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Sales up; stores look to Christmas

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October’s retail sales results, the best performance since April 2008, show that Americans are spending a little more. But will they be willing to pay full price this Christmas season?

Stores are heading into the period with slashed inventories, determined not to havethe fire sales that characterized last Christmas. Meanwhile, shoppers are still facing tight credit and a weak job market, and might wait for fat discounts or not buy at all.

That game of chicken will determine the Christmas shopping winners and losers.

“Shoppers are still beingcautious, but we are seeing some signs of recovery in the economy,” said Carl Steidtmann, an economist at Deloitte Research, who forecasts that Christmas sales will be unchanged from a year ago ...


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This article was published November 6, 2009 at 5:51 a.m.

Business, Pages 36 on 11/06/2009

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