And you thought the beginning of the New Year would mean the end of holiday-type promotions.

Silly, silly you.

With 2008 retail sales expected to rise at their lowest level in six years, retailers are still rolling out many of the same type of promotions and discounts they used during the holiday season – even though it is nearly February.

Sears continues to offer limited-time sales, like sending an email on Jan. 27 promoting an extra 10 percent off game room, home appliance clearance and gemstone jewelry purchases made on its Web site for 12 hours, starting at 6 pm that night.

To try to sell TVs heading into Super Bowl weekend, Best Buy is advertising no interest for three years on all Samsung flat panel TVs $999 and up, while in a similar move, Circuit City is offering no interest for 36 months on all TVs $999 and higher.

And Wal-Mart has joined the fray.

The discount retailer is cutting prices on “thousands” of items by 10 to 30 percent this week to try to get shoppers to load up on their Super Bowl goodies in its stores.

It is selling a Vizio 32-inch LCD TV for $597; an RCA or Polaroid 32-inch LCD TV/DVD combo for $683; six rolls of Viva paper towels for $4.86; and a 5-pound bag of Tyson frozen chicken wings for $8.88.

Wal-Mart is calling it their own “economic stimulus plan” for shoppers.

With U.S. consumer confidence falling in January and data released on Tuesday pointing to a worsening housing slump, shoppers should expect to see many more stimulus plans this year as retailers try to win sales from cash-strapped Americans.  

(Photo: Reuters)