Retailers, however, were still cautious, well aware that there was nearly a month left to the season. The Friday after Thanksgiving is seen as a barometer of consumers' willingness to spend, but it is not necessarily a good indicator of how retailers will perform for the entire season. In the past few years, that Friday has accounted for less than 10 percent of holiday sales, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. But the week after Christmas is becoming more important. Terry Lundgren, president of Federated Department Stores Inc., foresees a lull for the next couple of weeks and then another jump closer to Christmas.
Internet retailers see the next week or so as crucial.
And although traffic from online home users jumped 27 percent on Friday compared with the rest of the week, the momentum needs to continue. At retailers in Wichita, shoppers mobbed KB Toys, Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart and Best Buy to snap up the early bird specials. The scene was duplicated across the nation. Sears' sales were up 8 percent Friday over last year, and the entire weekend's sales were expected to be up more than 10 percent, said Tom Nicholson, a company spokesman.