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Retailers and analysts will be closely watching September sales reports due Thursday from key store chains for any sign they may need to adjust their already-gloomy holiday forecasts. Two analyst reports predict that Christmas-season sales will be flat with last year's dismal results while a third projects they will fall 1%. Stores have been slashing inventories in hopes they can avoid profit-sapping price cuts. Retailers also are planning plenty of bargains to lure thrifty holiday shoppers. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says it will offer about 100 toys priced at $10 -- compared with just 10 such toys last year. Consumers are...

U.S. holiday retail sales will fall 1 percent this year, according to America's Research Group, marking the first time the research firm has forecast a decline in almost a quarter century of surveys. "This year looks so bad that even normally good signs for retail sales, such as more Americans staying home this Christmas, can't save the season for retailers," said C. Britt Beemer, CEO and founder of the research group, in a news release.

Dismal holiday season leads retailers to shutter stores Zale, Liz Claiborne and Pacific Sunwear are among the companies planning closures. Quiksilver may sell another division. By Leslie Earnest, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 18, 2008 Taking stock of a rough holiday season, retailers are shuttering stores and trimming expansion plans as they stare down edgy consumers. Industry analysts said Thursday that there was little mystery behind the plans announced by several chains this month. "We're in poor economic times, and when you're in poor economic times, retailers close stores" and reduce the number they plan to open, said Eric...

NEW YORK - The economic outlook became more uncertain Thursday after many of the nation's big retailers reported weaker than expected holiday sales, the result of consumers cutting their spending due to higher energy prices and the ongoing housing slump. Many merchants failed to meet their already lowered sales projections during December, and their performance during this critical sales period led some stores to reduce earnings outlooks for the fourth quarter. The weak results crossed all retail categories. Particularly hard hit were apparel sellers including Limited Brands Inc. and AnnTaylor Stores Corp., as well as department stores including Macy's Inc....

Last week I came face to face with raw capitalism. It was the day after Thanksgiving in a Kohl's store in Anderson, Indiana. At 7:01 a.m. It wasn't pretty. But it was.... educational. For decades my Thanksgiving experiences have been the traditional overdose of turkey, followed by a second overdose of turkey (not neglecting, of course, the peas, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, apple pie, etc.). Then with a dose of tryptophan in my system up to the "Sleeping Beauty" level, I watched the usual Detroit Lions game whose outcome was irrelevant, and in which the Lions played "better than...