Chain Store Sales Droop in Holiday Week

[cthrumatrix]

Reuters
Chain Store Sales Droop in Holiday Week
Tuesday December 2, 7:48 am ET


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The kickoff to the holiday season could not push U.S. retail sales into the black though discounting was not widespread, a report said on Tuesday.
Sales fell 0.1 percent in the week ended Nov. 29, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and UBS said in a joint report, compared with a 0.4 percent rise in the preceding week. Compared with the previous year, sales for the week grew 5.2 percent.

ADVERTISEMENT


Wet weather in the East coast and some evidence of promotional sales dampened the opening of the traditional holiday shopping season.

How well retailers performed in the month of November and the strength of sales during the first two weeks of December will be key measures of overall holiday sales, the report said.


snip

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/031202/economy_retail_btm_2.html

[Zech Marquis]

1. but what about Walmart?

they were bragging on that $1 billion sales day, right? I knew that was a bogus pr stutnt, just like the the turkey flight to Bagdad :eyes:

[cthrumatrix]

5. Walmart was $$up becuase they had 120 MORE STORES over

last year...this is why they were down over $1 yesterday when the stcok market was up

[Teaser]

10. Walmart was also not up relative to last years increases

Last years year over year sales increased 14%. This years only 6%. And with more stores!

[schultzee]

15. Boycott Wallmart the slave wager!

[Racenut20]

2. It won't matter what the;y do

Already had the BIG WALMART headline to prove the economy is a robust success. That is all you will hear from the media this year.

[msanger]

3. some facts

from AP news poll on pollingreport.com
People plan to spend an average of $774 on Christmas gifts this year.
31% of those polled plan to shop on-line.

If you know any of that 31%, please tell them about

We have over 100 merchants you can buy from. And every purchase helps raise funds to de-select the resident.

[lebkuchen]

13. I'll have a look, though I won't be buying on line, either

unless it's for a good cause. I have already spent my money on products made/grown by local artists, farmers, breweries, vintners, etc. I'll be able to skate through the shopping period without having to hear one Jingle Bell/12 Days of Christmas song played on a store's intercom.

I feel released.

[CMT]

4. I took a part time seasonal job at a department store

Kohl's and we had a good day after Thanksgiving morning but after that the sales drooped and the weekend after Thanksgiving was a real turnkey--our store was more than $100,000 below sales for last year for the Thanksgiving weekend.

[joeunderdog]

8. I was lonely in Best Buy on Saturday

Felt like a Monday night in January in there.

[Beetwasher]

6. But Manufacturing is At It's Highest Level in Two Decades!

Toilet paper production is through the roof!! What's it all mean! Good god, what does it all mean! I'm so confused! (and that's the point)

[gratuitous]

7. Wasn't the chocolate ration increased to 20 grams/month, too?

I seem to recall something about that. Yeah, the economy's just perkin' right along! Another Dumbya miracle.

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

16. Shut up and Vote Republican

We'll do the thinking for you!

[ellie]

9. I guess we can count on

another attack to get us back on the "Fear, Consume" message any day now.

[sendero]

11. the only problem is....

... I wonder if an attack would raise or lower consumption. I think lots of folks are "hunkering down" economically, and I'm not sure a terrorist attack would stop that. Might be a short-term run on duct tape, plastic, beans and rice tho :evilgrin:

[sendero]

12. I don't worry much...

... about the media economic cheerleaders. Yes, it is spin, yes it is basically untrue - but what else is new? If I watch a typical local news program or even national, I doubt if a quarter of the stories presented are really unbiased journalism.

The fact is that people who are tapped out are tapped out. If you are unemployed, no number of "rah rah people are spending" messages are going to make you go spend. If you don't have the money, you don't have the money. And the unfortunate fact is that a lot of Americans don't have any.

Someone come back after Christmas and tell me I was wrong - this year is not gonna be a banner year for retail and no amount of cheerleading is going to change that.

[schultzee]

14. Buy as little as possible this season! Boycott bush's economic plan

I am making gifts, cooking special treats, and just inviting people over for parties. Screw the republican greed pigs.