Boston Shopping?

A recent survey showed that shopping is one of the top reasons people visit Boston – above sightseeing and museums. One look at the city’s boutiques, malls, department stores, and outlets and you’ll understand why people flock here to stock up on clothes, shoes, jewelry, and books. It all begins on Newbury Street, a renowned, eight-block stretch whose shops cater to every taste, from upper-crust to cutting-edge. The next stop for any avid shopper is Downtown Crossing near Boston Common. This browser’s paradise – pedestrian-friendly, no cars allowed – is home to one of the city’s most famous attractions for stylish bargains: Filene’s Basement. Give your credit card a workout while enjoying a side of history at Faneuil Hall Marketplace, also called Quincy Market. This area is stocked with quaint stores and tourist-friendly souvenir shops, and it has an amazing food court when it’s time to refuel. Blow your budget at the shops on Charles Street at the foot of Beacon Hill, or attempt frugality at the many bookstores of Harvard Square. Wherever you go, you’ll find ample evidence that although Boston is a history buff’s heaven, it’s also a shopaholic’s fantasy.

Shopping For a Real Online Business ?

One of the main reasons I recommend people find their own financial fast track quickly and take getting rich seriously is because in America, and most of the world, there are two sets of rules, one for the rich and one for everyone else. Many laws are written against people stuck in the financial rat race. In the world of business and investing, which is the world I am most familiar with, I find it shocking how little the middle class knows when it comes to where its tax dollars are going. Although tax dollars are going to many worthwhile causes, many of the larger tax break, incentives and payments are going to the rich, while the middle class is paying for them.

If you are serious about a program that will build you an online presence and make money at the same time. Check them out

www.igomogul.com

Phoenix Area New Year's Eve Events

HAPPY NEW YEARS FROM MAGGIE'S PLANET

Things to Do in Phoenix on New Year's Eve
All Star New Year's Bash
The Clubhouse, Tempe
Doors open at 7 p.m.
Antidote & Drunken Immortals w/ The Insects, Crusher SS, Solid Ground, Discombobulater, DJ Terra. Champagne toast, party favors.

EastonAshe New Year's Bash
Carefree Resort and Villas
7 p.m.
Tickets: $50 plus a variety of room, dining and child care options
The evening will feature a performance by EastonAshe, a midnight countdown, champagne toast and many other surprises. Room and dining discounts available.

Fiesta Bowl Block Party
Tempe Beach Park and Mill Avenue, Downtown Tempe
Tickets: $25
Named one of the top ten places in the nation to ring in the New Year by USA Today, the Insight Fiesta Bowl Block Party will welcome more than 150,000 people to enjoy New Year's Eve entertainment, pep rallies, fireworks, carnival rides, interactive games and more.

Sponsored Links
New Years 2008 - Vegas
Party on top this New Years Eve Las Vegas' Stratosphere Hotel
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Phoenix New Years 2008
Search local listings for parties, concerts, dancing, comedy & dining
www.Zvents.com

Hotel for New Year's Eve
Stay with Hyatt Grand Cypress for New Year's Eve. Book Online.
GrandCypress.Hyatt.com
Frank Caliendo
Tempe Improv, Tempe
7 p.m.
$60 per ticket.

Insight Bowl
Sun Devil Stadium, Downtown Tempe
Tickets: $20 and up.
The Indiana Hoosiers will meet the Oklahoma State Cowboys for this college football bowl game that starts at 4 p.m.

Jerry Riopelle with special guest The Tubes featuring Fee Waybill
Dodge Theatre, Phoenix
Doors open at 8 p.m.
$32 - $97 per ticket.

Keith Sweat Live
Celebrity Theatre, Phoenix
Doors open at 6:30 p.m., show at 9 p.m.
$40 - $65 per ticket.

Last Exit
Tempe
Doors open at 8 p.m., 21+
Tramps & Thieves, Truckers On Speed, Los Guys. $10.

Mesa Symphony
Chandler Center for the Arts, Chandler
7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20 - $45
The Mesa Symphony Orchestra presents "An Evening of Viennese Operettas and a Few Other Things..." with guest artists Lisanne Norman, soprano, and Andrew Gray, bass-baritone. It's a salute to the Blue Danube, the Merry Widow and other favorites from the Viennese and U.S. Operetta stage.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Xmas Shopping in... Italy

Where to get the best deals on Armani, Gucci and the other big names in fashion
Italy's fashion houses do not advertise these stores, some refuse to admit their existence, but once you know where they are you need never pay high-street prices again.

