Thanksgiving weekend sales up 1.6 percent: ShopperTrak

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sales at U.S. retailers rose an estimated 1.6 percent during the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend, the start to the key holiday shopping season, according to ShopperTrak, a private firm that monitors such data.

The sales increase compares to a 0.9 percent increase in the 2008 period, which was hit by a deepening recession and a credit crunch.

The data are in line with other reports that showed a slow start to the 2009 holiday shopping season, which pressured retail stocks earlier this week. [ID:nN30447994] Investors will get a better look at November sales and expectations for December when many retailers release monthly sales on Wednesday and Thursday. [ID:nN01495282]

Store traffic fell 1.1 percent from a year earlier, ShopperTrak said. But as traffic in stores fell, online traffic was seen stronger as more retailers pushed deals online even before Thanksgiving.

Total sales for Friday, Saturday and Sunday were $20.50 billion, ShopperTrak estimated.

"The bottom line is retailers saw a slight sales increase with a minimal traffic decrease, both of which are tremendous improvements over sales and traffic levels we saw throughout 2009 prior to the holidays," said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak.

"But, while this weekend is a bit encouraging, we're still comparing to what turned out to be the worst holiday season we've ever measured."

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman, editing by Dave Zimmerman)