People braced for the worst, scurrying to passport offices, banks and grocery stores, planning to skip work and school, and posting pleas on social media for seats in cars headed to the Lebanese border.
Although returns plague the industry, the number of stores planning to loosen their return policies through the holidays will triple this year, to 11percentt of retailers, the National Retail Federation says.
Among the big-name fashion stores planning to open in SoHo next year are Diane Von Furstenberg (135 Wooster Street), Ralph Lauren (109 Prince Street), and Alexander Wang, who is opening his first boutique at 103 Grand Street, in a cast-iron storefront previously occupied by Yohji Yamamoto.
The Black Friday frenzy is once again creeping into Thanksgiving with an unprecedented number of stores planning to open earlier than ever right smack in the middle of America's turkey dinner.
Other brokers noted that the Bronx had recently been attractive to retail developers recently, with Home Depot, Pathmark and Target Stores planning or building large projects in the borough.
