Desperate Housewares

摘要

Early signs indicate this is shaping up to be a dismal christmas. the inter-national Council of Shopping Centers, which is supposed to help promote the industry, last Thursday trumpeted an "awful beginning to the holiday season." Excluding Wal-Mart, retailers reported that same-store sales last month fell 7.7 percent, the worst November in recent history. The big crowds that stampeded (literally, sometimes) through the doors of big-box retailers on Black Friday have dissipated. Shoppers seem inured to the relentless Christmas spirit.