Boots inspired by Boston weather and craft brews

Boston's known for tough winters and good breweries — a combination that proved inspiring to a local footwear startup.

"Craft brew" boots, anyone?

"Before craft brews, people just bought generic beer or imports," said Boston Boot Co. co-founder and Reading resident Joe Lyons. "With just a little more ­effort, you can have a better product."

Calling their creation Boston's first Micro-Shoery, Lyons and his co-founder/neighbor Joe Prew and designer Chad Gombes set out earlier this year to make a classically crafted, impeccably made line of men's boots.

"We want to make good shoes that we can feel proud of," Lyons said.

To get their project off the ground, the team turned to Kickstarter for funding. They werwe seeking $25,000, but now have more than $178,000 banked.

"We're very excited by our success with Kickstarter," Lyons said. "Like a lot of success, it was a lot of little things and a little bit of luck. And maybe good timing — we launched (the campaign) right after the World Series win.

"I don't know whether that played a role," he said with a laugh.

While Prew has a background in footwear design, Lyons came to the shoe world from investment banking, and the Kickstarter project provided a much-needed contrast to his former career.

"(For Kickstarter) you need a plan and a product and a prototype to raise money and to see if there's a demand. It's refreshing — you can hold up a product in front of people and say, 'Do you like it?' It's just been great," he said.

The shoes, retailing between $179 and $225, are made from high-quality leather with an athletic-shoe backbone, inspired by Boston life.

"We view Boston people as stylish, smart and practical," Lyons said. "You can have very nice shoes, but there's only so many days you can wear them here. They're sensible for guys who have to brave the elements six or seven months of the year."

While Boston is right there in the name, Kickstarter gave the trio major visibility: "Boston weather is definitely a factor, but it's really any Northeast city or anywhere where the weather is tougher. We have people interested from all over the world."

The site, BostonBootCo.com, will start selling shoes in December, Lyons said.

"We are going to be a smaller company for the foreseeable future — we would like to get into boutiques and smaller shoe stores, but that's something that will come over time," he said.

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Correction: Germany-Amazon story

BERLIN — In a story Nov. 25 about a strike against Amazon.com in Germany, The Associated Press erroneously reported that the union ver.di represents about 2,000 Amazon employees in Leipzig and 3,300 in Bad Hersfeld.

The German news agency dpa reported that Amazon employs around 2,000 in Leipzig and more than 3,300 in Bad Hersfeld without saying how many were union members. Union spokeswoman Christiane Scheller said ver.di does not release membership figures as a matter of policy.

A corrected version of the story is below:

Amazon workers on strike in Germany

Amazon workers on strike in Germany; threaten more ahead of Christmas if no new wage agreement

BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of Amazon.com Inc. workers are staging a strike in Germany and the union says there will be more to come in the run-up to Christmas unless the online retailer raises wages.

The one-day warning strike Monday at Amazon's distribution centers in Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig were the latest of several as the ver.di union pushes for wage agreements similar to those governing retail and mail-order workers.

Amazon has already agreed to pay Christmas bonuses but ver.di says the concession isn't enough and it "is in Amazon's hands" whether there are more strikes.

Amazon says that its warehouses are logistics centers and employees are already paid on the upper end of what other workers in that industry earn.

Union spokeswoman Christiane Scheller said ver.di does not release membership figures as a matter of policy.

The German news agency dpa reported that Amazon employs around 2,000 workers in Leipzig and more than 3,300 in Bad Hersfeld without stipulating whether all are union members.

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Some Black Friday deals are duds

Black Friday is where good technology goes to die. Doorbuster deals are dubious and an "exclusive" is code for an untested product made specifically to get you in the door on this day.

Exhibit A is every too-good-to-be true deal on an HDTV. On Black Friday, the big box stores are full of television brands you've never heard of before. There's a 32-inch LED TV listed for $98 that I would not pick up for free. To play it safe, stick with Samsung, Panasonic, Sony, Vizio and Sharp. And if there's no listing for a brightness or contrast ratio, the number of HDMI inputs and the resolution, you're likely dealing with a sea of motion blur and muted color.

This year features a special level of laptop mediocrity. The worst offenders are those laptops running the Windows 8 operating system without a touchscreen. Those may look tempting, with the lowest prices south of $200. But under no circumstances should you purchase a Windows 8 PC without the touchscreen. The system wasn't designed to be used with a static screen and mouse.

An array of Android tablets with impossibly low prices is another pitfall to avoid. No tablet should be priced below $150, which is the lowest it costs the manufacturer to produce a semi-respectable tablet. If you're looking for a value tablet, check out Amazon for sales on its excellent line of Kindles.

