Claire Vissichelli of South Setauket pushes a shopping cart inside of a Wal-Mart in South Setauket, N.Y., shortly after the store opened at 5 a.m., Friday, Nov. 25, 2005. The nation's retailers are set to usher in the 2005 holiday shopping season with the usual come-ons_deep discounts and expanded hours_ along with a slew of stores offering early bird specials for the first time. (AP Photo/Ed Betz)
Ed Betz
Down to the final 24 hours, more or less, of shopping before Christmas: This final stretch is the tipping point in determining how stores fared this holiday.
This past weekend could account for as much as 10% of the entire holiday's sales.
We'll get the first reports on how "super" this Super Saturday's sales were when ShopperTrak releases its initial numbers by 3pm ET today.
Initial trends are showing weakness in the Midwest markets.
I'll be busy reporting for NBC, CNBC and MSNBC -- all in the NBC Universal family -- so tune in for the latest info as we get it.
(I'll try to update my blog too!)
Questions? Comments? retaildetail@cnbc.com
