By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 28, 2005

Shoppers did not hold back this holiday weekend, spending a whopping $27.8 billion and setting the tone for what retailers hope will be a very merry Christmas, according to the National Retail Federation.

The industry's largest trade group said yesterday that sales from the day after Thanksgiving -- nicknamed Black Friday -- through Sunday jumped nearly 22 percent over last year. Holiday sales traditionally account for about one-fifth of retailers' annual business.

Visa USA also reported impressive sales growth, saying its customers charged about $7 billion on credit and debit cards Friday and Saturday, a 15 percent jump. And Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's biggest retailer, said this weekend that it anticipated solid growth of 4.3 percent during November at stores that have been open at least one year.

But not everyone painted such a rosy picture. ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago research firm, said its surveys indicated that sales Friday had actually dropped 0.9 percent, to $8 billion.