Last-minute shoppers won't save Christmas

NEW YORK (AP) - It's a red Christmas for retailers -- as in red
ink.
Yes, last-minute shoppers are heading to the nation's stores and
malls on this day before Christmas. But for the retailers, the
season was essentially over long ago.
Many merchants who are on the edge of survival are already
tallying up just how dismal their sales were in a season expected
to be the worst in decades.
In Christmases past, the retail industry relied on a surge
before and after Christmas to help save the season. But the holiday
period was virtually over before the Thanksgiving weekend ended as
stores grapple with the most severe cutback in consumer spending in
decades.
Retailers' woes were good news for the dwindling numbers of
shoppers who could afford to load up on deals. With mounds of
inventory still left to sell, merchants are expected to deepen the
discounts even more the day after Christmas.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)