Though the market seems saturated with patriotic merchandise, consumers are still shopping for flags, clothes and decorations. According to the findings of a new National Retail Federation (NRF) survey, consumers own more flags (67.9% vs. 63.1%) and more patriotic apparel (53.1% vs. 49.5%) than they did a year ago...and they're still spending.

The NRF 2004 July 4th Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch for NRF, found that 24.5 million Americans plan to purchase additional patriotic merchandise this month.

Retailers offering special sales over the July 4th weekend will not be disappointed, as more than one-fourth of consumers (26.6%) plan to go shopping, according to the survey. Last year, 24.2% of consumers went shopping over the July 4th weekend.