  "Black Friday" sales roll out in U.S. November 23, 2012 - 21:34 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - U.S. retailers have begun their "Black Friday" sales, reopening stores after the Thanksgiving holiday, BBC News reported. Black Friday is usually the busiest shopping day of the year, as the Thanksgiving weekend marks the start of the holiday shopping season. A survey estimated that 147 million people would go shopping between Friday, November 23 and Sunday, despite more shoppers going online. With the U.S. economy fragile, many shops began their sales on Thursday night. Retailer Target opened its doors at 9pm local time, three hours earlier than last year. Sears opened at 8pm. When department store Macy's opened its flagship in New York at midnight, 11,000 shoppers arrived. The National Retail Federation forecast a 4.1% increase in retail sales during the November-December holiday period this year, less than the 5.6% jump recorded last year. And the 147 million people forecast for this year is down from 152 million on the Thanksgiving weekend last year, the NRF said. More than 50% of consumers will do some browsing during the weekend, according to Kevin Sterneckert, vice president of retail research at Gartner. Partner news  Top stories Among its provisions are bans on child marriage and the traditional practice of selling and buying women to settle disputes. Jorge Rafael Videla, an austere former army commander, led Argentina during the bloodiest days of its Dirty War dictatorship. According to the United Nations, April was Iraq's bloodiest month for almost five years, with 712 people killed. Reports suggest the rebel fighters may have tried to blow up the walls of the prison, which holds some 4,000 inmates.   Partner news |  Latest news Brad Pitt’s “World War Z” to open Moscow Film Fest  The fest will feature retrospectives of films by Bernardo Bertolucci and Costa Gavras, as well as a program devoted to Dutch cinema.Wrekin Hill picks up John Malkovich’s “Siberian Education” Based on the novel by Nicolai Lilin, the film is set in the ghetto of Soviet Russia and follows 2 boys who are members of a gang of exiled Siberians.EU says concerned over human rights record in Russia The European Union said it would closely watch developments affecting non-governmental organizations in Russia.John Lennon’s guitar auctioned for $408,000 The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by the VOX company, was bought by an unidentified U.S. buyer in New York. |
