Among them was Len Boswell. He started his shopping at 6 a.m. at Starbucks and later in the morning was at a CVS drugstore in Decatur, Ga., picking up candy and a neck pillow for his wife.
"I should have done this a couple of weeks ago," acknowledges Boswell, 68, a director of book publishing at a nonprofit.
Taubman Centers, which operates malls across the country including The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey and Beverly Center in Los Angeles, reported almost-full parking lots at some malls by 10 a.m., earlier than last year. Apparel, electronics, perfume and jewelry were among the biggest sellers. Many stores in Taubman malls reported that Friday seemed to be the busiest day of the year, Taubman spokeswoman Karen MacDonald said.
Macy's in New York's Herald Square — which has been open around the clock since Wednesday and is closing at 6 p.m. Saturday — was packed with shoppers at late morning.
Stores are expected to ring up $469.1 billion during the holiday season, which begins Nov. 1st and runs through Dec. 31st. The final week before Christmas can account for up to 20% of those sales. Retailers tempered their expectations heading into the season because they worried that Americans weren't ready to spend in the weak economy. But sales have been so brisk during the two-month period that the National Retail Federation, the industry's big trade group, upgraded its overall sales growth forecast a full percentage point to 3.8%.
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