Retail Trade

We're Not Buying It

Free Jazz at the Dollar Store

Happy Record Store Day

Shoplifting -- A Gateway Crime to Extortion?

It's Debt Collection, Not Extortion

Uh-Oh, O'Reilly: Racial Discrimination?

Need Something? Head to Kirby Drive.

Some Of That Gas Being Refined Near Here Is Going Far, Far Away

Department Of Bad Timing (Press Release Div.)

Now Dat's Classy

Jewels and Justice

David Yurman yanks a local dealer into court over sales

Best Used CDs

CD Warehouse

When Online Got Off Base

Or: How Mark Cuban would have--and could have?--saved the music biz

Wal-Mart Turns To Wind Power, A Little

Wal-Mart is going green in Texas! And we don't just mean the dollars you save every day!! Actually, the company is kinda making a bold move of sorts, teaming up with Duke Energy to get wind power for several of its Texas stores. The two companies announced today that beginning in April, Duke w ... More >>

Don't Work -- It's Cyber Monday!

Thought the holiday uber-shopping craze was limited to Black Friday? Welcome to Cyber Monday.Admittedly, the day was first a gimmick by Shop.org (they coined the term back in 2005), but over the years, more and more stores have jumped on board and as many as 82% of online retailers are offering spec ... More >>

Winners and Losers

Lottery operator Gtech was especially kind to the political friends of Texas Comptroller John Sharp. But when supervision of the company was moved from Sharp's office, the party was over.

Circuit City, Don't Let The Doorknob Hit You In The Ass

So Circuit City is calling it quits, shuttering the remaining 13 stores in the Houston area.Hair Balls had the misfortune of buying the worst TV I have every owned there a couple of years ago. The built-in DVD player broke almost immediately, the picture is weak, the power button has fallen off. Ev ... More >>

Hightower High Broadcast Academy Scores Another Grant

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

Meiko

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

Park Your Caboose

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

No Phishing

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

Best New Magazine

This past January, when the Houston Press awarded its first-ever MasterMinds Awards to three local groups showing cutting edge creativity and determination, one of the recipients of a $2,000 check from us was the Hightower High School's Broadcast Academy, headed up by Ted Irving, the media academy c ... More >>

Best Fish Market

Whole Foods Market

Napster's Spawn

File-sharing copycats keep free music alive on the Net. The Big Five labels still call it theft.

Ransom Notes

Can one man convince millions of people to pay for their "free" music?

Amplified

Stolen Axes

Don't Forget Record Store Day is Saturday

Well, it looks like the weather gods are laughing at Houston again, and have decided to ring in iFest with a good round of drenching rain. So if you'd prefer to remain indoors, don't forget Saturday is Record Store Day - there's even a Web site. Be a good consumer and help out your neighborhood ... More >>

An Exercise In Pain: Six Songs of Radio Phil Collins

John Seaborn Gray​ Inspired by Seanbaby's wonderful article using Pandora via Phil Collins as musical gaydar, Rocks Off logged on to our Last.fm account to see where a similar journey with the Genesis drummer and noted Texas history buff might take us. After all, it's not really scientific unless ... More >>

As You Stuff Yourself Tomorrow And (We Hope) Watch The Cowboys Lose, Don't Forget Us

We can tell by the quiet outside the office window that the Thanksgiving exodus has probably already occurred. Or maybe everyone's working late and it will get really busy in an hour or so.At any rate, even though tomorrow is Thanksgiving, be sure to check back here for posts. We'll be offering insi ... More >>

When Black Friday Comes, I'll Stand Down By The Door: Tips On Surviving

​If the excessive Black Friday advertising has you overwhelmed, don't fret, we're here to help.  We've been scrutinizing the quadrillion press releases and ads that have been bombarding us in e-mails, on TV, in last Sunday's paper and in any other existing media form you can think of to come ... More >>

Skip Black Friday IRL, And Do It Online

​Hark, singing herald angels! Do you hear what we hear? Could it be the carols of pure bliss lyrically carousing through the annals of our fair city this fine Black Friday? Yes, indeed, 'tis the season for joy to our world! It's the sound of freedom, we reckon. Freedom from familial dining ob ... More >>

Murder By The Book Gets Some National Pub

​Murder by the Book is a Houston institution, pretty much the place to go for mystery authors on book tours.The Bissonnet store got some national publicity today, as The New York Times looked at plucky independent booksellers importing a hot new novel from England before its U.S. publication date. ... More >>

Top 5 Grocery Store Closings of the Decade

​Houston -- like most other cities -- was once home to a broad array of supermarkets and grocery stores like Weingarten's (whose last grocery store closed in 1984 -- the company is now exclusively in the real estate market), Continental Finer Foods, and Lewis & Coker before it gave way to bein ... More >>

"Record Store Day 2010" With Freddie Steady Five, Grandfather Child, sIngs

​Houston -- like most other cities -- was once home to a broad array of supermarkets and grocery stores like Weingarten's (whose last grocery store closed in 1984 -- the company is now exclusively in the real estate market), Continental Finer Foods, and Lewis & Coker before it gave way to bein ... More >>

A Guide To Record Store Day 2010 In Houston, Cage Dancing And All

www.recordstoreday.com​ Vinyl fetishists, are you ready to be separated from your mortgage or rent money? Record Store Day is tomorrow, and indie record stores across the whole city will be sticking you up all day Saturday. Rocks Off gets paid today, so you will more than likely see us browsing sw ... More >>

"Modern Art Graffiti"

Or "How to sit on contemporary art"

Electric Cars In Houston: There Will Be A Charging Station At Spec's!!

