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Holiday 2009 Off to a Mixed Start

More shoppers spend less on Black Friday weekend.

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By: TOM BRANNA

Editor

Black Friday weekend was a mixed shopping bag for retailers, according to National Retail Federation. About 195 million consumers shopped in stores and online over the Black Friday weekend, up from 172 million last year. Total spending was $41.2 billion—a slight increase over the $42 billion spent a year ago.

More good news is that consumers bought more discretionary items than last year. Nearly 33% of shoppers purchased toys, that’s up 13% from a year ago.

But the start to the holiday selling season wasn’t all good news. Consumers spent less per shopper than they did last year–$343.31 per person vs. $372.57 a year ago.

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