Winter Holidays

February 2013 promises to be an interesting month at Best Buy following the retailer’s decision to extend the timeframe for company founder and former chairman Richard Schulze to submit a potential buyout offer.

Schulze will have the entire month of February to present an offer and then the board will review the offer within 30 days to determine if it is in the best interests of shareholders.

Purchase, N.Y. -- A SpendingPulse report released Monday by MasterCard Advisors found that after a three-week recovery of retail spending growth that started two weeks after Superstorm Sandy and lasted through the week ending Dec. 1, a slowdown occurred in the week ending Dec. 8.  

After a surge in growth in late November some key sectors such as Specialty Apparel slipped into negative growth in early December, according to the report.

Reston, Va. — Survey results released Monday by comScore revealed that the most recent work-week saw four individual days eclipse $1 billion in spending, led by Green Monday with $1.275 billion.

comScore, which has monitored holiday season retail e-commerce spending for the first 44 days of the November–December 2012 holiday season, reported that to date $33.8 billion has been spent online, marking a 13% increase versus the corresponding days last year.

TORONTO — Sears held a National Great Day event Saturday, December 15, at stores across Canada to help generate customer traffic and reward shoppers.

PLANO, Texas — Tostitos surprised 28 U.S. military veterans who have previously served overseas with a special homecoming celebration.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Thursday by the Commerce Department said that U.S. retail sales rose 0.3% in November from October, reflecting a bounce back after the effects of superstorm Sandy. Excluding fuel, retail sales increased a solid 0.8%. The median forecast of 81 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 0.5% rise.

The 0.3% rise offsets a 0.3% dip in October from September.

WAYNE, N.J. — With 12 shopping days left, Toys"R"Us plans to keep most of its stores open for 88 consecutive hours nationwide, from 6 a.m. Friday, December 21 through 10 p.m. Christmas Eve.

New York -- After nearly a year of steady gains, the Deloitte Consumer Spending Index (Index) fell in November due to a slowdown in the rise of new home prices and an accelerating decline in real wages. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.