Retail Sales Figures Bear Out America's Storefront-to-Online Shift
Department stores are losing customers and cutting jobs
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Holiday sales at Macy's Inc., Sears Holdings Corp., and J.C. Penney Co. were anemic and U.S. government data just confirmed it. The nation's traditional department stores are steadily losing ground to their online rivals — a shift in the retail landscape that shows both the change in Americans' shopping patterns and where the job growth is taking place.
Sales at all U.S. retailers increased 4.4 percent in December on an unadjusted basis from a year earlier, according to Commerce Department figures released Friday. The breakdown showed purchases at department stores fell 7.2 percent, marking the 23rd consecutive month of year-over-year declines in the beleaguered sector.