Vacancy rates at U.S. malls climbed to 7.1% in the fourth quarter, the highest rate since Reis Inc. started tracking the figure in 2000, and many are reinventing themselves to stay relevant, Kris Hudson reports. Weaker malls that struggled prior to the recession are recruiting unorthodox tenants, such as community colleges and libraries. Some are even welcoming big discounters, embracing the crowds they draw even as some tenants complain the discounters siphon sales away from small-shop operators. Many malls are rethinking their original anchor-tenant formats as department stores disappear. Luxury mall owner Taubman Centers recruited tenants such as …

Saks says it will not aggressively discount prestige brands in the year ahead as it did in the last quarter, Jonathan Birchall reports. CEO Stephen Sadove compares the price cuts of up to 70% that Saks rolled out in early December with the discounting produced by the slump in demand following the 9/11 attacks. He says the retailer had had no option but to cut prices and to cancel and return orders to its vendors. "It was an ugly period; we ruffled some feathers," he admits in a reference to the retailer's relationships with suppliers. The discounting reduced Saks' …

All of a sudden, two-for-one offers are showing up in a variety of venues -- from restaurants to retailers to telecommunications companies -- in an attempt to entice consumers who are tightening their fists around the purse strings. It's a way to avoid conditioning consumers for discounts and to assuage the guilt that they feel about shopping in such difficult times. "People are more willing to make a purchase if they feel they're being responsible," says Thomas Hine, author of I Want That! How We All Became Shoppers. Some examples Horovitz cites are T.G.I. Friday's offer of two entrees …

The U.S. Justice Dept. has filed a civil lawsuit in Massachusetts accusing Forest Laboratories of inappropriately marketing antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for children and paying kickbacks to pediatricians who prescribed the drugs. The charges revolve around a promotion that included fishing trips, golf and spa outings as well as tickets for physicians to attend sporting events and Broadway theaters as well as meals at fine restaurants. Prosecutors says Celexa is no more effective than a placebo when taken by children or teenagers, and, in fact, more patients taking it report suicidal thoughts or attempted suicide. The Food and Drug …

Coupon usage has surged about 10% in the past four months, according to coupon-processing agent Inmar, and shoppers are increasingly getting them online or having discounts sent to their smartphones and rewards cards. And stores are jumping further into the high-tech end of couponing, Timothy W. Martin reports, with text messaging and other digital-driven programs. Online coupons account for only 1% of all coupons offered nationwide but redemptions jumped 140% last year, according to Inmar. Manufacturers are attracted to digital-coupon delivery in part because of its 13% redemption rate -- far above the 1% redemption rate for printed coupons. …

An English version of a best-selling book about problem solving that was written for Japanese middle-schoolers is going on sale in the U.S. in early March. Its target is the business market. Problem Solving 101 by Ken Watanabe is a practical tutorial just 128 pages long. Using juvenile-looking illustrations and flow charts, it walks readers through a diagnosis and the steps toward a solution, writes Del Jones. One example is about a rock band that can't get an audience at concerts. Watanabe instructs readers to think like doctors trying to cure a patient. …

Two major shopping center developers are reducing hours of operation at malls across the country, Ylan Q. Mui reports, as the retail industry struggles to adapt to the severe drop-off in traffic and consumer spending. Westfield Group says that starting next week, its malls will open a half hour later, at 10:30 a.m., and close a half hour earlier, at 9 p.m., on weekdays. On Saturdays, they will open at 10 a.m. as usual but close a half hour earlier, at 9 p.m. Sunday hours are unchanged. And Simon Property Group, which moved up the …