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Retailing Sales Down 1.5% Since Thanksgiving: U.S. retailers’ sales since the day after Thanksgiving are 1.5% lower than a year ago, partly because of severe weather throughout the country, according to TeleCheck Services. Along the West Coast, poor weather and a lackluster economy pulled down retail sales 3.6% from the year-ago period. The biggest sales declines in the region were reported in Los Angeles, with a 5% drop, and Seattle, with a drop of 5.2%. The Northeast reported the steepest decline in sales since Thanksgiving, a drop of 8.5%. Much of the fall was attributed to a severe storm that ripped through the region late last week. The only regions to report sales gains were the Southeast and the Midwest, which showed increases of 3.2% and 2.1% respectively.