Late shoppers make October sales a disaster.Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County retail sales fell a whopping 6.4 percent in October October: see month. 1991 compared to October 1990, the biggest drop reported so far this year. From a sharper angle, when adjusted for inflation, sales were off by nearly 10 percent. These figures are consistent with the decline in the overall economy during the fourth quarter, said Jack Kyser, economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. The discouraging dis·cour·age tr.v. dis·cour·aged, dis·cour·ag·ing, dis·cour·ag·es 1. To deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit. 2. To hamper by discouraging; deter. 3. statistics also reflect consumers who waited until late in the holiday season to purchase gifts, Kyser said. Instead of shopping during October and November November: see month. , many prudent shoppers waited until the week before Christmas to hit the stores, he explained. Sales increased an uplifting 1.3 percent from September to October though. September traditionally was the month when parents and students bought back-to-school clothing. But with this year's staggered school schedules the September tradition has essentially been eroded e·rode v. e·rod·ed, e·rod·ing, e·rodes v.tr. 1. To wear (something) away by or as if by abrasion: Waves eroded the shore. 2. To eat into; corrode. , making for lower September retail sales overall, Kyser said. The performance of retail sales in the Southland south·land or South·land n. A region in the south of a country or an area. south  land·er n.Noun 1. during October was the inverse (mathematics) inverse - Given a function, f : D -> C, a function g : C -> D is called a left inverse for f if for all d in D, g (f d) = d and a right inverse if, for all c in C, f (g c) = c and an inverse if both conditions hold. of what happened across the country during that month. October retail sales nationwide were 5.2 percent higher than they were a year ago.
Retail sales
Los Angeles County
(in millions)
Period Total sales
1991
October $5,436
September 5,364
August 5,631
July 5,759
June 5,645
May 5,817
April 5,499
March 5,533
February 4,933
January 5,158
* in millions Source: U.S. Department of Commerce
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