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Boxing Day sales rise
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December 27, 2000: 6:13 p.m. ET
TeleCheck reports Dec. 26 purchases gained 3.1 percent from 1999
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Consumers continued their modest holiday shopping Wednesday as TeleCheck reported that day-after-Christmas purchases at the nation's retailers were up 3.1 percent from the same day last year.
The gain is the same as the 3.1 percent increase reported by the check clearing service for the entire holiday shopping period from the day after Thanksgiving through Christmas Eve, although this year's shopping period was two days longer than the 1999 period.
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"Many consumers are taking advantage of the year-end holiday break and attractive retailer discounts, which have helped fuel the modest spending increases."
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William Ford
TeleCheck economist |
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"A welcomed relief from severe mid-December weather precipitated sales surges in the Midwest and Northeast. However, other parts of the country experienced just the opposite trend because of the ice storm which paralyzed parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas," said William Ford, TeleCheck's Senior Economic Adviser.
Still, "many consumers are taking advantage of the year-end holiday break and attractive retailer discounts, which have helped fuel the modest spending increases," he said.
A number of major retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT: Research, Estimates), the world's largest chain, and Federated Department Stores (FD: Research, Estimates), parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, warned Wednesday that its holiday shares were lower than expected,
TeleCheck's figures showed only a 2.4 percent increase in pre-holiday shopping for the first 24 days of the holiday shopping season, but a last-minute shopping rush lifted results. Still the results came in below the 4.0 percent gain forecast by the check clearing service.
The data reflect purchases at stores open at least a year, a commonly used retail measure known as same store sales. The figures also include grocery store purchase, and measures only those purchases by checks, which TeleCheck said accounts for about a third of retail transactions. 
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TeleCheck
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