The last Saturday of shopping before Christmas, usually one of the busiest days of the year for retailers, was snowed out on most of the East Coast by blizzard-like conditions that stretched from the Carolinas to New England.
Many retailers were open but crowds were sparse on a day stores count on for a successful season.
Treacherous roads and near whiteout conditions kept many shoppers away from shopping malls and other stores. For retailers hoping for a better holiday season than last years dismal sales, the bad weather was especially painful.
“You are looking at your busiest day of the year and taking - - - - >

These days, shes leading customers around a store that sells sculptured snowmen and Santa figurines.
It isnt by choice. Until a few weeks ago, Proctor was among the record 5.9 million Americans who have been jobless for at least six months. Now she belongs to a subset of that group: Out-of-work professionals and managers, engineers and teachers who have turned, in desperation, to holiday-season jobs as sales clerks.
Retailers report a surge in applications this year from professionals who had never applied for such jobs before.
“Youll find Wall Street stock brokers and small business owners trying to find temporary retail jobs during - - - - >

High-definition TVs, laptops, Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and winter coats were among the most popular items, according to the federation, a Washington-based trade group. Sales advanced 0.5 percent to $10.7 billion, ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago- based research firm, said yesterday in a statement.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the worlds largest retailer, drew crowds with $298 Hewlett-Packard laptop computers and other specials that went on sale at 5 a.m. Best Buy Inc., the biggest electronics chain, used $547.99 42-inch Samsung flat-panel TVs to lure shoppers grappling with - - - - >

High-definition TVs, laptops, Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and winter coats were among the most popular items, according to the federation, a Washington-based trade group. Sales probably met or exceeded retailers projections, David Schick, a Baltimore-based analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co., wrote in a note to investors after store visits and conversations with employees.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the worlds largest retailer, drew crowds with $298 Hewlett-Packard laptop computers and other specials that went on sale at 5 a.m. Best Buy Inc., the biggest electronics chain, used - - - - >

“I am skeptical regarding any positive forecasts for German consumer spending from research institutes,” said Thomas, who manages the 1.9 billion-euro ($2.9 billion) FTF fund at Frankfurt Trust Investment GmbH. Rising unemployment will limit costumers ability to buy, he said.
The Frankfurt-based fund manager had a “neutral” weighting for Metro shares until recently and is now reducing holdings of the stock, he said in an interview. The fund invests in companies on Germanys DAX and MDAX indexes.
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Marks & Spencer Group Plc, New Look Group Ltd. and House of Fraser Ltd. are among stores that say they dont plan full-scale discounting before Dec. 25. With consumer optimism holding at an 18-month high, shoppers may still spend more in December than a year ago, according to researcher Mintel International.
“I cant see last years level of disorder on the high street,” New Look Finance Director Alistair Miller said in an interview with Bloomberg News. Going on sale before the holiday “is an absolutely suicidal move - - - - >

Including everything from toys to food, but not cars or gasoline, U.S. retail sales rose slightly in October - 1.5 percent - from a year earlier even as consumers grappled with rising unemployment and tight credit.
Compared with the month before, however, sales fell 2.3 percent in October, the biggest month-to-month decline since December 2008.
Thursdays figures from SpendingPulse, a service of MasterCard Advisors, are an estimate of spending in all forms including cash and offer fresh evidence that the holiday shopping season may be challenging for retailers.
Macys Inc. said Wednesday that its sales have improved in recent months, and it reported - - - - >

“Heres one of my pet hates: too many garments on a rack,” Green says, thrusting the frocks at Becky Bateman, manager of U.K. fashion chain Topshops flagship London store.
Its a Thursday morning in early October, and Green, 57, has strolled down Londons Oxford Street from the head office of Arcadia Group Ltd., his privately held retail clothing company, for a store inspection.
Thats the kind of attention Green has also lavished on Topshops - - - - >

Finance Director Ian Dyson is scheduled to speak to analysts and investors in London, and Britains biggest clothing retailer by revenue has said he will discuss “developments” outside the U.K., without giving more details.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst William Hutchings said M&S may seek to double its non-British growth rate, while Luca Solca of Bernstein Research expects to hear about “more aggressive” Web development. Marks U.K. stores have lost sales to rivals offering cheaper food and apparel, and TNS FashionTrak research reported by Retail Week this - - - - >

“We tried really hard to spend money,” said Prentice, 42, a Minneapolis resident whose favorite brands include Missoni, Trina Turk and True Religion. What they got was “really frustrated.”
U.S. luxury chains may stand to lose more sales to shoppers like Prentice as they remain wedded to conservative plans for high-end inventories and are unable to shorten delivery times for designer clothes, shoes and accessories, said Stacey Widlitz, a retail equity analyst at Pali Capital in New York.
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