Some retailers had luxurious weekend But discounters report sales were disappointing By DAVID KAPLAN Retailers use the Thanksgiving weekend to gauge how the Christmas season will go. ADVERTISEMENT This year, though, it's hard to spot a general trend. "I think the start was very mixed," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a national retail consulting and investment banking firm in New York. Some retail segments did a booming business, including luxury, electronics, online retail, certain specialty apparel chains and department stores like Sears and J.C. Penney that had early bird specials. However, discounters didn't perform well. For example,...
