Across the country, holiday spending has been down this year, as recession-conscious consumers pared down Christmas gift lists.

The Commerce Department reported retail sales were down by nearly 2 percent last month, but some high-end clothing and electronics retailers saw their sales drop by double digits.

This year, in response to a drop in sales, many retailers heavily discounted a broader range of merchandise before Christmas, and in Laurel, in many cases, the strategy worked.

According to Doug Stuck, manager of Best Buy on Route 1, his store offered more discounts on accessory items that go with products such as iPods and laptop computers, both of which were, and are still, in high demand.

"We're ad-based and when people see our ads, they usually come in early and line up for the sale items," he said. "I'm feeling good about the holiday season because our demand has been high and people are in higher spirits than I thought they'd be during this recession."

At Target on Route 198, Amanda Rowe, an executive team leader, attributed increased discounts for their holiday sales not dropping but being the same as last year.

"Our headquarters has taken the economy into account and we're offering a larger volume of discounted items," Rowe said. "Flat screen TVs are still selling well and we've put more styles of them than normal on sale."

The store also discounted more clothing items than in past years and products store-wide were marked down much earlier

"We began doing clearance merchandise this week, which is one week earlier than last year, as a way to drive sales," Rowe said.

According to industry surveys, many consumers shied away from upscale stores in favor of discount retailers that offer many of the same items sold at department stores, but at reduced prices.

At Macy's, one of Laurel's more high-end stores, brisk traffic of a few years back was not evident on several visits to the Laurel Mall store. Last week, discount signs offering merchandise at 50 percent off were visible throughout the store, but few shoppers were seen.

Macy's officials were not available for comment, but Calista Black, Laurel Mall's marketing manager said, "Macy's has had good traffic when they ran ads and had their Friends and Family Sale, which drives people to stores. Sales are down across the country, but some of our stores have done very well."

On Route 198, Tuesday Morning, which offers upscale merchandise and other department-store products at discount prices, has seen a steady stream of local shoppers with many being first-timers.

"A lot of people didn't know about us," said Lori Yates, the chain's regional manager. "More realized this year who we are and that we have quality, name-brand merchandise, but not at full price, which is more important than ever in this recession."

Yates said Tuesday Morning's sales in Laurel are the same as last year's and even increased on Black Friday, when prices are dropped by retailers nationwide the day after Thanksgiving. The store's hours were extended a week before Thanksgiving -- earlier than usual -- to help sales. But Yates said they did not do any deep discounting.

"Our normal prices are already slashed up to 80 percent, so we didn't do discounts," she said.

And even though many retailers offered extra discounts, prices on hot sellers like Wii products did not go down.

"Wii Fit is huge and all ages bought it and other Wiis. (As) our hottest items, we don't discount them. Whenever we have them, they sell out that day," Stuck said.

At Target, Rowe said they also did not cut the prices on Wiis and other hot-ticket items.

"We won't discount them (Wiis) or the Nintendo DS Lite because they move so quickly," Rowe said.

But discount or not, some merchants selling their wares in kiosks at Laurel Mall are being hit hard this Christmas season, as traffic there continues to dwindle as more stores close and renovation plans for the mall are stalled.

Adil Baisalbayev operates the Special Ornaments kiosk at the mall for a friend. He said his sales have been dismal, even with a 50 percent discount on all products.

Baisalbayev said, "I get paid hourly, but my friend is going to be hurt bad by the slow sales."

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user comments (1)

user felipe says...

This is not impossible, as the economy fell very big possibilities of bankruptcy to many companies. The holiday season’s retail sales’ extra cash went to Amazon.com, the online retail giant, but overall retail sales went downhill. Mainstays such as consumer electronics and jewelry fell by 20% compared to last year’s figures. The value of convenience appears to have not diminished, as Amazon allows shoppers to be able to purchase gifts for virtually anyone, and the diversity of products outpaces any pusillanimous offerings by your local shopping mall. All can be done from the home, and you can even get next day shipping if you feel like paying extra. Amazon was one of the lucky few retailers not to see a loss this year, even though internet sales were down 1%. However, that paltry 1% is a blessing in comparison to the losses of other retail sections – luxury items such as jewelry took a hiding over the holidays, as the sales for jewelry fell 35%. Jewelry and electronics are typically mainstays of holiday shopping, and both suffered significant losses this year, even with new generation Blackberry, iPhones, and a multitude of platform games being put out and priced competitively for the holidays. Read this article to learn more about how retailers fared this holiday season and to check out your options if you’re in need of extra cash.

Posted 12:45 AM, 01.06.09

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