REGION

REGION

Be prepared mall exec
advises holiday shoppers

HERMITAGE, Pa. — The Shenango Valley Mall, located at the corner of state Routes 18 and 62, will open its doors at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Preparation is the key to holiday shopping, said Jeremy J. Murrin, general manager/marketing manager for the mall. He offered several shopping tips, including: Do advance research on big-ticket items; check out coupons, including when they expire; map out the stores to be visited, and the items desired; and wear comfortable clothing, particularly shoes.

At midnight tonight

AURORA — Official store hours at the Aurora Farms Premium Outlets, 549 S. Chillocothe Road, are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Black Friday, but some stores will open at midnight Thanksgiving Day.

Gas prices dip a bit

INDEPENDENCE — Northeast Ohio motorists are paying an average $3.080 per gallon for regular self-serve gasoline, 8 cents less than last week, according to the AAA East Central Fuel Gauge survey. The average price during the week of Nov. 13, 2007, was $3.162, and the average price during the week of Nov. 24, 20067, was $2.269.

The national unleaded average price of gasoline was $3.090 on Tuesday.

Sampling of current area prices include: Ashtabula, $3.100; Parma, $2.977; Niles, $3.090; and Ravenna, $3.111.

NATION

Retailers to stop
selling leaden jewelry

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Two nationwide retailers have agreed to stop selling lead-laden children’s jewelry that investigators have found on store shelves, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

Big Lots Inc., a discount retailer, and Michaels Stores Inc., a major crafts store, will immediately discontinue sales of the jewelry at its stores across the country.

Other regional retailers including Pure Allure of Oceanside, Calif., and Buckwholesale.com, of Tucker, Ga., Dollar Days International of Scottsdale, Ariz. are also settling investigations with Cuomo and taking the lead jewelry off their shelves.

Several companies are paying fines.

Home sales continue

downward spiral

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of existing homes fell in 47 states during the July-September quarter as the housing market’s slump worsened, a real estate trade group reported Wednesday.

The new third-quarter figures from the National Association of Realtors underscore the severity of the housing market’s slump, which has economists increasingly pessimistic about the economic outlook. Vermont was the lone state to show a sales increase. Existing home sales there rose 0.8 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

The Realtors though saw a silver lining in the data, noting that home prices rose in 93 of the 150 metropolitan areas surveyed. Yet big price drops plagued formerly booming parts of the country. Median prices fell by more than 10 percent in parts of Florida and California compared with the third quarter of last year.

Trade group officials emphasize the real estate market is not a national one, and conditions vary — sometimes dramatically — from market to market.

“Some metro areas are hot while others are experiencing localized problems. Home prices in the vast midsection of America, from the Appalachians to the Rockies, are affordable and, perhaps, even undervalued,” they said.

Staff/wire reports