Shoppers rein in holiday spending
Fifty-three percent say they expect to spend less on holiday gifts than they did last year, according to a poll released this week.
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Fifty-three percent say they expect to spend less on holiday gifts than they did last year, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released this week. An additional 40 percent say they will spend about the same.
While business is off this season, it is not as bad as Ringer feared. The biggest difference, she says, is how customers are buying.
Battered by a recession that started a year ago, retailers expect this holiday season to be one of the worst in a long time. Retail sales dropped by 2.7 percent last month, according to a survey by the Goldman Sachs-International Council of Shopping Centers.
Lamp store owner George Viall says it is too soon to tell how the holiday season will end for retailers.
Many shoppers say they are using shopping money to pay down bills. The Federal Reserve reported Thursday that household debt levels have dropped for the first time in more than 50 years.
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