Dry weekend draws shoppers even as online sales boom

CHICAGO – The driest Thanksgiving weekend in five years may have helped holiday shopping, despite an overall decline in foot traffic. But some shoppers just took notes in the hopes of finding an even better deal online. That's a consequence of Amazon continuing to squeeze prices, exacerbating the "showrooming" practice of people getting ideas at brick-and-mortar stores, then buying online. Heather Just and husband Dominic of Rockford, Illinois, brought their twin 11-year-old boys and 13-year-old son to the giant Water Tower Place on Chicago's Magnificent Mile on Saturday to see "what their eyes get big about." The excursion was more recon mission than shopping spree. "We're watching, we're watching," she told her sons, who focused their attention on a Nintendo Switch portable game console.