ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 9, 1991                   TAG: 9102090157
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

RETAIL SALES DROP 12 PERCENT IN VA.

Retail sales dropped 12 percent in December across Virginia compared to year-ago levels, according to state Department of Taxation figures.

Retail companies pay close attention to year-end sales during the Christmas season because they provide a large percentage of the industry's profits.

"There was no late buying," said Roy L. Pearson, director of the College of William and Mary's Bureau of Business Research. "We had expected December to be down. I didn't think it would match the late surge of last year."

In 1989, consumers clung to their cash in November but unleashed a last-minute holiday buying binge in December. - Associated Press 


 by CNB