"When you take the fashion element of the cold-weather merchandise this year and couple it with below average temperatures, you have a winning combination. We haven't had seasonably cold weather in years and there is big pent-up demand for this product, which will continue throughout the holiday season." Elfers added that L&T's promotional cadence was similar to last year.

WEEKEND WORKS FOR SOME SPECIALTY STORES, BUT NOT ALL

Dress Barn, which has been experiencing a difficult fall, saw no change in the trend last weekend, said Fulsher. On the bright side, dressier and special occasion apparel is selling, as are fashion outerwear and jewelry. "The weather has helped a little bit with sweaters but it's still a difficult business," Fulsher said.

Maurices had "a solid weekend" marked by mid-single-digit comp gains, on or a little above plan for Friday and Saturday. "We came out better than expected," Lisa Rhodes, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, said. "The next two weeks will be a bit of a lull and then we'll get the spike. There are more days between Christmas and Thanksgiving and that puts off purchasing since everyone feels they have more time."

She cited casual and dressy knit tops, fashion outerwear and denim as "solid" businesses. Dress Barn and Maurices are divisions of Dress Barn Inc.

One specialty retailer, who requested anonymity, said, "Our business was flat Black Friday, but really not that bad, and Saturday was slightly positive."

At Brooks Bros., "We made last year's volume, but we didn't make the plan though we pretty much met our expectations for the two days," said del Vecchio. "Our margin was a little better than we expected. We didn't promote. We were full price," except for a 15 percent discount for early birds Friday morning.

"Our Christmas customer is not really looking for bargains. Our biggest promotion is the day after Christmas," when the chain stages its semiannual sale. "We don't have great expectations at this point," with the goal being 8 or 9 percent in total sales for the season, and 1 or 2 percent ahead on a comp-store basis, del Vecchio said. "For us to be able to do that without heavy promotion will be very good."