It’s been a wacky year thus far for gas prices. The cost per gallon usually retreats in the slow-demand month of February, but this year, prices rose. Not because of a sudden increase in demand, mind you, but for a host of other reasons that brought about assumptions that the national average would easily top $4 a gallon by Memorial Day, and that 2012 would easily surpass 2011 as the priciest year ever for gasoline. Now, though, after fears of $4, or even $6 gas have caused airlines to raise fares and travelers to change summer plans, gas prices are declining—and they’re expected to keep falling well into the high-demand days ahead.
Don’t rev your engines in celebration just yet. But even though Memorial Day is several weeks off, and even though gas prices tend to rise through the onset of summer, some experts are saying that prices at the pump have already soared as high as they will, at least through the near future.
In the past week alone, the price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Chicago and the surrounding areas has soared by a startling 18¢, reaching all-time highs of $4.67 within the city and $4.51 in the suburbs.
California tends to get a lot of the attention in terms of rising gas prices. The state does have the highest prices in the Lower 48, now averaging $4.35 per gallon, up from $3.83 in mid-February. But over the last five or so weeks, gas prices have increased more in dozens of U.S. cities outside [...]
Consumers have been warned to expect a gallon of regular to cost $4 by springtime. For drivers in three states, four bucks or more per gallon is already a reality.
It’s easy to see why the start of the year is a slow time for restaurants. Diners tend to stay home and cook not only because the weather’s cold, but because they probably have yet to pay off the credit card debt accrued via holiday season splurges. To spur on business during the early year [...]
The store will also host a boutique where customers can get virtual makeovers and actual hands-on manicures. An “Eyebrow Bar” is available for those seeking professional shaping and grooming services.
Robbing a bank is so unoriginal. Because of a combination of an economy in horrific shape and the rising monetary value of certain goods, materials, and, believe it or not, creatures, many thieves are choosing unusual targets to steal, and then flip them for a quick profit.
In what’s become an annual autumn tradition, Smithsonian magazine is sponsoring a day of free admission to more than 1,000 museums around the country. This Saturday, September 24, is the big day when normal entrance fees are waived.
Roughly one out of every 11 store sites is empty at traditional malls around the country. That’s the highest mall vacancy rate in over a decade, even though rents at these properties are likely to have decreased or leveled off recently. At the same time, outlet malls—where both rent for businesses and prices for consumers [...]
They’re an emerging new breed, and they’re coming to a strip mall near you. Filling the empty big-box shells left behind by Blockbuster, Circuit City, and other stores hammered by the one-two punch of the recession and the sharp rise of online shopping, these chains come seeking bargain shoppers (and cheap rent), and they’re numbers [...]
