Susan Chandler

It's hard for a downtown area in the suburbs to compete when it comes to holiday shopping. For gregarious consumers, giant indoor malls offer comfortable places to shop and people-watch....

The Abercrombie & Fitch catalog has joined the ranks of skin magazines like Playboy and Penthouse. You have to be at least 18 to buy it. The purveyor of preppy...

Go figure. Despite all the talk about healthy eating and exercise, American women are getting larger. An estimated 40 percent of U.S. women now wear larger-size clothing, which is usually...

It must be New Math. How else can city officials explain how a $30 million commitment by Sears, Roebuck and Co. to renovate its six Chicago stores could shrink to...

Paco Underhill makes his living figuring out what makes shoppers tick. He and his employees spend hours tracking shoppers in stores, recording their every movement and gesture, like Jane Goodall...

Investigators said Friday that a sudden and catastrophic loss of power may have killed the two engines on a corporate plane that crashed into Lake Michigan during takeoff from Meigs...

Like it or not, here it comes: the beginning of the holiday shopping season. In addition to rising stress levels and piped-in Christmas carols, that means the public areas of...

Lands' End Inc.'s "Not Quite Perfect" store at 816 1/2 Church St. in Evanston has lost its lease, leaving loads of North Shore families wondering where they are going to...

It's another ego blow for Arthur Martinez, chief executive of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Not only has Martinez seen his retail turnaround seriously derailed this year, but now Sears will...

It's not news that Halloween has become the second-biggest holiday in the United States. Americans now spend $5 billion annually on Halloween costumes, decorations and goodies, more than on any...