31.   Department store sales slumped in recent months as unseasonable weather hurt purchases of clothing.

32.   Department store sales slumped in recent months as warm weather hurt purchases of winter clothing.

33.   Drugstore sales are slumping.

34.   For Zheng Jie, a snake broker in Shantou, sales slumped after the antismuggling war shrank the economy.

35.   Fragrances sales have slumped this year amid sluggish economic growth in Europe, while flavor sales declined in the U.S. and Japan, the company said.

36.   Home sales slumped most in the Northeast, which has long had the least home-building activity of any region.

37.   In recent weeks U.S. sales slumped as nations such as Argentina and Australia dumped their bumper crops onto the world market at prices below U.S. offers.

38.   Indeed, same-store sales slumped in March.

39.   Inventories of goods at U.S. wholesalers soared to the highest level on record in August as sales slumped, government figures showed.

40.   Investors had been concerned that overseas sales would slump with Asian economies.