11.   It said it will begin to fire its employees immediately and mark down its merchandise to clear its shelves.

12.   July is typically a big clearance month as retailers slash prices of spring and summer merchandise to clear their shelves for fall goods.

13.   Limited said sales fell at its Lane Bryant and Lerner New York chain and the stores needed to discount its merchandise to clear the shelves.

14.   Officials predicted that retailers and wholesale distributors would quickly sell their extra inventories, clearing shelves for factories to fill again.

15.   Panic buying cleared the shelves of baby food and cold medicine, leaving the region with dangerously small reserves.

16.   Panicked inhabitants have cleared shop shelves and looting has broken out.

17.   Shoppers can expect an even greater number of markdowns in the coming weeks as stores try to clear their shelves for spring merchandise.

18.   Stockpiles of unsold goods at factories and wholesalers fell in December, though many retailers failed to clear their shelves during the holiday season, government figures showed.

19.   That forced many chains, which were fully stocked in anticipation of strong sales, to deeply cut prices to bring in business and clear their shelves.

20.   That helped it clear shelves of merchandise left from an unusually cool spring and early summer without needing to resort to profit-eroding markdowns.