Pursuits
Holiday Shopping Tracker Offers Brighter Take on Sales
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Retail sales over the long weekend following Thanksgiving fell 2.1 percent to $21.8 billion, ShopperTrak estimated, offering a less-bleak view on the start of holiday shopping than the National Retail Federation.
While spending dropped 6.8 percent on Black Friday -- the traditional kickoff day for holiday sales -- a large increase on Thursday and steady performance on Saturday helped blunt the decrease, the Chicago-based research firm said in an e-mailed statement today. The NRF, in contrast, said earlier this week that sales declined 11 percent during the four-day weekend.