Holiday buying surges, slows

Shoppers pulled back after robust Black Friday, according to preliminary retail figures

"People went in with their list and stuck with it," said Beemer, whose group will release sales results for the entire weekend later this week.

A more complete sales picture of how the Thanksgiving shopping weekend fared won't be known until Thursday, when the nation's retailers report November same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year.

Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman at Taubman Centers Inc., which operates 24 malls in 11 states, said that based on a sampling of malls, business on Friday was anywhere from unchanged to up mid-single digits. But on Saturday, sales were unchanged to down slightly.

"Friday was encouraging, but Saturday wasn't as good as we hoped," she said.

But Toys "R" Us Chief Executive Jerry Storch reported yesterday that customer traffic was at least as strong this past weekend as the Thanksgiving weekend a year ago, and said he was "definitely pleased with sales."

Geoffrey Webb, director of advertising and sales promotions at KB Toys Inc., said that sales for the weekend were equal or slightly better than last year.

"We are very encouraged by the response," he said.

Sun reporter Jennifer McMenamin and the Associated Press contributed to this article.