Holiday Sales May Be Weakest in Years

With holiday sales shaping up to be the weakest in years, retailers are scrambling to stay ahead of the struggling U.S. economy.

The above story about the the holiday sales is prepared by VOA News.

Bloomberg reports that "Same-store sales in November and December may drop as much as 2 percent, the International Council of Shopping Centers said today, more than the previously projected 1 percent decline. That would make it the worst Christmas sales season in at least four decades."

Guardian reports that one store went as far as posting a sign on its windows reading "Shop, Damn It, Shop: it's your patriotic duty."

"The new admonishment is: "Shop, Damn It, SHOP."

* If your pockets are almost empty and you want a decadent holiday meal, what about lobster? In Boston, fish merchants are selling 1-1/4 pound (0.6 kilogram) lobsters for $5.99 a pound, 33 percent down on last year. "Usually it's very expensive right now," said John Mulkerrin, sales manager at James Hook & Co, a Boston fish merchant that sells about 50,000 pounds (23,000 kilograms) of lobster each week.

"Lobstermen in Maine, source of much of the U.S. catch, are not so happy. Prices at the harbor are down by over 40 percent. Canadian lobster processors, who typically buy much of the catch, found themselves unable to get credit. They had relied on Icelandic banks, which ran out of money."