Shopping in sunshine Stores will delay closing to cash in on extra daylight

Daylight-saving time took an hour away from you this weekend, but many Grand Strand stores want to give you back that hour and more to do your shopping during the next six months.

Retailers began to extend their hours this month to draw in shoppers with busy schedules and to accommodate the tourists who are starting to trickle in.

That means more money for businesses and for their employees, who could start working longer hours.

Many retailers across the country are using extra hours to compete with Internet shopping sites and set them apart from their brick-and-mortar competitors.

Although the retailing industry is projected to grow this year, many analysts say the increase will be far less than stores have seen in the past decade. With slowing growth and increasing competition, retailers are fighting for their piece of the pie.

"Everybody in retail today is trying to figure out how to get more business," said consumer analyst Britt Beemer, president of America's Research Group. "The whole longer-hours thing is a way to see if they can get sales to go up 6 or 7 percent, instead of the 3 percent they're seeing."