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Local retailers: Holiday shopping has been steady(Daily News, The (Bowling Green, KY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Dec. 7--The outlook was bleak, but local retail sales have been steady since the holiday shopping season officially began last week. Even though national retail sales tumbled in November due to the slumping economy, several local retailers said their holiday sales have not dramatically dropped from last year. "Sales have been pretty steady," said Bob Irizarry, assistant manager at Target in Bowling Green. "I think people are spending, buying what they want for Christmas." Target's national sales tumbled 10.4 percent from last November, according to reports, but the Bowling Green store was blanketed from that decline -- low gas prices have played a role in the local store's steady sales, Irizarry said. "A lot of it fluctuated with gas prices," he said. "Gas went down, and people came out and bought items." In fact, the local Target store has not been plagued with a lack of holiday traffic, but a lack of merchandise. "I think if we had more products we could have sold more," Irizarry said. "Guests were there, and they were willing to buy. We didn't have everything they wanted." Spencer Gifts in Greenwood Mall has seen a decrease in holiday sales, but profits are not as grim as store officials expected, sales supervisor Jonathon Adams said. "I think that's with everybody," he said. "They're not that bad from last year." Still, the shop -- which specializes in gag gifts and other quirky merchandise -- depends on revenue from holiday sales. "Christmastime is a big time for us," Adams said. "We're more of a joke store where people come to get their fun gifts." Like Target, J.C. Penney's national holiday sales plunged, but the number of shoppers at the Greenwood Mall department store has been comparable to last year. "Our traffic has been pretty even to last year," store manager Russ Dillingham said Both J.C. Penney and Target officials said they do not plan to offer further, major discounts as Christmas draws nearer, and they do not intend to tweak marketing strategies through the rest of the holiday season. But the local Hallmark shop might promote more items as the season dwindles, store manager Barbra Ross said. While Black Friday sales were down from last year, customer traffic has increased over the past week at the Bowling Green Hallmark, and Ross expects sales to climb as Christmas nears. "I think people have shopped early, and hopefully we'll keep riding it," she said. "It seems to be picking up each day. I've been running three (employees) each day and it hasn't been enough." And even though Black Friday sales declined, profits were not as gloomy as expected, Ross said. "We only missed our sales by $1,000," she said. "We were relatively close that day." Since the holiday season began, keeping ornaments on the shelves has been difficult. And Hallmark has sold as many gift cards this year as previous years, Ross said. But gift cards are not flying off the racks at every local store. J.C. Penney gift card sales have dropped from last year -- it seems some consumers are afraid retailers will shut down before they can cash in their gift cards. And even though J.C. Penney is not going to close its doors, consumers' shattered confidence has affected its gift card sales, Dillingham said. "I think there is some perception that they won't be able to use them because of the idea that retailers aren't going to be around," he said. "In consumers' eyes, they kind of put all retailers together; they all get associated with each other." To see more of the Bowling Green Daily News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.bgdailynews.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Daily News, Bowling Green, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |