Holiday trends to watch: Adult Play-Doh; stores that ship
(AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)NEW YORK โ The pandemic is turning this into a holiday shopping season like no other. And with more people shopping online, stores are doing double duty as shipping centers to try to get gifts to doorsteps as fast as possible. Meanwhile, Best Buy says that 340 of its stores are being specially designated to handle a higher volume of online orders, though all its stores ship e-commerce packages. Its goal: to have the 340 stores ship more than 70% of its ship-from-store units during the holiday quarter. Typically, 25% of holiday shopping is based on impulse, according to Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor at NPD Group, a market research firm.
Virginia man charged after sneaking sword into the Empire State Building, police say
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. - Police say a man has been charged after sneaking a sword into the Empire State Building on Friday. Police identify the man as 35-year-old Matthew Dixon of Virginia. According to police, Dixon went into the building wearing pajama pants and concealed a two-foot sword in a cane. Tourists at the observatory say they saw the sword first hand and wonder how the man was able to get it into the building. "We just saw a guy that had like a sword pointed to his heart."