Christmas, Holiday Shopping | featured news

Anyone left on your Christmas list just aching for a 65-inch Samsung 3D flat-screen television? Just your luck. The Vatican's duty-free department store has one on sale for €2,899 ($3,840) — a nifty savings over the €3,799 ($5,032) it costs at Italy's main electronics chain Euronics.

A mall trade group says that last minute shoppers gave merchants a solid lift during the final week before Christmas. Sales at stores opened at least a year rose 0.9 percent for the week ended Saturday compared with the previous week and was up 4.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, released Wednesday.

Retailers saw their fair share of last-minute shoppers on Saturday, the day before Christmas, but stores were not super-busy, putting a moderate cap on pre-holiday season that started with a bang and has waned ever since.

In an unexpected twist, TVs are topping many Christmas shopping lists this year. Wal-Mart says TVs are among the top gifts people are putting on layaway at its 3,000-plus U.S. stores during the holiday season. The Westinghouse 46-inch LCD HDTV that was on sale for half off at Target for $298 was a top seller during the start to the season last weekend. And Abt Electronics already has sold out of 55-inch Samsung LED TVs that were marked down by half to $1,099.

Amazon's Kindle Fire is a Catch-22 for retailers: The $199 tablet computer could both help Christmas traffic and hurt future sales.

More last-minute shoppers flocked to stores this year on the final Saturday before Christmas than last year, but spending is expected to be even higher late this week.

Amid the deluge of holiday music that comes in November and December, Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas II You and Susan Boyle’s The Gift are poised to make all those other seasonal crooners sound like off-key carolers.

Are you filling Santa's bag this year using paper or plastic? Millions of Americans will trim the tree this year with a credit card balance still left over from last year. Don't let this be you. It virtually guarantees you aren't saving enough to protect against the many uncertainties in the economy. And chances are, if you're charging up your credit cards, you also aren't investing enough in your retirement and education funds to make sure the future is secure.

There are only 96 more shopping days until Christmas. This year, experts say, you should be shopping early for more than just gifts. "Airline fares are 20 to 30 percent above last year's rates, and they vary day to day," said Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com.

A weekend nor'easter buried much of the U.S. East Coast on Saturday and Sunday, disrupting public transport and air travel and hampering holiday shoppers on the last weekend before Christmas.