Holiday retail sales are expected to increase a more
moderate 2.3 percent this year to $447.1 billion, according to the National
Retail Federation.

While that growth remains slightly lower than the ten-year
average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent, it would be a marked improvement
from both last year’s 0.4 percent increaseand the 3.9 percent holiday sales
decline retailers experienced in 2008.

JCK