The economic ripple effect of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is starting to spread. And the next victim looks to be the housing industry’s seller’s market.
March home sales fell 8.5%, according to the National Association of Realtors. And the months ahead will likely be notably worse, according to the group’s chief economist.
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More than 10,000 stores announced closures in 2019; and UBS estimates that number will hit 75,000 by 2026. Victoria’s Secret, Forever 21, GNC and others are among a number of retailers in the danger zone.
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Google’s shift into the video game business with its new streaming service, Stadia, is a major move for the tech giant. The video game industry generated sales of about $135 billion in 2018 and it’s predicted to hit $300 billion by 2025. But reaction from players is mixed.
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In the beginning, there were video game stores. There were bricks, and there was mortar, and hours before the stroke of midnight of a highly anticipated release, there were snaking lines of customers outside GameStop or Toys “R” Us or Best Buy, waiting with excitement for the sale to begin. This was the first age of video games, and it was good.
Source: Streaming Could Change the Video Game Business Forever
Fame in the adult entertainment industry is a fickle thing. Many performers leave the industry before anyone knows their name. Some experience a meteoric rise, only to fall in the course of a few months. Others prove eternal.
The adult entertainment industry’s annual exposition runs from Jan. 24 to 27 in Las Vegas. Ahead of the event, here is a list of this year’s most popular porn stars as judged by their standing among industry insiders and depth of fan interest, a critical factor to success in the industry.
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At any point in any console cycle, the launch of a new Super Mario game is a big deal. But “Super Mario Odyssey,” which hits store shelves today, is a bonafide event.
The game is garnering some of the best review of any game this year. And consumer interest in those reviews is so strong that the servers for Metacritic, which acts as a clearinghouse for reviews, were unable to keep up with site traffic on Thursday.
Read more at CNBC.com: Super Mario Odyssey hits stores
Halloween’s a holiday full of scares and surprises, but the biggest one of all could be the sticker shock that comes when you add up how much you’ve spent for the holiday.
A pair of new studies finds that average per person Halloween spending ranges from $169 to $183. To put it another way, if you were to boycott All Hallows’ Eve throughout your life, you could save nearly $12,000 by the time you turned 65. And that’s not even including the cavities from all the candy you’d consume.
Read more at Fortune.com: Halloween 2017: How Much Does the Average American Spend?
Every two years, the brewers at Samuel Adams like to create an event—and there’s no easier way to stir the passions of beer lovers than the release of Utopias.
The biennial release, which carries a price tag of $199 and an ABV of a whopping 28%, is one of the beer world’s most highly anticipated events. Just 13,000 bottles of the beer will be distributed throughout the U.S., though not in 12 states, where it’s illegal to sell.
Read more at Fortune.com: Samuel Adams Releases Utopias 2017, a $200, High Alcohol Beer
When it comes to beer, there are many levels of fame. Anheuser Busch InBev and MillerCoors earned theirs by the size of their market domination. Brewers like Lagunitas and Samuel Adams helped spark a revolution. And names like Russian River (creator of Pliny the Elder), The Alchemist (Hedy Topper) and Trillium (who jump started the New England IPA style) have earned national reputations from the word-of-mouth acclaim of beer drinkers.
This last measure of fame is a particular favorite of craft brewers. It’s authentic and not something that can be achieved with clever marketing or distribution tricks. And at the Great American Beer Festival, currently taking place in Denver, brewers are hoping to capture or stoke that spark to take them to the next level.
Read more at Fortune.com: Great American Beer Festival: 5 Brewers on the Cusp of Craft Beer Fame
Aside from an occasional towel, you’ll be hard pressed to find a stitch of fabric on the hundreds of people lounging in and by the pool at this Jamaican resort. For the most part, people congregate in groups in the water or the swim-up bar, chit-chatting and swapping stories as any vacationers might, though perhaps with a bit more revelry and boisterousness.
Off to the side, though, it’s not entirely uncommon to see a couple—or sometimes a group—engage in behavior that’s…a bit more intimate. And no one around them tends to bat an eye. It’s just another day at Hedonism II.
Read more at Fortune.com: Sexually Charged Resorts Are Hot Vacation Destinations
Chris Morris: Journalist 