Holidays

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business In the spirit of holiday cheer, here’s the good news first: Christmas tree farms say this year’s harvest looks good and they don’t expect shortages. But here’s the reality check. Expect to pay more for that perfect fir, pine or spruce compared to last year. As with so many products

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business You may not be anywhere close to ready for the holidays — but retail chains certainly are. Christmas trees are already on sales floors at Costco and Lowe’s, Walmart’s year-end holiday sales start October 1 and Target is offering its “earliest access ever” to holiday deals beginning October 6. Amazon

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business Halloween is still a month away, but Walmart is ready for Christmas. Walmart on Thursday said it’s getting the ball rolling on its year-end holiday shopping season at its stores and online as early as next month. Noting that more than half of its customers make their holiday shopping plans

By Parija Kavilanz, CNN Business The kids, the grandparents, the babysitter, maybe your favorite aunt or uncle. That’s it. You can blame inflation for families knocking friends, co-workers and extended families off your holiday gift lists this year. Persistent inflation — consumer prices increased by 8.5% in July over last year — has reshaped how

By Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN Business Few of us want summer to end, but there’s some good news coming this winter holiday: you’ll find more discounts than in previous holiday shopping seasons. Executives at Best Buy, Ulta, Gap and other top chains have said in recent weeks that they are expecting a shopping season packed with