The Madeleine Brand Show for December 24, 2010

Jingle bells on every cash register: are consumers getting their confidence back?

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ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty Images

People shop in a shopping mall decorated with a giant Christmas tree made of 59,327 mineral water bottles.

In the past few years, we've become familiar with terms like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But today might turn out to be one of the biggest days of this holiday season. It's a day off for many workers. So shoppers are expected to flood stores in a frenzy of last-day buying. The National Retail Federation predicts sales up 3.3% this season over last. Total retail sales are over $450 million. If stores do just a tiny bit better than that, it will be a record. Is the consumer staging a comeback? Here to give us his take, the iconoclastic retail analyst, Howard Davidowitz.


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