U.S. retail sales up at start of holiday season: ShopperTrak

(Reuters) - U.S. shoppers visited more stores and spent more money across Thanksgiving Day on Thursday and on "Black Friday" than they did in 2012, research firm ShopperTrak said on Saturday. When compared with Thanksgiving and "Black Friday" last year, ShopperTrak estimated that traffic at brick-and-mortar stores increased 2.8 percent, to more than 1.07 billion store visits. Retail sales also increased by 2.3 percent, as shoppers spent an estimated total of $12.3 billion across the two days, ShopperTrak said in a statement. For "Black Friday," brick-and-mortar shopper traffic fell 11.4 percent and retail sales were down by 13.2 percent.

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