Winter Holidays

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- In response to Hurricane Wilma's impact on its home state, Winn-Dixie Stores here is extending its "Neighbors Helping Neighbors" program to assist the American Red Cross' Disaster Relief Fund. The program, which was launched on Aug. 29 as Hurricane Katrina tore through the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast, will now run through the end of hurricane season, until Nov. 30.

BOISE, Idaho -- Albertsons, Inc. associates contributed more than 300,000 volunteer hours during September as part of the company's annual "Month of Caring" initiative, during which they participated in more than 220 service projects throughout the country.

WASHINGTON -- Although the month of September was hit by two hurricanes and drastic gas price hikes, retail sales continued to rise, the National Retail Federation (NRF) here said on Friday. Unadjusted retail sales for September (excluding automobile, gas station, and restaurant volume) rose a vigorous 7.0 percent over last year, and increased 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted from August.

NEW YORK CITY -- The damaging effects of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, rising heating oil prices, and escalating housing costs present challenges for the 2005 holiday retail season, according to Deloitte Research's Leading Index of Consumer Spending and "Outlook for the Holidays" report.

WASHINGTON -- Despite recent hurricanes, congestion levels are low and cargo is flowing smoothly at the nation's major retail container ports, as merchants move into the peak shipping cycle for the annual holiday sales season, according to the October "Port Tracker" report, released yesterday by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight.

STEVENS, Pa. -- Although greeting cards make up the largest share of industry sales in the burgeoning $36 billion stationery goods market, at $10.3 billion, sales have actually declined 3.9 percent since 2002, according to a new research study from Unity Marketing, based here.

FRESNO, Calif. -- Marketing Plus and Zylka Design, both based here, have been recognized in Japan for their promotional design work for Well-Pict Berries.

WASHINGTON -- Coming after the strongest holiday season in five years, grocers and other retailers can expect only moderate holiday sales growth this year, the National Retail Federation here said yesterday. The trade group forecasted that total holiday retail sales--including grocery stores, discounters, department stores, and specialty stores--will increase 5.0 percent over last year, bringing holiday spending to $435.3 billion. In comparison, holiday sales in 2004 rose 6.7 percent to $414.7 billion.