holiday shopping

Scenes ranging from the far-out and funky to those of Christmases past are taking shape in the windows of Manhattan's department stores as the holiday shopping season gets under way.

As consumers continued to rein in their spending ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season, Macy's reported a third quarter loss of $44 million on Wednesday as Best Buy slashed its profit forecast for 2009.

Americans may be watching the green in their wallet more closely right now, but when it comes to buying "green," many retailers are hoping people will keep shelling out more money.

The recent economic turmoil could spell more bad news for retailers as they head into the all-important holiday shopping season later this year.