71.   On foot or horseback, it would take hours to scour video stores to buy such items.

72.   One technique Childers cited is to ask each staffer to write personal thank-you notes to three customers who have bought items in the store that week.

73.   Others find that having to type in their personal information each time they buy an item takes much of the joy out of online shopping.

74.   Online customers can buy items by merely clicking on them and then entering a credit card number.

75.   People then buy fewer items on credit, and businesses borrow less money for expansion.

76.   Permitting independent distributors to buy those items and import them to the U.S., they say, would undermine their businesses.

77.   People just stopped buying luxury items, and golf clubs are high on that list.

78.   Portland, Ore.-based financial planner Glen Clemans has occasionally bought items, such as television sets, from friends who needed short-term cash.

79.   Reduced inflation has made it easier for Brazilians to buy big-ticket items on credit.

80.   Sales at large Japanese retailers in March soared as consumers rushed to buy big-ticket items before the government raised the consumption tax, economists said.