Even with sharp discounts and aggressive marketing, this holiday season has been tough for retailers.
Department store Macy's is tapping into celebrity star power as a way to bring shoppers inside. On a recent Monday, Olympic gold-medalist Nastia Luikin promoted her new youth line, "Nastia Gold by Vanilla Star" to a line of starry-eyed girls and a few boys.
One month before Black Friday, on October 29, Swedish fast-fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz said its Penn Station store in New York and its Powell Street store in San Francisco will each open at 6 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 28, and remain open through 11 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 29. Two other H&M stores — one on the Third Street Promenade in Los Angeles and the other on Chicago’s State Street — will stay open until midnight on Friday.
Video reporter: Rachel Dodes With the economy in a downturn and world financial markets in meltdown mode, Macy's will try to woo shoppers this holiday season with a simple message: Believe.
The 813-store behemoth's "Million Reasons to Believe" campaign, highlighting the iconic "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus" newspaper editorial first published in the New York Sun in 1897, will appear in 300 newspapers, on TV and online starting Nov. 9. Two-page newspaper ads will include reprints of the original letter by Virginia Hanlon and the New York Sun's reply, along with blank forms for children to use to write their own letters to Santa.
Multimedia producer: Elva Ramirez
Despite the gloomy economic news, retail sales for the week ended Saturday rose 1% over the same week last year, according to an estimate from ShopperTrak RCT. But although gas prices have fallen, consumers may be waiting for last-minute Halloween markdowns. “We anticipate that there will be some retail activity leading up into Halloween,” said Dan Natale, ShopperTrak senior vice president. “More and more folks are holding out. They’re looking for the markdowns.”
