Posted on 12/02/2013 6:09:40 AM PST by Red in Blue PA
Retail spending over Thanksgiving weekend dropped for the first time in at least seven years, the industry's main trade group said, as the blitz of deals and earlier opening hours apparently failed to pry more dollars out of the hands of budget-conscious shoppers.
Retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Macy's Inc. kicked off sales earlier on Thanksgiving Day, aggressively touted discounts all week and offered many of the same discounts online as in stores in an effort to keep ahead of rivals. But preliminary sales estimates based on surveys of shoppers suggest the tactics may be reaching a point of diminishing returns.
Sales spiked on Thanksgiving Day and online, but at the expense of business on Black Friday itself, according to the early data. Estimated total spending over Thanksgiving weekend fell to $57.4 billion, down 2.7% from a year ago, according to the National Retail Federation. It said it still expects total holiday sales through year-end to rise by 3.9% from a year ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Markets will rally 2.5%.
I buy online and avoid Maryland sales tax.
Obamascare and a broken economy.
Good for you. Maryland is a tax hell.
Sales decline but deaths rise; News at 11...
Yep, sales down but store violence up.
Imagine how big the drop will be once deductibles start going to $10,000 for 85 million people when they lose their employer coverage.
Disaster is looming on the horizon.
Maryland has gone the way of CA, a single party (Dem) run state with no real opposition. That means lots of taxes on the middle class and poor, as well as the rich.
But we can marry the same sex partner of our choice, or get instate tuition discount rates if illegal, so we got new *freedoms* to replace the lost ones.
Many Marylanders I know are planning to leave the state. One party dominance and liberal rule have become intolerable.
Looks like VA is following Maryland, I just hope there are large #s VAers who are not the sheep that Marylanders are.
Back in 2010 a wave year AGAINST Dems the GOP Romney-like opponent Bob Ehrlich just handed the election to Martin O Malley without a trace of a fight. It was pathetic. It was like he was working for Dems.
Only thing I bought on black Friday was a box of ammo. I found 9mm FMJ (Remington UMC) for $0.28 a round. Bought a box of 250. I plan on rotating it into stock and taking 200 rounds or so to the range in the next week or so.
Maryland is hopeless. A lost cause.
Sadly it appears that Virginia wants to go down the same road as Maryland even though its a dead end.
With a record number of people dropped out of the work force, and people getting hit with huge increases in healthcare costs, of course there is much less money to spend.
My healthcare premiums doulbed and I can tell you I did not spend a dime over black Friday.
Only No VA...
The rest of the state is Conservative... And pissed!
We need to split the states. Liberals get their share and can have all the Sodom and Gomorrah they can stand, conservatives get their share. Any bets on which group survives?
The takers can’t survive without the makers. The parasites need a host.
In Maryland, population densities in one city and a few counties control state politics. IMHO the same thing will happen in Virginia as the northern areas eventually gain legislative control over the rest of the state.
Same thing happened in Michigan until the Dems destroyed Detroit.
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