Retail sales up slightly for Black Friday

November 29, 2009

Shoppertrak, a national consumer spending research group, reports that retail sales nationally  for “Black Friday,” supposedly the busiest retail day of the year, increased only 0.5 percent over 2008.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times cites research indicating 195 million shoppers hit the stores and the Internet this weekend. The good news is that the figure is up from 172 million last year. The discouraging news is that average spending fell 7.9 percent. Total estimated spending: $41.2 billion.