Holiday Cheer

"I get backaches from waiting on these people.'' said a Dallas retailer last week. "If business was any better, I'd be in the hospital." The joyful complaint was echoed by thousands of retailers across the U.S. last week, as hordes of Christmas shoppers invaded their stores.

In Miami Beach sales were 6% above last year; in Los Angeles they were up 12% in some stores. Allied Stores Corp., biggest U.S. department-store chain (69 units), hopes to ring up $100 million in Christmas sales, 16% above last year. For the first time in its history Chicago's big Marshall Field had a million-dollar shopping day in November, as the Christmas season opened. In Boston, Kansas City. Seattle and 30 other major U.S. cities, the Commerce Department took a quick checkup, found Christmas buying running an average 5% ahead of last year.

One of the reasons was the spread of price-cutting. To meet the growing threat from discount houses, some department stores cut prices on the thousands of products on the Fair Trade list (e.g., cameras, toys, cosmetics, small appliances, sporting goods, jewelry, drugs). Since General Electric Co. pulled out the props from under major-appliance prices (TIME, Dec. 6), the fixed-price line has been rapidly crumbling despite a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, which last week again refused to question the validity of Fair Trade laws, thus in effect gave them its blessing.

One major price breakthrough showed up in Manhattan where R. H. Macy & Co. and Gimbel Bros, teamed up against Lionel Corp.'s suit to stop the department stores from cutting prices on electric trains. Macy accused Lionel of discriminating against the department stores in favor of discount houses, of using department stores as "showcases and [to] provide ... an umbrella for price-cutting ..." Said Macy Attorney Donald Smiley: "Discount houses have been making a mockery of Fair Trade prices." As a result, Macy, Gimbels and other New York department stores kept right on discounting scores of Fair Trade products, and were offering a $65 Lionel train for Christmas for $45.50.

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