Only for Guild Members » Trump's Republican rivals, former Penns

Shoppers queue for the Boxing Day sale at Harrods department store in London December 26 Uomo Nike Air Max 270 Flyknit Triple Nere Scontate , 2013. [PhotoAgencies] A butler serves coffee as shoppers queue for the Boxing Day sale at Harrods department store in London December 26, 2013. [PhotoAgencies] Bargain shoppers flooded the high street for the biggest shopping day of the year, packed with goods from all of the big name brands in London, England, United Kingdom on Dec 26, 2013. [Photoicpress] Bargain shoppers flooded the high street for the biggest shopping day of the year, packed with goods from all of the big name brands in London, England, United Kingdom on Dec 26, 2013. [Photoicpress] Women with multiple handbags in Selfridges quickly clear shelves of reduced products in Manchester, Greater Manchester, UK, on Dec 26, 2013. [Photoicpress]
LONDON - After an initial rush to British retail stores for the Boxing Day sales on Thursday, only 0.5 percent more shoppers showed up than last year, final figures from retail data company Springboard showed.


Overall, 9 percent fewer bargain-hunters visited traditional town centre shops, offset by a 10 percent increase at both shopping centres and retail parks as of 4 pm (1600 GMT).


Early data had shown a rise of 8 percent across the country after many queued early in the morning for bargains but numbers dropped off later for high street shops, Springboard said.


Some stores opened at 6 am in London's main shopping district in the West End and Oxford Street, where over a million people were expected to turn out according to retailers.


Many shops started Britain's traditional "January sales" online on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to meet increasing demand for earlier and deeper discounting.


Britain's economy has been growing robustly and unemployment has fallen steadily but stagnating wages and rising utility bills are still squeezing living standards.


Department store John Lewis reported record sales for the week before Christmas on Thursday and said that for the first time it expected most British shoppers to use smartphones rather than desktop computers to make online purchases.


It said its sales in the week to Dec 21 were up 4.2 percent on last year at 164.4 million pounds ($270 million), surpassing the 160 million-pound mark for the first time.


The department store will release its five-week trading update on Jan 2.


The retailer also said that on Christmas Day, three in four shoppers used their smartphones or tablets rather than traditional desktops to shop on its site.


"The tipping point has now passed and we expect mobile to be the way the majority of people shop online from now on," said Mark Lewis, online director at John Lewis.




Republican front-runner Donald Trump skipped a presidential debate in Iowa on Thursday after a flurry of last-minute negotiations with host Fox News, holding his own rally a few miles away four days before the first nominating contest of the 2016 race.


Fox News (FOXA.O) Chairman Roger Ailes had three phone conversations with the billionaire real estate mogul on the day of the debate, a network spokesperson said, but the two failed to resolve a simmering feud that surfaced this week after Trump demanded that the network remove anchor Megyn Kelly as a debate moderator.


Trump offered to appear at the debate if Fox contributed $5 million to his charities, the network said. Fox said it refused.


Trump filled to capacity a 700-seat hall at Drake University, where he told the crowd he raised $6 million for a veterans' group in a single day. His campaign did not say which group was getting the funds.


At the debate, Trump's rivals mocked his brash style and criticized his decision to sit out the debate.


"I’m a maniac and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly, and Ben, you're a terrible surgeon," Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said to rival Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, as the debate opened, saying he had now "gotten the Donald Trump portion of the program out of the way."


Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who has been a frequent target of Trump's attacks, said he "kind of missed Donald Trump," adding: "He was such a teddy bear to me."


Trump was able to garner a tremendous amount of attention on Thursday without having to share much of the spotlight. Cable news networks CNN and MSNBC provided extensive coverage of his event.


"I didn’t want to be here, to be honest, I wanted to be about five minutes away" at the debate, he told the crowd.


Trump, who has accused Fox News, and particularly Kelly, of treating him unfairly, said: "When you’re treated badly, you have to stick up for your rights - whether we like it or not."


Trump dominated social media during the debate, leading the entire Republican pack in Twitter mentions throughout the first half of the debate, according to data from social media analytics firm Zoomph.


Trump was by far the most-searched-for candidate on Google during the first half of the debate, at one point outpacing the second-most-searched-for candidate, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, by nearly four-to-one, according to Google Trends data.


Trump's move to skip the debate could be a risky gamble ahead of Monday's Iowa caucuses, which kick off the state-by-state race to pick the nominees in the Nov. 8 presidential election.


But his support in opinion polls, much of it from blue-collar men, has not wavered for months despite him insulting Mexican immigrants, threatening to deny Muslims entry to the United States and clashing with Republican establishment figures like Senator John McCain.


Two of Trump's Republican rivals, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, attended his alternative event after participating in the "undercard" debate for low-polling candidat. Cheap Jerseys China Cheap Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Online Cheap Wholesale NHL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Shop Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale Football Jerseys