Shop Talk
Retailers, consumers and prices
Check Out Line: Invasion of the robo-hamsters
Check out the Zhu Zhu Pet airlift of 2009. 
Wal-Mart is flying and trucking in hundreds of thousands of the robotic varmints to lure shoppers into the doors during the last days before Christmas.
The fake pets — which have presumably turned 1,00s of children into Zhu Zhu pests to their parents and grandparents — will be sold starting at 7 a.m. on Dec. 21-Dec. 23, with stores each getting a limited amount.
The move by Wal-Mart comes as consumers continue to wait until the last minute to get the best deals. The National Retail Federation says only 46.7 percent of consumers had completed their holiday shopping by the second week of December, a five-year low.
With Christmas on a Friday this year, some analysts think shoppers may even pass up “Super Saturday” — the Saturday before Christmas and typically one of the busiest shopping days of the year — and shop next week instead.
That is why retailers are saving some promotions until then to try to get anyone they can into their doors.
Robotic hamsters, anyone?
Also in the basket:
Consumer prices rise as expected
Mexico’s Modelo sues Constellation in U.S.
(Photo: zhuzhupets.com)
