Recession Busters

USA Today released a story yesterday about retail items that are bucking the economic downturn . While some of the items seem obvious (of course Kraft Dinner growth is in the double digits) but certain other products and industries that may not be obvious are shining right now too. Did you know that sales of condoms, laxatives and running shoes are actually increasing?

If you'd like to see what else is shaking things up in this downturn along with my *cough* expert analysis, hit that "READ MORE" button below.

Hershey reported sales up 20%

People are stressing out and are turning to "comfort food". For many, like myself, that's junkie stuff like chocolate. Speaking of, it was only last year when I realized that Hershey's Kisses are nothing more than large chocolate chips. Branding totally got me on that one.


Condom sales up 5%

The article says that maybe these hard times are putting people in the mood. I don't know about that, but I think that if I'm not in a financial position to raise a child, I would take more precautions to make sure I don't accidently become a parent. Just for fun and loosely related, I'd recommend checking out the Durex Sex Survey results for the state of lovemaking around the world. The latest one isn't as in-depth as in previous years, so if the latest version intrigues you, Google search older results.


match.com is seeing its best performance in 7 years

People in tough economic times need love, too. Maybe now more than ever. I don't really have anything other than that.


Home vegetable gardens projected to grow (no pun intended) 40% this year

I can see this coming from a couple of things. Seeds are a cheaper initial investment. They may be cheaper in the long run. Also, the trend towards natural and organic foods may have something to do with it.


Laxative sales up 11.5% in the last year

Um...


Images and statistics from USA Today