There is one notable exception to today's bleak tech outlook: Black Friday could be your last chance to purchase the universally sold-out Xbox One system before Christmas. If you're headed to the stores today in search of Microsoft's newest gaming system, expect long lines and possibly even waiting lists.

There are some deals worth noting. Though retailers can't slash prices on most Apple products, Target is offering generous gift cards, like $100 when you buy the new iPad Air. Another heartening Target deal is $99 for a Nikon L320 digital 16 MP camera, regularly priced at $229.99. And, Walmart's 70-inch Vizio E701i-A3E television, for $998 instead of $1,698, is worth a shout-out.

And I'll give props to Best Buy for slashing $200 off the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, on sale for $1,100.

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Reclaimed lumber can be a renovator’s best friend

There's nothing more eye-popping than shimmering wood flooring.

It gives you that wonderful feeling of warmth and the natural beauty of the outdoors into your home or workspace. It's something homeowners and businesses are trying to capture when refining their surroundings while also using eco-friendly products.

One way to magnify the look is to use reclaimed wood - or wood that was used for another purpose.

Using reclaimed wood for renovation projects is an option that gives the old boards new life. It's a piece of the past woven into the present.

One Massachusetts company in particular has been providing premium quality reclaimed lumber to New England's top building professionals for more than 15 years. Based in Chelsea, the Jarmak Corporation has been catering to architects, designers and homeowners for years.

Founder Arnold Jarmak launched his company in 1998 while working with the Amish in Pennsylvania. He got into the trade first working for a demolition company before running a business that purchased lumber. In 2001 he opened an antique lumber sawmill in Lancaster, Pa., on an Amish farm.

With the Amish, he observed how they saved all they tore down. They didn't believe in a crushed-earth policy. They saved everything, the company notes on its website. "Saving building materials meant saving time and money," the company states. Since then, the Jarmak Corporation has been at the forefront of the reclamation industry.

They recenlty opened a wood shop and lumberyard in Oxford, which allows the company to service the entire Northeast providing reclaimed wood products for commercial, retail, dining, home, office spaces and more. It also gives consumers the ability to actually see the products they will use on their own projects first hand.

Their products include Antique Heart Pine, Antique Fir Timbers, Recovered Redwood, Boston Harbor Oak, Vermont Maple Flooring, and Antique Pine Timbers among others.

Think of this company as a junk yard for wood that takes something that's old, dirty and worn and repurposes it into something that's new, clean, warm and bursting with character and charm.

Whether it's wood from a century-old New England farmhouse or the pilings found sitting in the Boston Harbor beneath the old Jimmy's Harborside Restaurant, these guys will transform the product into something magnificent.

It's truly an amazing process that everyone should consider when designing their new home or business as it combines a new thing of beauty with the historical richness of the past in a product that is not only durable but eco-friendly and sustainable.

Charlie Abrahams is a licensed real estate agent in Boston who works with buyers and sellers and can be reached for any additional information at: Bostonrealestate@ charlieabrahams.com

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Holiday shopping season begins on Thanksgiving

NEW YORK — Shoppers gobbled turkey, but saved the pumpkin pie for later on Thanksgiving Day.

As more than a dozen major retailers from Target to Toys R Us opened on Thanksgiving, shoppers across the country got a jump start on holiday shopping. The Thanksgiving openings come despite planned protests across the country from workers' groups that are against employees missing Thanksgiving meals at home.

More than 200 people stood in line at the Toys R Us store in Manhattan before its 5 p.m. opening.

Green Bryant was first in line at 10 a.m. The restaurant manager ended up buying a dollhouse for $129 — $30 off — a Barbie doll and a LeapFrog learning system. Bryant, 28, said she didn't miss Thanksgiving festivities but was going home to cook a Thanksgiving meal for her two children.

"It was worth it," she said. "Now I gotta go home and cook."

At a Target store in Brooklyn about 25 people were waiting in line at 2:50 p.m. for the 8 p.m. opening, an hour earlier than a year ago.

Theresa Alcantaro, 35, a crossing guard, was waiting with her 12-year-old son to buy an Xbox One. It wasn't on sale, but supplies have been scarce. She was missing a gathering of 40 family members but said she would meet up after shopping. She hoped to be in and out by 9 p.m.

"Honestly if I can get a good deal, I do not mind," she said about Thanksgiving shopping. "I see my family every day. They understand."

The holiday openings are a break with tradition. The day after Thanksgiving, called Black Friday, for a decade had been considered the official start to the holiday buying season. It's also typically the biggest shopping day of the year.

