It’s still early, but analysts’ grades already are coming in: the back-to-school shopping season is off to a lousy start. “Back-to-school selling hasn’t really started yet,“ said John Morris, BMO Capital Markets analyst, based on recent conversations he’s had with store executives. “Retailers have a very foggy picture.“ The sluggish start is expected to show up in retailers’ July sales reports, to be released today, as job worries heighten.

Gap cardigans sold like hot cakes in balmy Miami, and new Boston-based grads spent their gift money on spectator-style Coach purses. In San Francisco, Sephora shoppers sought out something new. That’s a snapshot of shopping trends at three national retailers in three cities of varying personality and climate on a late spring day. The Associated Press asked them to track what was popular and craft mini profiles of the average customer. The idea was to find out what drives sales. Is it the weather? The news? The calendar?

The new centers will bring some new retailers to the area as well as some old favorites. West Broad Village in western Henrico County has a Kona Grill restaurant, and will have a HomeGoods home furnishings store and a Recreational Equipment Inc., (known as REI) an outdoor gear and clothing store. All are new to the Richmond area. Westchester Commons, the retail component of the Watkins Centre off Midlothian Turnpike and state Route 288 in Chesterfield, will have a Target, a Regal Cinema as well as other restaurants and retailers.

The Richmond region will welcome its newest regional shopping center in less than two months with the scheduled opening of Westchester Commons, a retail component of the 640-acre Watkins Centre multiuse project off Midlothian Turnpike and state Route 288 in Chesterfield County. It will feature Target, Petco, Regal Cinemas and Hilton Garden Inn.

As organizers prepare the glass ball that rises over the Byrd Theatre to ring in 2009, Carytown merchants wonder what the new year will bring.

Shoppers hit the stores early Friday to return unwanted gifts and take advantage of drastic price cuts offered by retailers desperate to get rid of old merchandise and boost their less-than-cheery holiday sales.

Carytown has been named one of South’s best shopping neighborhoods by readers of Southern Living magazine. The neighborhood of about 300 shops, boutiques and restaurants in Richmond came in at No. 9 in an online poll the magazine conducted.

At the Morris house, turkey isn’t just for Thanksgiving. Sarah Morris regularly buys a turkey or turkey breast on sale. She roasts the birds not only for dinners, but for sandwich meat, turkey salad and soups. She freezes what she can’t use right away, so she has meals stashed away for days or weeks ahead. When turkey is priced as low as 38 cents a pound, as it was recently when she bought one, “you cannot beat it,“ Morris said.

Under the shadow of a historic economic slowdown, shoppers turned out in throngs for Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

Join three experts today from noon to 12:45 p.m. for an online chat on inRich.com about the holiday shopping season so you can plan your strategy before Turkey Day.

Join three experts Monday from noon to 12:45 p.m. for an online chat on inRich.com about the holiday shopping season so you can plan a strategy. Questions will be answered by: