Many retailers hoping for a big finish to the holiday season instead had lighter-than-expected crowds over the long Christmas weekend, according to anecdotal reports, leaving stores to rely heavily on the next few days to pump up December sales.
Explanations for the lackluster finish varied: an unusually warm winter hurt cold-weather clothing sales, greater gift card use delayed purchases and higher energy costs discouraged splurges
C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, dispatched researchers to stores in five cities yesterday - Boston, Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas and Orlando, Fla. - where they found relatively few shoppers, considering that it was a federal holiday.
"All of us thought that these stores would be packed early and often but it never materialized," he said.
But crowds remained relatively thin at many stores yesterday - an employee at a Lowe's in Atlanta called it "a normal day" - and analysts agreed that, to a greater degree than any year in recent memory, the fate of the season would rest on the post-holiday spending of shoppers like Robert Ragusano, who was shopping yesterday in Walnut Creek, Calif., 25 miles east of San Francisco. Mr. Ragusano bought a sports jacket, spending all of a $300 Nordstrom gift card from his wife, Penny.
(Folks had better save their money. Bush is going to send the country into a depression on this illadvised, illplanned, illconducted war. Yes, I thought the war was necessary based on the information( lies) I as well as the other citizens of the USA were given. I have changed my mind. Bush is staying because now he has to make himself RIGHT at any costs. The man is hinging on MANIACAL.