Fearing a holiday letdown
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at some of the nation's stores, as retailers struggle to find ways to make shoppers forget about their battered 401(k) plans.
Neiman Marcus' trees have been sparkling since mid-September, and Wal-Mart began opening its Christmas shops last week. But that hardly means many are in a holiday spirit: It's all part of an effort to extend a holiday shopping season that some analysts say could have the slowest sales growth since the 1991 recession.
Ref. Source 6