Weekly sales receipts slide a bit

US retail receipts at chain stores fell in the week ending Saturday, despite tax holidays meant to prompt back-to-school shopping, a trade group said. Sales fell 0.3 percent compared to the previous week, but rose 3.6 percent compared to the same week of 2011. In the past week, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia presented consumers with back-to-school tax free holidays. In addition, Connecticut has scheduled a tax holiday for Aug 19-25; Maryland has scheduled a tax holiday for Aug. 12-18 and Texas has one scheduled for Aug. 17-19.