Business Notebook

Abercrombie & Fitch closing Columbia, Charleston, Greenville stores

Abercrombie & Fitch is closing its Columbiana Centre store today, according to a clerk who answered the phone Friday. The company also closed its store on King Street in Charleston and will shutter its Greenville store Jan. 28. Ohio-based Abercrombie & Fitch did not respond to requests for information Friday about the South Carolina closings, but it is not unusual for retailers to take stock after the holidays and shed underperforming stores. After a steady rise in store openings during the first part of the last decade to as many as 363 in 2007, Abercrombie & Fitch began to close stores after the deep recession set in the next year. In November the count was down to 319, according to its website. After this month’s closings, Abercrombie & Fitch will have one South Carolina store, in Myrtle Beach.

Entrepreneurs welcome at seminar today

Entrepreneurs looking to expand or open a new business can get help from the S.C. Small Business Development Centers’ Minority Outreach Program. The program is hosting a small business development workshop from 9 a.m. to noon today at Edisto Fork United Methodist Church, 262 Lariat Road, Orangeburg. The program offers private consulting, seminars and other resources. Registration is $15 per person. Info: Garry James, gjames@sc.edu, SCSBDC.com or (803) 777-4409.

iPhone 4S launch canceled because of crowds

BEIJING Angry customers and gangs of scalpers threw eggs at Apple Inc.’s flagship Beijing store Friday after its opening for the China launch of the iPhone 4S was canceled due to concerns over the size of the crowd. Apple reacted to the outburst by postponing iPhone 4S sales in its mainland China stores to protect the safety of customers and employees. It said the phone still will be sold online and through its local carrier. The incident highlighted Apple’s huge popularity in China and the role of middlemen who buy up limited supplies of iPhones and other products or smuggle them from abroad for resale to Chinese gadget fans at a big markup.

FDA to speed up generic drugs approval for a price

WASHINGTON The Food and Drug Administration would collect hundreds of millions of dollars in new fees from pharmaceutical companies to help speed up the review of generic drugs, under an agreement with industry released by the agency. The FDA has used industry fees to hire extra staff to review regular prescription drugs since 1992. The proposal unveiled Friday would extend that approach to generic drugs, which have long had slower review times. Whereas most new drugs are reviewed in 10 months, the typical review time for a generic drug is 30 months. The FDA has a backlog of 2,500 generic drug applications awaiting review. The FDA proposes collecting $299 million in fees annually to hire additional generic drug reviewers. The proposal must be approved by Congress.

European financial crisis comes to U.S. economy

WASHINGTON A sign that Europe’s crisis has begun to weigh on the U.S. economy emerged Friday from a report that exports to the continent sank in November – far more than overall U.S. exports did. Europe, which consumes nearly one-fifth of America’s exports, may already be in a recession. A weakening Europe could further shrink demand for American goods and slow the U.S. economy just as the job market has started to strengthen. The U.S. trade deficit rose 10.4 percent in November to $47.8 billion, the Commerce Department said. Higher oil prices were the main reason the deficit widened. Oil, which had dipped to $75 per barrel, rose above $100 in November, driving the value of imports up to a record $225.6 billion.

Kristy Eppley Rupon, The (Charleston) Post and Courier and The Associated Press contributed.