Page 2 - aruba-today-20201128

A2 UP FRONT
Saturday 28 November 2020
Continued from Front onset of the pandemic,
Workers sanitized door leading to lower inventory.
knobs and windows. As a result, holiday promo-
A Christmas tree towered tions are tracking below
over the largely empty last year's levels for cloth-
streets around The Domain, ing, consumer electronics,
the most popular out- power and hand tools and
door mall in Austin, Texas. home goods, according
Store employees counted to Numerator, a market re-
masked shoppers trickling search firm.
in to stay within the state's Erika Mendez usually heads
75% capacity limit. to the mall every Black Fri-
The U.S. Centers for Dis- day to shop at clothing
ease Control and Preven- brands Zara, H&M or For-
tion has labeled shopping ever 21. But this year, the
in crowded stores during New Jersey journalist stu-
the holidays a "higher risk" dent ended up shopping
activity and says people on Amazon, scoring a Nike
should limit any in-person track suit for 25% off, as well
shopping. as Nike sneakers that were
The National Retail Federa- 20% off.
tion, the nation's largest re- "It's just easier ordering on-
tail trade group, predicted Shoppers wear protective face masks as they walk past a social distancing sign at the Ellenton line than going out," says
that shoppers will be look- Premium Outlet stores Friday, Nov. 27, 2020, in Ellenton, Fla. Mendez.
ing for reasons to cele- Associated Press And Black Friday was the
brate. The trade group ex- last thing on the minds of
pects sales for the Novem- Adobe Analytics, which Black Friday is projected to recover. More than 40 some hurt the most by the
ber and December period measures sales at 80 of to generate $10 billion in chains, including J.C. Pen- pandemic. At a popular
to increase between 3.6% the top 100 U.S. online re- online sales, a 39% bump ney and J.Crew, filed for shopping area in St. Peters-
and 5.2% over 2019, com- tailers. Among the most from the year ago period, bankruptcy. burg, Florida, several store-
pared with a 4% increase popular items were Lego according to Adobe. And "Is there going to be a fronts were empty, and the
the year before. Holiday sets, Barbie toys, and kid Cyber Monday, the Mon- surge in apparel gifting, only line was at a plasma
sales have averaged gains scooters, HP laptops, and day after Thanksgiving, will footwear gifting to help out donation center.
of 3.5% over the past five Apple Watches, according remain the biggest online any of the specialty retail- Leonard Chester, 58, said
years. to Adobe. The popularity shopping day of the year ers and do they have the he hoped to get at least
"We think there's going to of Netflix's "Queen's Gam- with $12.7 billion in sales, a digital presence to actu- $55 for the donation, say-
be a psychological factor bit" has boosted sales for 35% jump. ally capture the attention ing that he needed to eat.
that they owe it to them- chess-related items. Big box stores like Walmart of the consumers?" said When reminded that it was
selves and their families to Walmart, which spread out and Target, which were al- Sonia Lapinsky, managing Black Friday, he let out a
have a better-than-normal its Black Friday deals over lowed to stay open during director in AlixPartners' re- laugh and pointed to the
holiday," said NRF Chief several weekends, said its the spring lockdowns, have tail practice. "That remains line around him.
Economist Jack Kleinhenz. most popular deals includ- enjoyed further gains from to be seen, and I think it will "This says that people are
Thanksgiving Day hit a new ed this year's new gaming ramping up their online ser- be more on the grim side." hurting. The economy's
record online as spend- consoles, wireless head- vices, analysts say. There are also fewer deals bad," said Chester, who
ing reached $5.1 billion, phones, home appliances But stores deemed non- to be had this year. Non-es- was laid off from his job as a
up 21.5% compared to a like the Edufy Robotic Vac- essential that were forced sential retailers were forced bouncer at a strip club two
year ago, according to uum. to close have struggled to halt production at the months ago.q

Trump administration moves ahead on gutting bird protections

moved forward Friday on tory Bird Treaty Act, which ally, and is putting that
gutting a longstanding fed- range from hawks and "clarifying" change into
eral protection for the na- eagles to seabirds, storks, regulation.
tion's birds, over objections songbirds and sparrows. The change would "im-
from former federal officials The move scales back fed- prove consistency and ef-
and many scientists that eral prosecution author- ficiency in enforcement,"
billions more birds will likely ity for the deadly threats the Fish and Wildlife Service
perish as a result. migratory birds face from said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife industry — from electrocu- The administration has con-
Service published its take tion on power lines, to wind tinued to push the migrato-
on the proposed rollback turbines that knock them ry bird regulation even af-
in the Federal Register. It's from the air and oil field ter a federal judge in New
a final step that means the waste pits where landing York in August rejected the
change — greatly limiting birds perish in toxic water. administration's legal ratio-
federal authority to pros- Industry operations kill an nale.
ecute industries for prac- estimated 450 million to 1.1 Jones said the changes un-
tices that kill migratory birds billion birds annually, out der Trump would be need-
— could be made official of roughly 7 billion birds in ed to make sure the bird
within 30 days. North America, according law wasn't used in an "abu-
This June 5, 2009, file photo shows a Redtail hawk feeding a
snake to one of her young ones nested at the Rocky Mountain The wildlife service ac- to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife sive way." That's a long-
Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City, Colo. knowledged in its findings Service and recent studies. standing complaint from
Associated Press that the rollback would The Trump administration industry lawyers despite
have a "negative" effect maintains that the Act federal officials' conten-
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and Associated Press on the many bird species should apply only to birds tion that they bring criminal
MATTHEW BROWN The Trump administration covered by the 1918 Migra- killed or harmed intention- charges only rarely.q