But in the past few years, retailers have pushed opening times into Thanksgiving night. They've also pushed up discounting that used to be reserved for Black Friday into early November, which has led retail experts to question whether the Thanksgiving openings will steal some of Black Friday's thunder.

In fact, Thanksgiving openings took a bite out of Black Friday sales last year: Sales on turkey day were $810 million last year, an increase of 55 percent from the previous year as more stores opened on the holiday, according to Chicago research firm ShopperTrak. But sales dropped 1.8 percent to $11.2 billion on Black Friday, though it still was the biggest shopping day last year.

"Black Friday is now Gray Friday," said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy. "It's been pulled all the way to the beginning of November."

Stores are trying to get shoppers to buy in an economy that's still challenging. While the job and housing markets are improving, that hasn't yet translated into sustained spending increases among most shoppers. Overall, the National Retail Federation expects retail sales to be up 3.9 percent to $602.1 billion during the last two months of the year. That's higher than last year's 3.5 percent growth, but below the 6 percent pace seen before the recession.

Shoppers' financial stress was apparent at the stores on Thursday. "I struggle a lot," said Adriana Tavaraz, 51, of the Bronx, who had spent $100 buying holiday decor on Thanksgiving at a Kmart. "Nowadays, you have to think about what you spend. You have to think about tomorrow."

The Thanksgiving openings are part of retailers' holiday strategy of trying to lure shoppers in early and often during the holiday shopping season. But the stores face challenges in doing that.

Some workers have petitions on change.org to protest against Target and Best Buy. The Retail Action Project, a labor-backed group of retail workers, also is planning to have members visiting customers at stores including Gap and Victoria's Secret in Manhattan to educate them about the demands on workers.

Wal-Mart has been the biggest target for protests against holiday hours. Most of the company's stores are open 24 hours, but the retailer is starting its sales events at 6 p.m. on Thursday, two hours earlier than last year.

The issue is part of a broader campaign against the company's treatment of workers that's being waged by a union-backed group called OUR Walmart, which includes former and current workers. The group is staging demonstrations and walkouts at hundreds of stores around the country on Black Friday.

Brooke Buchanan, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the discounter has received "really good feedback" from employees about working the holiday.

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Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at www.Twitter.com/adinnocenzio

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Small company helps Twitter make money

DENVER — Twitter just issued its IPO but a lingering question is how the popular worldwide microblog company will turn a profit. One Colorado-based company thinks it has found one way to help Twitter, and itself, make money.

Wayin has partnered up with the Denver Broncos to project tweeted photos and tweets from fans onto the Sports Authority Field at Mile High's Thundervision 2, the stadium's marquee 40-foot high, by 220 foot wide video scoreboard.

The software allows ads to be placed next to the tweets to generate revenue. It's unclear how that could impact Twitter's bottom line. None of the companies would discuss how much money is generated through the deal.

The Broncos rolled out Wayin's software during the game versus division rival Kansas City Chiefs on Nov. 17.

The team uses the software to search terms or so-called hashtags to find tweets by category from the thousands sent about the game and then pick the ones to send to the scoreboard and 1,100 television screens throughout the stadium, as well as to the Broncos social media hub on the Web.

"The key is that we're not just going to put up anything and everything because as you can imagine, there are some things you don't want to pull right in," said Sandy Young, senior marketing manager for the Broncos who is responsible for picking the tweets.

It's unclear how many companies such as Wayin, co-founded by Sun Microsystems founder Scott McNealy, are out there striking deals with companies to use the Twitter feed. Twitter declined to discuss the matter.

"It's no secret that Twitter has become the roar of the crowd during televised games, but we're also seeing teams embrace Twitter for the in-stadium experience," Geoff Reiss, head of sports at Twitter said in a statement.

Experts estimate that Twitter makes 85 percent of its money through so-called "native" advertising that shows up on the feed in the form of text, said Michael Myers, a business professor at the University of Denver.

"I think they'll experiment with how to make money," Myers said. "See if someone can curate their content and their data in a format that makes the customer so they don't have to reach out to the Denver Broncos themselves."

All fans have to do is send in their tweets, if they remember to charge their phones before heading to the stadium.

"Back when we had Treos and Blackberries, used to be a three-day battery life," said Evan Woock, who attended the Broncos/Chiefs game Nov. 17. "These days I can't get through a day."

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Consumer behavior aggressively tracked this season

WASHINGTON — It's a big question for marketers: What kind of a buyer are you? And, as important, what are you willing to pay?

In the search for answers this shopping season, consumer behavior online and off is being tracked aggressively with help from advances in technology.

And it can happen whether buyers are on their work computers, mobile devices or just standing in the grocery aisle. The data can be connected with other personal information like income, ZIP code and when a person's car insurance expires.

