CHICAGO, IL, November 24, 2009 – ShopperTrak’s National Retail Sales Estimate™ (NRSE) today reported that year-over-year GAFO retail sales increased 0.9 percent for the week ending November 21 while sales rose a slight 0.2 percent versus the previous week ending November 14.

GAFO retail sales posted a minimal gain as the previous week contained the Veteran’s Day holiday which allowed consumers an extra day to spend – providing a rather difficult comparison. ShopperTrak noted that in many years the week following Veteran’s Day shows retail sales declines, so even a slight increase could be a good sign for the retail industry heading into Thanksgiving week and Black Friday – the anticipated top performing traffic and sales day this holiday season.

“The minimal sales increase we saw last week seems encouraging as retailers prepare for the annual Black Friday rush,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “Although a good handful of retailers will be open on Thanksgiving Day this year, we don’t anticipate this will dilute the strength of Black Friday which will once again receive a huge boost behind early door buster sales and promotions.” Martin continued: “Based on historical data, we expect Black Friday will start off very strong, then traffic and sales levels should taper off as the day progresses and smart consumers have already indentified and purchased various promotional items they ventured out early to find.”

ShopperTrak’s Black Friday sales data will be released Saturday, Nov. 28 at approximately 3 p.m. EST, followed by Black Friday / Saturday combined data on Monday, November 30. For ShopperTrak’s full holiday 2009 analysis, please visit ShopperTrak’s newly designed Website, www.shoppertrak.com.

Developed by ShopperTrak, the NRSE provides a nationwide benchmark of retail sales. It is derived from the U.S. Commerce Department's GAFO (general merchandise, apparel, furniture, sporting goods, electronics, hobby, books and other related store sales) statistic, as well as ShopperTrak's proprietary industry intelligence on shopper movement and sales statistics. This gives retailers, investors and policy makers the most accurate and timely information on consumer trends available today.

A privately held entity, ShopperTrak leverages 20 years of retail expertise to be the industry's authority for information and analysis of the movement of shoppers in retail environments. ShopperTrak's cutting-edge shopper tracking products and indices offer retail intelligence solutions that enable companies to better understand retail trends and the impact of store and staff performance on company revenues. With more than 50,000 units installed in the world's best known retail outlets and malls, the company's solutions also provide a proven means for retailers to gauge labor efficiencies, advertising and marketing efforts, store design and remodeling programs, merchandise changes, associate training programs, and other budget-intensive strategic initiatives. For more information visit http://www.shoppertrak.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The data contained within this news release is the property of ShopperTrak RCT Corporation and may be reprinted, published or broadcast, provided proper credit is given to the National Retail Sales Estimate (NRSE), the ShopperTrak Retail Traffic Index and ShopperTrak RCT Corporation as the supplier of the information. Please contact Aaron Martin at 312-943-9100 if you have any questions concerning the use of this data.
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