In a separate poll, experts calculated that women burned around five calories for every minute spent browsing the shelves - almost 48,000 per year. That is the equivalent of 25 days' worth of a woman's recommended daily intake of 1,940 calories.

The study revealed women make around 11 shopping trips - spending around 13 hours - on the High Street, supermarket or local shop each month.

The Japanese retailer, which runs 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan and the U.S., as well as upscale Japanese department stores Seibu and Sogo and Ito-Yokado supermarkets, said Wednesday it will shut its Seibu branch in the Yurakucho district on Dec. 25.

The decision follows last year's closure of Seven & i's much bigger Sogo store in Osaka, which was then transferred to Daimaru Inc., a unit of Japan's second largest department store operator J. Front Retailing Co. Seven & i also last year shut a Seibu store in Sapporo, northern Japan.

1. Black Friday (Nov. 27)
2. Dec. 26 (Saturday)
3. Super Saturday (Dec. 19)
4. Dec. 23 (Wednesday)
5. Dec. 12 (Saturday)
6. Dec. 22 (Tuesday)
7. Dec. 21 (Monday)

A jump in purchases the week before Christmas helped year-over-year electronics sales increase 5.9 percent from Nov. 1 to Dec. 24, MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse said in a statement. Jewelry and luxury sales also gained, the research firm said.

The increase may signal that revenue at retailers will beat trade groups’ forecasts for the two-month period ending Jan. 2. Shoppers resumed purchasing this season as consumer confidence rebounded from a record low in February.

"We saw a nice little surge toward the end of the season," with the pace picking up Dec. 22, 23 and 24, said Michael McNamara, a vice president for research and analysis at SpendingPulse, in a Bloomberg Television interview today. "Last year, we were in critical condition, this year, in stable."

Target Corp. extended its hours to midnight Dec. 21 through yesterday. Borders Group Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Toys R Us Inc. also kept stores open longer. Best Buy Co. offered some DVDs for half off and Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., a men's clothing chain, deepened discounts to at least 50 percent.

"We didn't intend to do everything, and now we're doing everything," Jos. A. Bank Chief Executive Officer Neal Black, 54, said Dec. 22 by telephone from the company's Hampstead, Maryland, headquarters. "We'll be slugging right down to the last minute."

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Walmart, the world's largest retailer, will keep most of its 803 discount stores and its Sam's Clubs open until 8 p.m. today, two hours later than last year, said John Simley, a spokesman. Amazon.com Inc. extended by one day, until Dec. 21, its cutoff for standard shipping.

If the doorman at Bergdorf Goodman seems a little more cheerful than usual this holiday season, or a salesman at Prada or Hermes offers to find a pair of shoes in your size without rolling an eye, do not act so surprised. Retailers are being extra nice, and not just to the regulars.

"They're offering a glass of Champagne as you enter David Yurman," said Kate Kreindler, a suburban student, referring to the high-priced jewelry store on Madison Avenue. She noticed she was receiving more-attentive service while shopping on that luxury strip on Monday. A few steps away at Dennis Basso, a fur store, Mr. Basso himself was greeting customers. "It can't hurt," he said. "Stores that don't normally have great customer service are trying harder. They're reaching out and giving that special treatment to the ... " and here, he paused for emphasis, " ... Christmas shopper."

It may be a curious silver lining of the recession, but even a casual browser can expect to be treated like a V.I.P. in high-end stores on Madison and Fifth Avenues once famed for snooty attitudes and imposing facades. Almost every person who has stepped through the gilded revolving doors of Bergdorf recently, whether a tourist or, on Dec. 17, the actress Susan Lucci in a salmon-pink mink, has been given a hero’s welcome, with an honor guard of doting sales associates.

And, yes, those doormen really are cheerier. Jim Gold, the chief executive of the store, said he replaced the security company that hires them "when we found the ones we were using weren't as friendly as we wanted them to be."

The store now devotes its staff meetings every Saturday morning, before it opens, to the subject of customer service. Although Bergdorf was already known for attentive details like sending thank-you notes to customers, several shoppers reported receiving them recently for buying as little as an $18 bottle of nail polish or a lipstick.

Simon shut its 242-store Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland, at 2 p.m. local time today as a storm bore down on the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, dumping 10 to 20 inches of snow and making roads all but impassable. The mall, whose anchors include Neiman Marcus Last Call and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th, will open at its normal time of 11 a.m. tomorrow, according to a statement on its Web site.

All but six specialty stores at Westfield's Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Maryland, are closed and the rest will shut down at 4 p.m. today. Anchor stores Macy's, Sears and Nordstrom plan to remain open, according to the mall's security office.

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Simon closed its Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, Virginia, at 1 p.m. today. The company is allowing stores to close early at its Fashion Centre at Pentagon City mall in Arlington, Virginia, though the mall remains open. The shopping center is served by Washington's Metro public transportation system, which stopped all bus service and shuttered 39 of its 86 rail stations today because of the weather.