Black Friday results and stories from across the nation. Holiday sales are expected to decline about 1% in 2009 after a sales drop of 3.4% last year. Retail holiday sales achieved an increase every year from 1999 until 2008 when they dropped 3.4%. Last year was one of the worst the retail industry has ever seen, and because of it many retailers were pulling out all the stops this year, so that sales numbers showed an increase over last year.
Official Black Friday 2009 sales numbers will be released Sunday by the National Retail Federation (NRF), but many individual stores are already reporting better than expected Black Friday sales. The biggest shopping day of the year use to be Black Friday, but now it is the Saturday before Christmas as many shoppers wait until the last minute in an attempt to get the best deals.
"Retailers came out swinging for Black Friday, offering some of the holiday season's lowest prices on electronics, appliances, apparel and toys," said Tracy Mullin, president of the NRF, an industry trade group, in a statement. "Budget-focused shoppers seemed to be pleasantly surprised with post-Thanksgiving deals, which many retailers will extend into Saturday and even Sunday."
In 2008, Walmart had one death in a store during a shopper stampede and changed the way people entered the store this year, by opening Thanksgiving Day instead of 5 am. This year the only disturbance was in the Upland, California Walmart when they had to close the store after shopped “got a little too rowdy.” No deaths have been reported this year due to Black Friday shopping.
At Sears, the hottest selling items were a Craftsman drill set for $39.99 and Snuggies for $9.99, and some luggage items and comforters that sold out in record time at all stores.
Jim Fielding, President of Disney Stores worldwide said that opening those few extra hours this year worked for Disney stores. "We're able to better manage the demand and spread [customer] traffic throughout the day," he said. "This may not become the norm for Black Friday for all retailers, but I think we will continue to be committed to it for the foreseeable future."
The hottest selling toy this year was the electronic Zhu Zhu Hamsters, and all stores from Toys R Us to Amazon.com sold out. Other hot toys included the Princess Tiana dolls, and video games.
2009 holiday sales expected to decline 1% overall
Year % change Total in Billions
1999 +8.3% $343.60B
2000 +2.5% $352.20B
2001 +3.6% $367.70B
2002 +1.3% $369.41B
2003 +5.2% $388.60B
2004 +6.7% $414.60B
2005 +6.1% $435.60B
2006 +4.6% $457.40B
2007 +2.4% $460.20B
2008 -3.4% $441.97B
2009 -1.00% $437.60B (NFR estimate)
Source: National Retail Federation (NFR)
Sources: CNN Money and the Associated Press
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Comments
TickleMe Plant Greenhouse is a real challange to the China made Zhu Zhu
The TickleMe Plant is a real Pet like plant that moves when you tickle It. The leaves instantly close and even the branches droop when you Tickled. Best of all no batteries required and no green thumb needed. You can search the net to find it..while supplies last.
Now that the rush of Black Friday is over, many of the hot items will be out of stock. The only hope is to use a free tool like az-grabber.net to automatically watch Amazon 24 hours a day. This tool will alert you the istant your item is back in stock and give you a link to quickly snatch it up.
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