Seasonal

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods is taking the opportunity to reach out to its Jewish consumers by reminding them that it has a number of kosher-certified items for Hannukah, which begins Dec. 20.

The retailer is touting its availability of whole organic turkeys, pumpkin puree and roasted chestnuts to latkes, matzo meal and Hanukkah gelt (chocolate coins).

Specifically Whole Foods is offering:

By Craig Johnson, [email protected]

Citigroup found that toy prices at both Walmart and Target fell by 4% and that the price gap between the two retailers on toys has narrowed since its first survey.

According to Ciitgroup, retail prices of a basket of “hot” toys for holiday 2011 are now 30 bps cheaper at Walmart than at Target, compared with 50 bps cheaper at Walmart in its previous survey. However, taking into account Target’s 5% rewards discount, the basket of toys became 470 bps more expensive at Walmart, compared with 450 bps more expensive in the previous survey.

Walmart is facing some stiff competion for toy sales with Dollar General, as the company announced that it is going to head-to-head with toy retailers and discounters alike by offering more than 300 toys for $5 or less.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. announced Tuesday that it will waive the minimum purchase limitations and offer free shipping on its complete inventory of 400,000 website items from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27.

"Consumers are looking for value, service and savings this year, and our goal is to provide them with convenient, creative and less costly ways to make the holiday shopping experience more enjoyable," said Barry Judge, executive VP and CMO, in a statement.

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys“R”Us announced that it has established business operations in Poland and plans to open its first store in the country at the end of November. The first Toys“R”Us store in Poland will open in the country’s capital city of Warsaw just in time for the holiday shopping season, with several additional locations slated to open in major cities throughout the country in 2012, the company reported.

New York City -- Despite  concerns about the economy and rising household expenses, nearly three out of five (59%) of consumers will put aside economic worries and spend the same or more this holiday season, according to Deloitte’s 26th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends. While this is a slight decline from 2010, it represents an eight percentage point increase from 2009.

NEW YORK — Despite concerns about the economy and rising household expenses, nearly 3-out-of-5 consumers (59%) will put aside economic worries and spend the same or more this holiday season, according to Deloitte’s 26th annual survey of holiday spending intentions and trends. While this is a slight decline from 2010, it represents an eight percentage point increase from 2009.