On a hot, humid day in Washington, D.C., customers are lined up at the registers of an H&M clothing store waiting to make their purchases.

When it comes to spending money on our dads, the average is about $95 dollars. That is one of the lowest spending dollar amounts for gifts of any of the ‘holidays’ in this country. However, we will spend on our dads, so on Good Morning Maryland @ 9 we showed off a few ideas from local stores.

Does Twitter still leave you scratching your head? Many businesses are struggling to make sense of Twitter, but even if it strikes you as an enigma or hype, consider this: many of your customers are already there.

Sales gains at U.S. retailers probably slowed during May as concerns about the economy crimped purchases in the second half of the month.

As they decide how to stock their shelves later this year, America’s shopkeepers are debating whether the recent rise in consumer spending will last.

Every week, Merritt Islander Sharon Burrows has a date night with her husband. When she heard the shops in Cocoa Village planned to stay open later on Fridays and Saturdays starting June 4, she saw an opportunity.

Whether it’s road resurfacing, sidewalk repairs or a sewer upgrade, public works projects can wreak havoc on local businesses — and thanks to stimulus money, 2010 has been full of them.

Wise businesses are now weaving environmental sustainability into their long-term strategies, and they’re doing it by writing comprehensive sustainability plans. The point: to identify key areas of eco-friendly opportunity and give your business a roadmap of how to maximize of those opportunities.

Retailers are expected to post very modest sales growth when they report April figures on Thursday, as stores seek to maintain the recent momentum in consumer spending.

Youth-oriented retailers report strong sales for the second consecutive month, nurturing hopes of a broader upswing.

Don’t look to Baby Boomers to lead the way in consumer spending in the months ahead. A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Retail Forward, owned by Kantar Retail, says that this recovery — unlike those in last few decades — will be shaped by the values of tech-loving Gen Y, and to a lesser degree, affluent members of Gen X.

Lure of a global marketplace has craftspeople competing for shoppers through such sites as Etsy.com, Artfire.com and 1000 Markets.

This just might be the boldest fashion statement at the shows so far—letting shoppers actually buy the clothes.

Retail sales rose in January as consumers bought more electronics and appliances, but a separate consumer-sentiment index fell in February, highlighting the mixed signals coming from the economy.

In the long run, the record snowfall that has assailed the Washington region will go down as a mere blip in an economic landscape dominated by the recession, the experts say. But that is cold comfort to many local businesses forced to shut down and dig out over the weekend just as they hoped to turn the corner toward recovery.

The recession pushed shoppers to pick necessities over discretionary items, discounts over luxury. But retailers hope to shift such behavioral changes further in coming months, affecting what consumers will buy, pay and experience at stores.

Independent stores nationwide seem to have done as well or better than the chain-dominated retail industry during the 2009 holidays, according to a survey issued Thursday.

American consumers have been profoundly altered by the recession in a way that will have a lasting effect on how they shop and buy.

RECENT RESEARCH SHOWS that buying local campaigns provide only limited and short-lived results for small businesses. So, as budget-conscious consumers turn to mass retailers, Internet and malls for bargains, what can small business owners do? Here are three suggestions.

Saks CEO discusses the luxury retail economy at Retail’s BIG show.