Retailers say these techniques help customize shopping experiences and can lead to good deals for shoppers. Consumer advocates say aggressive tracking and profiling also opens the door to price discrimination, with companies charging someone more online or denying them entirely based on their home price or how often they visit a site.

"You can't have Christmas any more without big data and marketers," said Jeff Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy. "You know that song where Santa knows when you've been sleeping? He knows when you're awake? Believe me, that's where he's getting his information from."

Consumer tracking has long been a part of American consumerism. Retailers push shoppers to sign up for loyalty cards, register purchased items for warranty programs and note ZIP codes to feed their mailing lists. Online stores and advertising services employ browser "cookies," the tiny bits of software code that can track a person's movements across the Internet, to analyze shoppers and present them with relevant pop-up ads.

More recently, marketers have developed increasingly sophisticated ways to combine offline and online data that creates detailed profiles of shoppers. They also are perfecting location-tracking technology as a means of attracting new customers and influencing shoppers as they wander through brick-and-mortar stores.

A major push encourages shoppers to agree to be tracked in exchange for a good deal. Brick-and-mortar stores used to balk at customers who used smartphones to compare prices at rival stores, but retailers like Target are now pushing their own mobile apps and offering in-store Wi-Fi. The mobile apps entice shoppers with coupon deals or ads as they move throughout a store, while in-store Wi-Fi is another way to track a consumer's online movements.

To further lure buyers, major holiday retailers, including Macy's, Best Buy and JCPenney, have partnered with the Shopkick mobile app. If shoppers turn on the app while in their store, they can be rewarded with discounts or song downloads for trying on clothes, scanning barcodes and making purchases.

Another app, Snapette, blends American's addiction to social media sites with location technology. Aimed at women keen on fashion, consumers can see what accessories or shoes are creating a buzz in their particular neighborhood, while stores get a chance to entice nearby shoppers with ads or coupons.

Not all new technology tracking is voluntary. Stores have been experimenting with heat sensors and monitoring cellphone signals in their stores to see which aisles attract the most attention. One product called "Shopperception" uses the same motion-detection technology in the Xbox Connect to track a customer's movement, including whether they picked up a product only to return it to the shelf. In addition to analyzing customer behavior, it can trigger nearby digital signs offering coupons and steering shoppers to certain products.

The company contends that the technology is less intrusive than other tracking devices, including security cameras, because a person's image is never stored and their movements only registered as a data point.

Marketers also are learning to overcome limitations with software cookies. One tech startup called Drawbridge claims to have found a way to link a person's laptop and mobile device by analyzing their movements online, enabling advertisers to reach the same consumer whether they're on their work computer or smartphone.

But how all that information is used and where it ends up is still unclear. The Federal Trade Commission, along with several lawmakers, has been investigating the "data broker" industry, companies that collect and sell information on individuals by pooling online habits with other information like court records, property taxes, even income. The congressional Government Accountability Office concluded in November that existing laws have fallen behind the pace of technological advancements in the industry, which enables companies to aggregate large amounts of data without a person's knowledge or ability to correct errors.

"There are lots of potential uses of information that are not revealed to consumers," said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America. To protect themselves, "consumers still need to do quite a bit of shopping to make sure that they get (what) meets their needs the best and is the best price."

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Follow Anne Flaherty on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AnneKFlaherty

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Report: Financial services help drive Mass.

BOSTON — The financial services industry in Massachusetts remains strong and helps fuel other top sectors in the economy, even though it is still recovering from the recession, according to a study released Friday.

Banks, insurance companies, money managers, and brokerage firms account for $36 billion, or 9 percent, of the state's total economic output, according to the study by Mass Insight, a Boston research firm, and consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Although the sector has cut about 3 percent of its jobs in Massachusetts since 2009, it still employs nearly 166,000.

"It's still the most important sector in the state," William Guenther, the chairman and founder of Mass Insight, told The Boston Globe (http://b.globe.com/Ikyclo ). "It's the supporting sector that makes it possible for the life sciences, health, and education sector to do well as they do."

Banks, venture capitalists, and investment firms provide capital to help tech, biotech, and other cutting-edge companies to grow, he said.

The financial services industry is also among the state's highest paying. The average salary for a financial services worker in Massachusetts was about $114,000 last year, more than twice the average wage of about $55,600 for all industries, according to the report.

The study was done for the Boston Financial Services Leadership Council, an advocacy group of local asset managers, investment firms, and banks.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com

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Woman injured in N. Ireland Black Friday rush

LONDON — At least one person has been injured in Northern Ireland as shoppers rushed to get their hands on deals for Black Friday, a day of sales modeled on the American post-Thanksgiving kick-off to the holiday shopping season.

