Wal-Mart Does So So During Holiday Season

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which made a big push this holiday season to woo customers with aggressive discounts and marketing, estimated that its December sales will meet only the low end of its forecast.

The world's largest retailer said Saturday that sales at stores open for at least a year, known as same-store sales, are expected to be up 2.2 percent in December. The forecast was for a 2 percent to 4 percent gain. Same-store sales are considered the best indicator of a retailers' health.

The company said that general merchandise sales outpaced demand for food.

My advice: Spend even less in 2006. Save your money. Invest more in your kids or grand-kids' education. Don't spend your last nickel at Wal-Mart or any other mindess retail hangout. And as an economic developer, give some leadership to a local shift away from mindless spending to mindful investing and saving.

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