The results in the 1991 period largely reflect holiday sales.

A. Retailers had a 2 percent gain in holiday sales last year.

But the company said increased buying just before Christmas gave it an 8.7 percent increase in holiday sales.

Retailers said they expected online holiday sales to increase by about 20 percent this year.

In general, several factors influenced the season's holiday retail sales.

The changes in management were due to Borders' holiday sales having fallen by 11.7 percent to $868.8 million.

The 1992 holiday sales were partly responsible for a jump in economic growth at the end of the year.

Last year, called one of the worst in decades by analysts, holiday sales rose 2.2 percent.

Nordstrom is the first large company to report that its holiday sales were below last year's.

A consensus appeared to be emerging that holiday sales were up 5 to 8 percent so far from a year earlier.