Crime and Fire

Man Target of $9,700 Credit Card Fraud, Police Say

Report from Lower Macungie address claims fraudulent purchases were made at Target stores in New Jersey, troopers report.

Of late, the reports of identity theft or access device fraud have been numerous but generally have been limited to several hundred dollars or a few thousand, thanks largely to the monitoring safeguards used by credit card companies. This time, however, the victim and credit card company were not so forturnate. Thieves struck for $9,700 in merchandise before the fraud was realized in an incident involving a Lower Macungie Township address, according to state police at Fogelsville. Feb. 21 was a busy day for the credit card of Phillip F. Toll, of Kutztown, according to police. Target department stores in Edgewater and North Bergen, N.J., may have thought they were having busy days to the tune of an extra $9,700. However, it was someone …

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Black Friday Shopping Began Early

Target opened its doors at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and the shoppers came. By mid-morning Friday, shopping seemed to have slowed in some spots.

  Updated 2 p.m. Friday, Nov. 23: Shopper traffic at the Palmer Park Mall and Northampton Crossings appeared to slow late Friday morning, with the usual amount of shoppers for a weekend. Patch reported no long checkout lines. Kohl's at Northampton Crossings and Target were still busy. The Morning Call reported that Colonial Regional police broke up a small demonstration outside the Walmart in Lower Nazareth, by those protesting wages. A small group of demonstrators were also outside the Walmart in Lower Macungie, according to a report on lehighvalleylive.com. Tell us about your shopping experiences in the comments below. Thursday: Patch was at the Target in Lower Nazareth on Thursday night, when the store opened its doors at 9 p.m. to …

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Black Friday Deals at Target

Target joins national retailers like Walmart and Best Buy and announces its Black Friday deals. Target will join Walmart in opening earlier too.

Add Target to the list of retailers opening earlier on Black Friday. The store announced it will open at 9 p.m. In 2011, Target doors opened at midnight but this year it appears to have succumbed to the Black Friday Creep. Walmart recently announced it would open at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving and is even going so far as to offer online maps to make it easier for shoppers to get to the deals they want. Best Buy also revealed their deals but they will still open at midnight on Black Friday and distribute vouchers for deals to people waiting in line. Stakes are high for retailers still smarting from Hurricane Sandy losses. The National Retail Federation predicts holiday spending will increase only $9 from last year to $749.51 and about 20 percent…

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Costco Plans Detailed

Developers looking to build Hamilton Crossings in Lower Macungie -- which will feature the area's first Costco -- are seeking some zoning variances from the township.

If all goes well, the developers of Hamilton Crossings in Lower Macungie hope to break ground a year from now on the 63-acre shopping center that will include the area's first Costco.  Last week, representatives of The Goldenberg Group based in Blue Bell showed Lower Macungie Township commissioners several renderings of their plans for the shopping center proposed for land between Hamilton Boulevard and the Route 222 Bypass. Krocks Road runs through the middle of it. Most of the land is open space owned by the Catholic Diocese of Allentown. The developers are seeking several variances to township zoning laws that deal with regulations about such aspects as the height of fencing and the size of buffers. While showing the renderings, Jeremy …

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Lower Macungie Township

Costco vs. Target: Which is Better?

Here are some strengths and weaknesses of two stores that are coming to a brand new shopping center -- Hamilton Crossings -- near you!

Since new Costco and Target stores are part of the plan for the new Hamilton Crossings shopping center, a recent opinion column caught the eye of the ever-on-the-ball retail research team her at Lower Macungie Patch. Author Michael Neuendorff seems to have the credentials to compare both stores, and some of the facts are points to ponder. For example, Costco only takes MasterCard online, not in stores. We've all shopped in both Costco and Target. Which do you like better and why? Tell us in the comments. The comparison is interesting because plans are in the works to construct both stores at Hamilton Crossings a mere two years from now. It'll be here before we know it. Meanwhile, details are being worked out regarding funding and soil …

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