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No retail hop over last Easter

Marketplace Staff Mar 24, 2008

TEXT OF STORY

Lisa Napoli: Fans of marshmallow chicks, listen up: Today’s the day you can get a deal on leftover Easter loot. Danielle Karson reports retailers hope the pre-holiday spending carries over to post-holiday sales.


Danielle Karson: Stores want to get rid of what’s left of the 90 million chocolate bunnies and 16 billion jelly beans that showed up on shelves this season.

Ellen Davis: People can definitely expect sales on merchandise like candy and some flowers.

That’s Ellen Davis with the National Retail Federation. She says while Easter goodies are being marked down, there won’t be many sale signs for spring-inspired clothes.

Davis: Spring hasn’t even really started throughout the country, so some retailers think they can probably continue to sell some of these items at full price.

Consumers spent about $14.5 billion on Easter — about the same as last year. Davis says retailers should see consumer spending go up for a couple of weeks. But whether the momentum continues, goes back to the weather.

Davis: In many parts of the country, it’s still very cool outside, and parents aren’t thinking about buying summer clothes for their kids. You’re not going to see the same type of traffic you might have if Easter happened in the middle of April.

In Washington, I’m Danielle Karson for Marketplace.

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