Holiday Shopping Gets Under Way

November 27, 2009

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Profile America — Friday, November 27th. Store owners and economists will be closely watching sales figures for today — traditionally one of the biggest shopping days in the year — to see if consumer confidence is returning in the face of the year’s economic woes. In fact, the day after Thanksgiving is often called “Black Friday,” not in a negative sense, but because many retailers move into the black for the year as holiday gift buying begins in earnest. Department stores usually see their biggest jump in month-to-month sales at this time of year. In a recent year, sales in department stores in December jumped 42 percent over spending the previous month. You can find these and more facts about business in America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Facts for Features, CB08-FF.21
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/012876.html