Retail Roundup: Macy's CEO Says Debt Can Be Paid Down, (Very) Black Friday for Online Retailers

(MoneyWatch)  Macy's CEO says debt can be paid down -- Macy's Inc. doesn't plan to close many locations, CEO Terry Lundgren said in a Nov. 28 interview with Bloomberg Television, adding that the second-biggest U.S. department-store chain can pay down debt with cash. "We plan no giant wholesale closings," he said. The retailer is conserving funds by delaying remodeling, but the chain has $350 million of bonds coming due in April and another $600 in July, according to Bloomberg. [Source: Bloomberg]

Lights out for online retailers on Black Friday -- Black Friday proved to be especially dark for the many retailers that experienced technical problems as millions of shoppers swarmed to their e-commerce sites looking for bargains. Among the hardest hit was Sears.com, which left consumers unable to complete purchases throughout most of the day. "It was happening during the most important part of the online shopping experience," says Shawn White of Keynote, a web site performance monitoring vendor. Costco's site also suffered from glitches on Friday: Web site availability fell to 64 percent from 6 a.m. to midnight, according to tracking company Gomez Inc. Hewlett-Packard's site and Overstock.com also took longer than usual to respond thanks to the influx of visitors. [Source: internetretailer]

Holiday shopping off to solid start -- A successful Black Friday and unprecedented sales helped the holiday shopping season get off to a better-than-expected start, according to the National Retail Federation. The NRF estimates that Americans spent an average of $372.57 over the weekend, up 7.2 percent from last year. Shoppers opted for higher-end items thanks to lucrative sales: Many consumers took advantage of the drastic price cuts on designer apparel by buying merchandise that's usually out-of-reach. Heard on the Runway highlights the trend, explaining that mid-range retailers face new competition from their high-end counterparts who are busy slashing prices. [Source: WSJ and Heard on the Runway]