as we hear from nbc's mike taibbi, a lot of financiallystripped americans are buying it. >> reporter: at the times square toys "r" us store, there are rides a brand new ice cream shop and a familiar image and an unfamiliar stop on the calendar. >> for some of you, some of the hottest air you've seen all summer long. >> reporter: in the hottest stretch of summer, june retail sales down half a point from may, christmas in july is back, and bigger and in more ways than ever. you're wearing the hat because you believe in this concept, right? >> mike, i definitely believe in the concept. the stores are jump-starting sales in july because they doubt those sales will be there in december. >> reporter: to push back against the recessionary time, retailers are pulling out all the stops, but there's nothing that says shopping more than the simple idea of christmas. >> ho ho ho ho. >> reporter: that's why santa's on duty, but the swimsuits and sandals are the biggest seller at this target store in buffalo, and why sears and kmart set up christmas lanes at many of their stores and why all the maj

nbc's mike taibbi willingly took on this assignment. >> exterminator. >> reporter: it's another bed bug call for this exterminator, al bernard. this one, a three-bedroom student apartment in manhattan that's been infested for months. he uses steam heat first on anything that's remotely porous, and then a chemical pesticide, aimed at wherever these critters hide out before coming out to feed at night. the students who live here all suffered rashes like these, and saw plenty of evidence before prepping their apartment for the full treatment. this is what it takes, days of work by the three people who live in this apartment, basically washing everything, and bagging it and plastic boxing it, as much work, the tenants told me as if they were moving. some famous stores have had to fumigate too, including this victoria's secret store. >> bill clinton's office at 121st street. >> reporter: dogs can be known to sneak out a single bed bug. to support what's called the federal don't let the bed bugs bite act, now in committee, researchers say bed bug population have increased 500% in recent years

mike taibbi reports. >> reporter: at the toys "r" us scoring there are riding, a brand new ice cream shop. >> for some of you, some of the hottest air you've seen all summer long. >> reporter: in this hot stretch of sum we are june retail sales down half a point from may, christmas in july is back and bigger and if more ways than ever. >> you believe in this concept, right is this. >> i definitely believe in the concept. the stores are jump-starting sales in july because they doubt those sales will be there in december. >> reporter: to push back against the recessionary time, retailers are pulling out all the top stops because there's nothing that says shopping more than the simple idea of christmas. that's why santa's on duty, those swimsuits and sandals are the big sellers at this target store. and why they've set up christmas lanes and pushing extended online sales on websites tilled with holiday imagery. >> it puts christmas on people's mind and think about sears. >> reporter: some stores are serving the bottom line in other ways. walmart is about to start using remotely tracked

we get more now from mike taibbi. >> reporter: exterminator.ee-bedroom student apartment in manhattan that's been infested for months. bernard uses steam heat first on anything remotely porous and then a chemical pesticide aimed at wherever the critters hide before feeding at night. the students all suffered rashes like these. plenty of evidence before prepping their apartment for the full treatment. this is what it takes. days of work by the three people who live in the apartment basically washing everything and bagging it, plastic boxing it. as much work as though they were moving. famous stores had to fumigate including a victoria's secret store. among the recent jobs -- >> bill clinton's office. >> reporter: it's not just heat and chemicals. dogs can sniff out the common bed bug that's uncommonly hard to find and kill. to support what's called the federal "don't let the bed bugs bite act" now in committee, bed bug populations have increased 500% in recent years and that a survey of 700 hotel rooms found one in four infested. the scourge is

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