Retailers

Last year, the Persian Gulf crisis. This year, the economic crisis.The nation's retailers, operating with lean inventories and xTC reduced staffs, are soberly prepared for slim profits this Christmas shopping season. A sales gain of 2 percent to 4 percent over the dour results of last year's holiday season is predicted by many Wall Street analysts.Though enthusiasm is modestly better than a couple of months ago, analysts somberly note that this year there are six less shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It is amazing that the U.S. Senate has been paralyzed to the extent that it is unable to pass legislation favored by 90 percent of Americans requiring simple background checks on gun purchasers but at the same time is poised to sock it to consumers by requiring Internet marketers to collect state and local sales tax on online purchases ("Click and pay," April 24). While The Sun's editors argue that the present sales tax collection system gives out-of-state Internet marketers an unfair advantage over in-state marketers, they ignore the fact that in-state sellers have an inherent advantage over online sellers: They are closer to the consumer and the point of delivery and therefore have substantially lower delivery costs than out-of-state sellers.

While the recently released Maryland comptroller's report on direct shipment of wine is both welcomed and needed, it contains some highly controversial conclusions, the most important of which is that Maryland consumers ought not be allowed to purchase wine from out-of-state wine stores. The report is an important and substantial step in clearing the air and injecting a strong set of facts into what has been a long and contentious debate over consumer access to the wine market. However, it must be noted that the report's conclusion that Marylanders be deprived of access to out-of-state wine stores, as well as the published comments by Comptroller Peter Franchot that this kind of prohibition is a good thing, can only be described as anti-consumer, discriminatory and inconsistent with the results of the comptroller's survey.

Customers at Towson Hot Bagels usually pay with credit, not cash, when buying a bagel or a bottle of water, triggering fees the merchant must pay to process each transaction. Now, the shop's owner and retailers across the country may recoup "swipe" fees as a result of a preliminary settlement with Visa, MasterCard and major banks. When a consumer pays with a credit card, retailers can tack on a surcharge or "checkout fee" of up to 4 percent of the purchase to cover processing. But there's no rush among merchants to start charging this fee. Independent shop owners, national chains and retail trade groups insist they have no desire to pass credit card fees along to consumers so directly.

As retailers prepare for the traditional start of the holiday season this coming week, some of the nation's biggest chains plan to pre-empt Black Friday with shopping hours and special events on Thanksgiving Day — a move that has triggered a spate of online protests. Toys "R" Us will open stores at 9 p.m. and Walmart will follow at 10 p.m., meaning that shoppers may be lining up for bargains soon after their turkey dinners. Target, Best Buy and Kohl's are shifting from their usual pre-dawn Friday openings, welcoming shoppers at midnight.

Strategies are in this holiday season for area retailers as they try to combat a decrease in consumer spending, according to a survey by Deloitte & Touche and the Maryland Retail Merchants Association. Some of the plans: buy closer to the selling season; plan light inventory positions for beginning and end of season; give cash incentives to lure and keep good sales personnel; and stock more exclusive merchandise.

Major retailers in Baltimore would be forced to pay employees the city's designated 'living wage' -- currently slightly more than $10 per hour -- under a measure introduced by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke at Monday's council meeting. Retailers that are part of a chain that grosses more than $10 million annually would be required to pay employees the living wage rate under Clarke's proposal. "This would apply to the businesses that can afford to do this, not the mom-and-pop stores on the corner," Clarke said.

CHICAGO - The nation's retailers posted surprisingly strong October sales yesterday, powered by better merchandising and pentup consumer demand after a string of big hurricanes. Overall, the industry recorded a 4.4 percent increase in same-store sales, the closely watched gauge of stores open more than a year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. "This is great stuff," said Richard D. Hastings, retail analyst at Bernard Sands LLC. "It shows again that you can't bet against the consumer.

Local melon growers and retailers are trying to reassure consumers after listeria linked to cantaloupe from a Colorado farm killed 13 people across the country, including one in Maryland — the deadliest foodborne outbreak in more than a decade. While federal public health officials have warned of the potential for more deaths, state officials are reaching out to retailers to ensure they're aware of the recall, and the produce industry is working to contain the crisis. Meanwhile, some consumers are putting off cantaloupe purchases.

After a year-and-a-half search for stores to fill the 250,000-square-foot Freestate development in Savage, the company managing the project says it's close to agreements with four major retailers and are hoping to add one more after that."