Final numbers are not due until Jan. 14, but interim data shows that customer traffic for the full holiday season plummeted 16 percent, taking sales down 2.3 percent.

This year, the week between Christmas and New Year, a week that is usually just carefree and unproductive, is likely to be positively dead.

There’s a myriad of reasons to spend your days in stores this season, and it’s not necessarily to shop.

An event planner delivers a “winter wonderland” from the 99-cent store.

Retailers are expected to offer jaw-dropping deals during one of the toughest holiday seasons in decades.

Analysts expect retailers to offer more jaw-dropping deals during one of the toughest holiday seasons in decades.

The contributors to The New York Times’s Gadgetwise blog have banded together to offer consumers this preholiday shopping briefing.

Bracing for a painful holiday season, hotels, airlines and cruise operators are offering deals to entice vacationers.

Bracing for a painful holiday season, hotels, airlines and cruise operators are offering deals to entice vacationers.

The travel industry is bracing for a painful holiday season as people scale back their discretionary spending. That is good news for anyone who has yet to book a winter getaway.