easter holiday - which came two weeks earlier this year - but unseasonably cool weather across most of the country tempered sales in March. Nationwide, major retailers' sales climbed 6.4 percent over March 2001 at stores open at least a year, according to Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.'s index of 81 national chain stores.

Get your hair trimmed and styled. Apply for a loan. Leave the car for an oil change, and drop off the kids in the game room. Stock up on socks, detergent, printer cartridges, milk, ground beef, bananas, paint and mulch. You could, in one trip, get a rotisserie chicken for dinner, some extra tennis balls and a rifle. It's one-stop shopping the Wal-Mart way, at "supercenters" up to twice the size of a typical Wal-Mart. For the world's largest retailer, it's also the future. With $165 billion in annual sales, 4,100 stores and more than a million workers, Wal-Mart has reached unparalleled dominance in the history of retailing.

Baltimore County police say they have charged a former Goodwill employee with robbing three of the discount stores in November. Richard C. Pettaway, 29, of the 2000-block of Ramblewood Road in North Baltimore, was charged with five counts of armed robbery and three counts of using a handgun in the commission of a crime. Police say Pettaway was involved in robberies on Nov. 11 and Nov. 16 at the Goodwill store at 1753 E. Joppa Road and on Nov. 18 at the store at 200 W. Padonia Road, where police said he had worked.

Nicholas C. D'Adamo Sr., a retired Highlandtown merchant, and his wife, the former Grace Marie Wolfe, who were inseparable for 61 years, died within a day of each other at Franklin Woods Center in White Marsh. Mr. D'Adamo, who died Tuesday of complications from dementia, was 86. His wife, who died early Wednesday morning, was 82. "She had a bad cough, and at 6 a.m. in the morning she asked the staff for some cough medicine, and when they got back, she was dead," said the couple's son, Baltimore City Councilman Nicholas C. D'Adamo Jr., who lives in Hamilton.

Whether it's camping out in the wee hours of the morning, putting on track shoes or plotting out elaborate plans of attack days in advance, getting ready for Black Friday has become a tradition all its own. This year, promoters at many area malls and shopping complexes are looking to reward the faithful — and maybe persuade them to come to their malls first. They're offering live entertainment, special discounts, and free food and drink. One even offers the chance at $10,000 in gift cards, while another is offering free movie passes — to be used, presumably, once all the shopping is done.

A Harford County retailer as popular for its yard-sale atmosphere as its couture fashions is reopening next month more than a year after closing. But it will no longer carry the C-Mart name that bargain shoppers knew so well. C-Mart once attracted a loyal following of frugal shoppers with high-end tastes from around the region until attempts by new owners to modernize in a bad economy forced it out of business in 2008. Now a member of C-Mart's founding family is reopening the store Feb. 3 in its original location under the name The Big TARP Company Store.

U.S. retailers had their best month in more than a year in October as shoppers turned to discounters and high-end stores alike. The news fueled a rally on Wall Street, helping to push the Dow Jones industrial average up 203.82 points, or 2.1 percent, to 10,005.96. Year-over-year retail sales rose 1.8 percent, the best showing since June 2008 and the second consecutive month of gains, according to Thomson Reuters' tally of 30 major chain stores. In a promising note, upscale chains Nordstrom Inc. and Saks Inc. beat expectations, showing that affluent shoppers may be loosening their purse strings on high-end items.

The shelves at the Conkling Salvage Exchange and Foam Center in Highlandtown once were chock-full of merchandise ranging from silk flowers and Christmas decorations to coffin handles. Now only the shelves themselves are for sale. After 70 years in neighborhood corner store retailing, owner Stanford J. Schneider says it's time to go. The store founded in the depths of the Great Depression is a victim of the Great Recession. "When I open at 9:30 and there are no customers before noon, it's time to close," he said the other day as he stood in the empty store.

Fallout from a bankruptcy last year has prompted Ames to close four more Maryland department stores, including one in Southdale shopping center in Glen Burnie.Company officials plan to close money-losing stores in Glen Burnie, Baltimore and Randallstown during the first three months of next year. No dates have been set."It's part of a continuing effort to get out of Chapter 11," company spokesman Bill Roberts said. "The stores that are closing are stores that are operating at a loss. Closing them will help reduce losses and improve the operating cash flow."

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it will open about 185 stores in the fiscal year beginning Feb. 1 in a plan to boost merchandise and food sales.The company said the openings will include 120 to 125 supercenters, 50 discount stores and about 10 Sam's Clubs stores. The world's largest retailer now has 2,771 stores.Wal-Mart said about 90 of the supercenters would be expansions or relocations of its discount stores. Supercenters combine Wal-Mart's traditional discount stores with grocery stores.