Gift Fair Draws More than 35,000 Visitors to New York City

The city's largest trade show, the International Gift Fair, kicks off Saturday at the Javits Center on the heels of a government report that showed retail sales grew modestly in July.

More than 2,500 companies have registered to exhibit products at the fair, which is expected to draw 35,000 attendees.

Jennifer Isaacson is a product developer for Twitten, a company that's exhibiting its products -- in this case, hand-knitted mittens from Peru -- for the first time at the fair. Isaacson herself has been coming to the fair since the 1980s. She says the mood was dismal last year, but this year there appears to be more enthusiasm.

"There's new blood that's come into the market, because a lot of businesses unfortunately haven't been able to survive the economic turndown," she said. 

The Commerce Department reported today that retail sales grew 0.4 percent in July compared with June, and that growth was mostly driven by stronger car sales and higher gasoline prices. Sales of clothing fell last month.