Potential revival: The former chief executive of Charming Charlie, Charlie Chanaratsopon, offered to purchase the fashion retailer’s trademarks, website domains, customer database and social media assets for $1.125 million at a bankruptcy auction held in New York on Wednesday, The Houston Chronicle reports. The sale is pending approval from a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge next week, and its unclear what Chanaratsopon plans to do should the sale be approved. Read the full story.
Purchasing habits: Customers with good to excellent credit accounted for well over half of used-car financing, a record, in the second quarter this year, according to the credit bureau Experian, The New York Times reports. That’s a change from years past, when “prime” borrowers—generally, those with credit scores above 660—tended to buy new cars, said Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of automotive financial services. Read the full story.
Shopping: U.S. retail sales rose moderately in August, driven higher by a jump in auto buying and healthy online sales, evidence that consumers are still spending enough to support growth. The Commerce Department said this morning that retail sales increased 0.4% last month, down from a strong 0.8% in July. There were also signs that consumers have become more cautious. Excluding autos, sales were unchanged for the first time since February. Read the full story.
