Black Friday Weekend Off 11 Percent

Total retail spending from Thursday through Sunday sank 11% from a year ago to $50.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation, which surveyed 4,600 consumers on Friday and Saturday. Shoppers spent an average of $380.95, down 6.4% from a year earlier.

According to Victoria Jones at Talk Radio News Service, The trade group still expects total holiday sales through the end of the year to rise 4.1% to $616.9 billion The group said the number of people who went shopping declined 5.2% from last year to 134 million. (Retail greed serves them right - the fun of Black Friday has gone now that the shopping has actually started weeks before.

Still, Walmart came out the "undisputed leader" in terms of traffic. Best Buy, Target, Old Navy and Kohl's were busy Thanksgiving night. The sales period was a "lost weekend" for apparel unless it was at fire-sale prices, which it often was.

The Consumer Electronics Assn said about 45% of shoppers bought electronics, more than in any of the last three years. TVs were the surprise winner, helped by big deals on larger models.

The internet didn't attract more shoppers or more spending than last year. We'll see how the web does today - Cyber Monday - which actually started Sunday for many sites.