While most U.S. retailers’ sales sagged in 2002, online sales soared.

NEW YORK - The start of the holiday shopping season crept earlier into Thursday as retailers lured shoppers to stores and online ahead of the traditional Black Friday kick-off.

Think twice before tossing that store receipt. A poll conducted by Angie’s List, an online consumer-driven ratings service, said 64 percent of respondents reported having diffi culty making returns without receipts.

The Arizona Retailers Association is gearing up to mount a public-relations campaign to garner support for requiring online retailers to collect state sales tax.

PHOENIX -- Arizona is moving toward making online merchants collect sales tax on residents' purchases, a departure from the state's previous hands-off stance.

CINCINNATI — The maker of Tide detergent, Pampers diapers and Gillette shavers is taking hundreds of its popular consumer products directly to shoppers through a new Web site.

I'm reminded of a line in the movie "Ladyhawke" that a gentle breeze can portend the greatest of storms. My gentle breeze is the Wild Birds Unlimited store at Guadalupe Road and McClintock Drive.

Karen Tara of Tempe already bought a purse for her sister on eBay, and she has her eye on a few special vintages at Wine.com for friends and other family members.

The Thanksgiving turkey has turned into leftovers. The kids are off from school, parents are off from work, and all are looking forward — or not — to a long weekend of family togetherness.

NEW YORK - The latest reports from the nation’s merchants show that higher energy and food bills and slumping home values are pressuring shoppers so much, they’re being forced to nibble at the edges — buying single pillows rather than whole sets and opting for new paint instead of renovating.

Procrastinators are expected to grab gems and greeting cards today and frantically phone restaurants to book a table for Sunday brunch.

DALLAS - As long as a market is expanding, retailers talk about the other guy in a sportsmanlike manner, saying, ‘‘Competition is good’’ and "There’s room for everybody to grow."

Tricia and Doug Folger of Scottsdale, who have six kids and a bunch of nieces and nephews to buy gifts for, started their Christmas shopping early this year.

The fallout from the lessthan-stellar holiday retail season has begun. Besides the stores we already knew were slated to close — Casual Corner and Petite Sophisticate, Robinson’s-May stores — are those that are hurting but not yet mortally wounded.

Today turkey. Tomorrow to the mall. As the official start of the holiday shopping season looms, the experts know exactly how much money you are going to spend between now and Christmas and what you will spend it on.

NEW YORK - Who would have thought that online sites like Zappos.com, which sells $350 designer shoes and other footwear, or Bluenile.com, which sells expensive diamonds, would thrive in the aftermath of the dot-com bust?

NEW YORK - After what appeared to be a strong start to the 2006 holiday shopping season, the question is whether shoppers will have the same zeal for shopping between now and the end of the season when the discounts may not be as steep.

Store closings will continue to outpace openings and rents will persist in a downward spiral, driving some shopping centers into foreclosure as the Valley's job market continues to shrink.