Everything Must Go

Brenda Peterson drove over 30 miles to make it to a J.C. Penney in North Carolina before it opened at 5:30 a.m. But after failing to find the toy she wanted, Peterson left empty handed. It's one of many tales that is flummoxing stores after they slashed prices by as much as 60% to attract bargain hunters. Well, to attract anyone at this point. Holiday shopping, which typically accounts for between 30-50% of retail stores annual sales, has fallen nearly 8% by some estimates. Those shoppers who did hit the malls on Black Friday were mostly there to make returns to scour for deep discounts, hardly a help for weakened retailers.