It was such an eye opener; my son called the other day and his first words were, "Mom, all those Santa Clause's helpers in the malls deserve 10 times the salary they get." When I asked what brought him to that profound decision, he tearfully told me that last week, while working as a police officer in a town nearby, he was approached by his chief, who asked him if he would fill in for the Santa Clause that could not show up for the Christmas parade scheduled for that evening. He had a great time as he waved to all the children on the parade's route. After the parade, he was then asked to sit on Santa's throne and listen to all the children's wishes. That sounded like fun, thinking that he would be hearing all the wishes his own kids have of laptops, cell phones, etc. ...more

December 28, 2009

Lakeshore Mall should reconsider its decision to close its doors to unsupervised, under-aged teens. While the mall authorities are well within their means to kick out unruly and disruptive patrons, the discriminatory manner unfairly penalizes teenagers who have committed no infraction. ...more

September 14, 2009

Kearney Construction, a large contractor that worked on the International Plaza and Westfield Citrus Park malls, has filed for bankruptcy protection. ...more

August 27, 2009

You'll soon have a little less time to get in all your shopping at three local Westfield Group malls. ...more

February 13, 2009

You'll soon have a little less time to get in all your shopping at three local Westfield Group malls. Westfield Citrus Park, Westfield Brandon and Westfield Countryside in Clearwater will reduce their operating hours by one hour starting March 1. During the week, all three malls will begin opening at 10:30 a.m., rather than 10 a.m., and will begin closing at 8:30 p.m., rather than 9 p.m. ...more

February 11, 2009

Ursi Heppner of Port Richey wants to know what happened to Christmas. ...more

January 7, 2009

To promote the Jan. 13 return of "American Idol," Fox is setting-up official "Idol" backdrops at various malls throughout the country including Tampa's Westfield Citrus Park mall. ...more

January 6, 2009

PLANT CITY - The Florida Strawberry Festival has a suggestion for last-minute Christmas shoppers who don't want to deal with the crowds at the malls: Tickets to the festival and its headline shows make great stocking stuffers. ...more

December 22, 2008

Instead of braving crowded malls or hoping their online orders arrive in time, many people did their holiday shopping Saturday in support of an area radio station. ...more

December 14, 2008

Like their counterparts at the malls, online merchants finally got some relief with the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season, spurred by a bevy of deals and free shipping offers. But the stronger-than-expected bump in online sales Monday couldn't cancel out a lackluster November. ...more

December 4, 2008