British supermarket chain Asda — owned by U.S. retail giant Walmart — has been advertising its Black Friday deals throughout the U.K.

The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it was called to Westwood Center in Belfast around 8:30 a.m. and took a woman with an arm injury to the hospital.

Asda's Westwood store had two dozen 32-inch TVs on sale at reduced prices, according to Britain's Press Association.

Asda said in a statement that the safety of its customers is of "vital importance" and that it has extra security teams in stores.

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Limited whiskey sells for nearly $4,000 per bottle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A new whiskey created in Kentucky features a blend of age and scarcity that spiked demand — and its price.

As a result, whiskey fans including celebrities and corporate chiefs are angling to snatch up limited stocks of Michter's Celebration Sour Mash Whiskey for nearly $4,000 per bottle. Shots won't come cheap, either, fetching an expected $350 a pop.

Limited-edition offerings, with heftier prices than typical stocks, have become commonplace as American whiskey makers dabble in new flavors to lure customers. But the latest introduction by Michter's Distillery LLC breaks into a pricing stratosphere that could reverberate across the industry.

"This is kind of new territory," said industry observer F. Paul Pacult, editor of the newsletter Spirit Journal.

"It's going to start a whole rush of interest in very high-end bourbons, American whiskeys and American spirits. This kind of throws the challenge out."

The Michter's product will reach shelves Monday in select liquor stores, restaurants, bars or hotels in such places as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Aspen, Colo., Chicago, Palm Beach, Fla., Houston and Boston. The company produced a scant 273 bottles of the blend of whiskeys, some aged up to 30 years, and all are spoken for, its top executive said.

"We've been turning down orders," said Michter's President Joseph J. Magliocco.

Willie Pratt, master distiller at Michter's, blended the whiskey from his favorite barrels, Magliocco said.

Christian Navarro, president of Wally's Wine & Spirits in Los Angeles, plans to sell the product for $3,600 per bottle, more than he paid for his first car.

He had at least five takers for each of his bottles, with movie stars and rock singers among those vying for the limited supply, he said.

"They said, 'I'll pay you in advance,'" Navarro said, adding: "I can't get enough of this product."

The introduction adds a new twist to the growing super-premium whiskey market. The Celebration bottles are embossed with gold labeling, part of the elaborate packaging by Michter's, a small, Louisville-based company known for its premium bourbons and rye whiskeys starting at $45 per bottle.

The company is in the process of expanding its small distillation capacity. Currently, it makes most of its whiskey at another distillery, using Michter's recipes, with its older whiskeys coming from stocks it bought up.

Typically, prices for limited-edition American whiskeys topped out at a few hundred dollars per bottle, though Michter's does offer a 20-year-old bourbon that sells for $600 a bottle and a 25-year-old whiskey that retails for up to $700 a bottle. That pales next to the select single-malt Scotches, cognacs and brandies aged for decades, which can fetch tens of thousands of dollars per bottle.

Pacult said the introduction reinforces a trend showcasing the rising quality of American distilling.

"Up until just about 10 or 12 years ago, American distilling was looked upon as kind of the idiot stepchild of Ireland and Scotland and France," he said. "But now we're seeing that's not the case at all. Perhaps the most exciting innovations are now being made" in the U.S.

Stocks of 20- or 30-year-old American whiskeys are extremely limited, as larger whiskey makers typically tap into their barrels much sooner to try to keep up with demand.

The bourbon sector's focus has been on churning out higher-end products, led by small-batch and single-barrel bourbons. Jim Beam, the world's top bourbon producer, plans to launch a single-barrel offering next March. The makers of Wild Turkey, Evan Williams and Woodford Reserve rolled out special selections in recent years.

U.S. sales for super-premium whiskeys shot up 94 percent within a decade — from $741 million in 2003 to $1.44 billion in 2012, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a Washington lobbying group. Sales for the entire whiskey category grew 47 percent, from $4.3 billion in 2003 to $6.3 billion in 2012, according to the group. The category includes bourbon, Scotch, and Irish, Canadian and Tennessee whiskey.

Some buyers see hard-to-get spirits as solid investments, given the popularity of American spirits at auctions.

"Just like people who collect baseball cards as kid, there are those who are collecting whiskeys as adults," said Jonathan Goldstein, vice president of Park Avenue Liquor Shop in New York.

Others want to build up collections for sipping later, or to hold on to the spirits for special occasions, like their children's weddings. If the bottles rise in value, they might be tempted to sell them — to pay for the weddings, Goldstein said.

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