Ha. Say that headline five times fast. :)

The pop-up show will give Organica Deluxe co-founders Jane Hunter and Wendy James the opportunity to showcase their products in person along with the convenience of in-store pickup for those who order online.

Bonus: On opening day, Nov. 12, you can take 30 percent off select products, as well as enjoy tasty samples, door prizes, gift and clothing consultations and more.

Just check it out, will ya? The holiday shopping season is right around the corner, not to mention the pop-up shop will only be around until Dec. 24. Click here for more information, and happy shopping!

Ahh, the holidays are around the corner. Don't you just love the season for work parties, charity events and the like?

Well, recessionista alert: Instead of buying a bunch of different dresses to wear to the various parties you've got to attend during the holidays, perhaps you should consider RENTING your dress.

Hmm.

According to Springwise.com, rental costs are around 10 percent of a garment's retail price, and range from $50 to $200. Customers can rent for four or eight days, after which they return the dress in the USPS return envelope that RTR provides. The extra size—which RTR provides at no extra cost—must be returned unworn.

During these economic times, this is a great way to freshen up your look for those fancy holiday parties you've got to make an appearance at, without having to come out of pocket for a dress that you'll probably only wear once or twice.

The only problem I see? When I tried to sign up on their Web site, I got this message:

Hmmm....

According to an article on MSNBC.com, retailers are taking a "business as usual" approach to the upcoming holiday shopping season. People, wise up. Money is tight, jobs have been lost, and it's definitely not going to be "business as usual" unless you plan accordingly. And when I say plan accordingly, I don't mean put everything on sale so you don't make any profit. By all means, do what you have to do to make your money, but be ingenious about how you're going to get people in the door and offer products that are "must-have."

At a time when even people who do have money are hesitant to spend it, many retailers and product manufacturers also have been unable or unwilling to risk developing a new and exciting product that could become a big breakthrough — or a huge flop.

Instead many stores seem to be focusing on safe bets and traditional gifts like scarves or board games, Cohen said. That raises the concern that there will be another season with few if any “must-have” items that leave consumers clamoring at store windows and pushing frantically through the aisles.

“They’ve basically bored customers to death,” Cohen said. “Going into this holiday season, what does the consumer have to have? Nothing.”

If struggling retailers — and the companies that make their merchandise — can’t find a way to appeal to consumers, that could have a ripple effect on the U.S. economy, which is heavily reliant on consumer spending and also is struggling to regain its footing.

Read the full article here.

Barcode ... as in the sticker that's often stuck to the bottom of just about anything you purchase nowadays. Today marks its 57th anniversary of the first patent.

To commemorate the occasion, Google has switched out its logo to barcode language:

Hats off to the creators of the barcode, an essential, ever silent player in shopping game of life.

Everyone's heard of the Simmons company, whether you realize it or not. Remember those commercials with the bowling ball being dropped onto the mattress? (If not, see below).

It's a shame when a 135-year-old brand files for bankruptcy. Oh wait. The owners are still raking in the dough. What the?

Simmons says it will soon file for bankruptcy protection, as part of an agreement by its current owners to sell the company — the seventh time it has been sold in a little more than two decades — all after being owned for short periods by a parade of different investment groups, known as private equity firms, which try to buy undervalued companies, mostly with borrowed money.

For many of the company’s investors, the sale will be a disaster. Its bondholders alone stand to lose more than $575 million. The company’s downfall has also devastated employees like Noble Rogers, who worked for 22 years at Simmons, most of that time at a factory outside Atlanta. He is one of 1,000 employees — more than one-quarter of the work force — laid off last year.

But Thomas H. Lee Partners of Boston has not only escaped unscathed, it has made a profit. The investment firm, which bought Simmons in 2003, has pocketed around $77 million in profit, even as the company’s fortunes have declined. THL collected hundreds of millions of dollars from the company in the form of special dividends. It also paid itself millions more in fees, first for buying the company, then for helping run it. Last year, the firm even gave itself a small raise.

Read more here.

Simmons Beautyrest. It's a classic.

A headline on MSNBC.com caught my eye this morning, made me blink twice, and now I'm passing it along to you: "In lust for lashes, few bat an eye at odd risks."

I guess the want for thick, fuller lashes is more common than I was aware of. Latisse is a hugely popular eyelash-enhancing treatment. A small bottle costs about $120. It seems Latisse lovers are willing to pay any cost to have luscious lashes ... even if that price includes health risks.

Last week, Latisse made headlines when the FDA sent a warning letter to Allergan stating the promotional materials posted on the product’s Web site were “misleading because they omit and minimize risks associated with Latisse.” Among the risks, the FDA notes, is that the active ingredient can cause hair to grow in other places besides the lash area, cause inflammation of the cornea — and can make lighter-colored eyes turn brown.

...

“I don’t care if my eyes bleed,” one fan recently posted on Twitter. “I use it and love it!”

Read the full story here.

Here's my solution. Instead of putting your eyeballs at risk or growing hair in places hair need not be growing, why not just use fake lashes? Here's a video on how to apply them. Those buggers can be tricky, but I'd rather struggle with some glue than possibly cause inflammation to my cornea. Eww.

Shop local. Please? Our people are hurting ...

Although the recession has been a struggle for all U.S. retailers, there is evidence that it has been especially difficult for the nation’s smaller, independent retailers. With Americans cutting back drastically on their spending, some stores have lost business as shoppers have turned to cheaper discount chains, while others have found that their customers have simply gone without the kind of discretionary items some small retailers sell.

Sales at privately held retailers fell 3.63 percent on average for the first seven months of this year, as compared to an average drop of 1.34 percent for publicly held companies in the same period, according to Sageworks Inc., which provides financial data on privately held companies. The data is based on financial records from thousands of accountants.

Read the full story at MSNBC.com.

*Applause*

For once, a fashion magazine, whose target audience is the everyday, average-looking woman with actual thighs, has featured a model who looks like its audience.

Slender, leggy supermodels such as Bar Refaeli and Gisele Bundchen are taking a backseat these days to an unlikely supermodel contender in the form of Lizzi Miller — all 180 glorious pounds of her.

Miller, at 20 already a seven-year veteran of the modeling world, rocked the magazine industry and the blogosphere when her photo appeared alongside an article on women’s body confidence in the September issue of Glamour magazine. The photo shows Miller in all her blond, flashing a confident smile — but also flashing some stomach pooch that hangs over her thong bikini.

Check out the full story on MSNBC.com.