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Article: The Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky., Keith Lawrence Business column: Crowded stores expected Friday.(Column)
- Article from:
- Messenger-Inquirer (Owensboro, KY)
- Article date:
- November 19, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Messenger-Inquirer. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Keith Lawrence
Nov. 19--Only five days till Black Friday, the official start of the Christmas season. If a recent Maritz Poll is right, stores should be crowded. The poll found that 34 percent of Americans plan to be in the stores Friday. And one-third of those say they will spend more than $875 on gifts this year. Seventeen percent said they'll spend more than $1,000. -- The National Retail Federation is expecting a 5 percent increase in spending this Christmas -- to $457.4 million.
Last year, shoppers spent 6.1 percent more than they did in 2004.
Retail Forward is projecting a 5.5 percent increase this year.
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