Rotating around the mother ship of Milan are discreet towns and suburbs with outlets offering massive discounts on top-brand clothes and accessories.

The fashion houses bypass conventional retailers to sell directly to the public, wiping out mark-ups which can account for half the price. But to avoid a retailer revolt they tend to keep it quiet, so quiet that many fashion insiders are ignorant of the bargains on their doorstep. After agreeing to supply addresses for this article, several leading houses changed their mind. Cats out of bags and all that. They are also concerned that too high a profile might debase brands by exuding a whiff of cheapness. Much of the stock comes from seconds or showroom collections, but not all. Discounts of up to 70% are common.

But it took a Dutch woman, Theodora Van Meurs, to blow the whistle by writing a bargain hunting guide to Italy: Lo Scoprioccasioni (Editoriale Shopping Italia, tel: 0039 02 7063 4605), now in its fourth edition. For £9 you get 2,000 addresses. Most of the outlets are in the triangle between Turin, Milan and Florence.

No-frills flights can make it cheaper to fly from Stansted to Milan than to Edinburgh. Go (0845 60 54321) flies from £88 return.

Armani

Armani Factory Store
Provinciale per Bregnano, 12, Vertemate (near Como).
Tel: 0039 031 887 373.
Open: 9.30am-7pm, closed Monday.

Three storeys of clothes and accessories straight from the Emporio production line. A lot of beige and taupe. Coats £145, trousers £29, shirts £14.50, jeans £14.50.

Antinea
Via Stazione, 93, Trissino (near Vicenza).
Tel: 0039 0445 424 100.
Open 9am-7pm, Monday 3pm-7pm.

More Emporio Armani, including seconds. A lot of wool. Suits £125, trousers £48, seconds' jeans £14.

Diesel


Surplus Diesel
Via Ponticello, 34, Molvena (near Vicenza).
Tel: 0039 0424 411 811.
Open: 9am-12.30pm, 3.30pm-7.30pm, Wednesday 9am-7pm.

Contrived bargain-basement atmosphere. Remainders and seconds on the first floor. Section for children. T-shirts and jeans £12-£18.

Dolce & Gabbano


Dolce Saverio
Via Rossini, 70, Legnano (near Milan).
Tel: 0039 0331 545 888.
Open: 10am-1.30pm, 2.30pm-7pm, closed Tuesday.

Remains from the first line. Suits £120-£145. Also shoes.

Fontana di Trebbia

Via Trebbia, 26, Milan
Tel: 0039 02 5519 4353.
Open: 8am-12.30pm, 2am-5.30pm, closed Saturday.

Bags and suitcases from Fontana and Dolce & Gabbana, in vivid colours from £20.

Gucci


Gucci
Via Aretina, 63, Leccio Reggello (near Florence).
Tel: 0039 055 865 7775.
Open: 9am-6pm, Tuesday 9am-1pm.

Spacious and luxurious surroundings. Ties £14, linen jackets £280, shoes £18, classic bags £240.

Jill Sander


Emporio Lario 1898
Via Vittorio Veneto, 52, Cirimido (near Como)
Tel: 0039 031 352 3111
Open: 9.30-7pm.


Jill Sander footwear and boots £30. Also Lario shoes.

Prada


I Pellettieri d'Italia
Localita Levanella, 69, Montevarchi (near Arezzo).
Tel: 0039 0978 9188
Open: 9.30-1, 2-6.30

The Japanese are on to this one, so be prepared to enter a scrum. Prada bags from around £100, ties and scarves £14, shoes £48.

Valentino


New Marbas
Via Croppina, 8, Parre (near Bergamo).
Tel: 0039 035 702 141.
Open: 4.30pm-6.30pm, closed Saturday.

Sweaters mostly, £12. Also stocks Alfred Dunhill and Polo.

Ferre and GM Venturi


Italiana Manifatture
Via San Petronilla, 15, Teramo (central Italy)
Tel: 0039 085 894 2141
Open: 9.30am-12.30pm, 4.30am-8pm, closed Monday during winter.

Factory prices for sport and casual gear. Also stocks from Valentino and Filippo Alpi