Holiday Shopping Soars 18 % Over Last Year

Economy Black Friday Despite all the talk of an economic slowdown the holiday shopping season is off to an "energetic" start according to a retail survey out tonight

by CBS Interactive

Published: Sun, November 30, 2008 - 8:37 pm CST

Despite all the talk of an economic slowdown, the holiday shopping season is off to an "energetic" start, according to a retail survey out tonight, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.

The survey says 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites this weekend - up 15 million from last year, and the average shopper spent more than $372, up 7.2 percent from a year ago.

Like an unexpected present under the Christmas tree, retailers received a pleasant surprise from shoppers on this bellwether weekend, Pinkston reports. Despite a national economic slump that's driven consumer spending down to its lowest level in almost 30 years, many Americans put anxiety aside and opened their wallets.

"We're trying to be as smart as we can be with our dollars because it's not getting better any time soon," one shopper told CBS News.

The National Retail Federation reports Americans spent $41 billion over the Thanksgiving holiday, a whopping 18 percent increase over 2007.

"I think there was some pent-up demand from the last month or two," says Robert Guerra of the Simon Property Group.

Guerra, a manager for the largest mall company in America, believes sales are up because of deep discounts.

"That $500 last year this year is worth $800 to $1,000 dollars because of all the terrific bargains we have."

That's exactly what's motivating shoppers in New Jersey.

"The sales prices that were going on, and I had some coupons that were good for this weekend," says one New Jersey shopper.

"But only going on the clearance rack, not going for the full-priced items," she said

"If you look around, if there's a rack that doesn't have a sale sign on it, we know something is probably wrong," says Marilyn Rizzuti, a Sears store manager.

Sears is also enticing customers with credit card deals - no interest payments due until 2010.

"I am seeing that more customers are opening up credit applications, so they're buying with credit a little more," Rizzuti says.

But while consumers are spending, Pinkston reports, they're also holding back.

"Just in case, you never know, just the way things are, there's a lot of layoffs all over the country, we just want to be safe and be careful," says another shopper.

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