Photo courtesy eVgoeVgo: Jes' juicin' up mah ride​Houston will be home to the nation's first electric vehicle charging ecosystem. Just what is an electric vehicle charging ecosystem? It's a network of charging stations for electric vehicles strategically setup across the Houston area. These c ... More >>

Five Reasons Not to Shop on Black Friday

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Shopping Free-For-All!​Every year around this time in the United States, we celebrate a day so important, so American that it brings people together like no other day can. Around 3 a.m. this Friday, bleary-eyed shopaholics will power into retail outlets all over the country in ... More >>

Top Five Black Friday Fight Videos

Give it or I'll punch you in the jugular​When you are in a battle for your life, you often resort to scratching and clawing, screaming and yelling. When you are in a fight for a plasma television on Black Friday, well, you'll probably do the same thing. Welcome to Black Friday, America's cele ... More >>

$2.99 Grand Slams at Denny's on Black Friday

We prefer the Moons Over My Hammy​Let's say for the moment you plan on being out early on Black Friday. Let's also say your four hours of sitting in line followed by the frenzied trampling of other humans to buy the hundred-dollar laptop and three-hundred-dollar flat screen television you are ... More >>

Denny's Grand Slams $2.99 on Black Friday

Mmm...Moons Over My Hammy​There's nothing getting an early start running errands or getting some exercise followed by a good, hearty breakfast. It's the perfect start to a great day. This Friday will likely not be one of those days. Instead of errands or exercise, there will be sleep deprivati ... More >>

Flying Fur: PETA Members to Protest on Black Friday

Don't expect hot, naked protesters on Friday. Think about it if you like, but don't expect it.​When you are out picking up some toys for the tikes at the Galleria this Friday, you might see something besides chubby Santas and frustrated holiday shoppers. You might catch anti-fur protesters. A ... More >>

Infographic: The Black Friday Experience

See the whole thing after the jump​Today is "Black Friday", so named because of the hellish throng of shoppers and cars choking the streets, sidewalks, and retail outlets all over the country. Believe it or not, up until a few years ago, "Black Friday" was an urban legend; the shopping crowd w ... More >>

Bye-Bye, Books-A-Million

BAM!! It's gone!!​We always thought a major bookstore downtown was a bit of a longshot, but Books-A-Million thought otherwise. Until now, that is. Swamplot reports that the store in the new-ish Houston Pavilions will soon be shuttered. Books-A-Million is kind of a southeastern Borders, with ... More >>

Tequila Coleman: Loves Fancy SUVs, Hates Paying For Them

Land Rover: Get one by any means necessary​Apparently, Tequila Antwannette Coleman really, really, really digs luxury SUVs. They are the salt and lime in her life; without them, she is just not complete. The trouble is, she seems to have trouble paying for them, and now the 31-year-old Houst ... More >>

Record Store Day Contest Coming This Afternoon

​When so many Americans will be camping out at Best Buys and fighting over big screen televisions at Walmart, music fans will be sleeping soundly in anticipation of Record Store Day's Black Friday events. The now annual day celebrating the stores that once carried the weight of music sales is ... More >>

Musicians Can Wait: Black Friday More About Flat Screens Than Instruments

Who doesn't want a Fender Strat for Christmas?​Back in college -- yes, in the stone age -- I worked for a musical instrument store on the north side of Houston. Over the years, there were busy days where I just stood behind the counter while a line of people handed me guitars to buy without th ... More >>

Top 5 Reasons Cyber Monday Is Better Than Black Friday

​To bastardize a line from Groundhog Day, "Well, it's Black Friday...again." It's that oh-so-magical time of year when the strong walk away from predawn shopping trips with armfuls of electronic goodies while the weak get treated by EMS for boot marks left by shoppers stampeding into Best Buy. ... More >>

Material World: Music to Rock Your Cyber Monday with Video

​In the late '70s, there was a movie spoof on Friday the 13th called Saturday the 14th. It was about as dumb as you imagine it would be. Well, insert punchline here because Black Friday is over, but we are still smack dab in the middle of Cyber Monday, where instead of being stampeded by rampa ... More >>

Last Minute Shopping: The 10 Best Online Retailers (Not Named Amazon.com)

​For a decade now, online retailers have increasingly grown their sales to the point they now rival traditional brick and mortar establishments. Let's face it, it's just easier to shop online if you have a computer, an internet connection and a desire to avoid crowds. You can sit there with a ... More >>