Glendale Galleria holiday panel expects big buys this season

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Santa Claus reacts to an electronic dinosaur, available at the Target store, during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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Sphero’s BB-8, an app-enabled droid from Brookstone, available for around $150, was shown during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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Surrounded by holiday decorations and with Santa Claus looking on, Glendale Galleria marketing manager Christina Riojas talks about the upcoming holiday season during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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A Parrot-brand Bebop drone (retail at $499) was flown for the media during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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An Arlo and Spot the dinosaur plush from the local Disney Store was displayed during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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Brookstone’s assistant manager Luis Cruz shows off an app-operated Parrot-brand Bebop drone ($499 retail) during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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Kyser Center for Economic Research economist Kimberly Ritter-Martinez gave a local holiday retail sales outlook talk during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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A Dr. Who-inspired cookie jar from Box Lunch gift shop was shown during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

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A wide variety of toys, available at the Target store, were displayed during the annual Glendale Galleria Holiday Retail Gift Panel at the mall in Glendale on Tuesday, November 10, 2015. A wide variety of other sample gifts were shown by different mall retailers as well.

(Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

By Arin Mikailian

Nov. 10, 2015 8:07 PM PT

A Star Wars light saber, a Girl Scout cookie-oven and a high-fiving robot shared a table with other toys predicted by Glendale Galleria’s management staff to be the hottest kids’ gifts this holiday season.

An annual holiday retail panel at the mall on Tuesday forecast many highly sought-after gifts and said that retail sales are expected to climb 3.7% from last winter, thanks to a few extra dollars in shoppers pockets.

“We have more people saying they’re going to spend more and fewer people saying they’re going to spend less,” said Kimberly Ritter-Martinez, an economist for the Kyser Center of Economic Research the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

She said Los Angeles County’s unemployment rate has dropped to 6.2%, home values are increasing, and with lower gas prices, people are going to be gift-shopping with bigger budgets.

The average person is expected to shell out $487 on Christmas gifts this year, compared to $458 in 2014 — a 6.3% difference, according to Deloitte’s annual holiday survey.

But that’s not the only spending category that will see an increase. It’s estimated shoppers will spend more on socializing away from home and buying themselves gifts this holiday season, according to the survey.

And while major stores and shopping centers like the Galleria will be opening early on Black Friday and Gray Thursday (Thanksgiving day), Ritter-Martinez said the shopping days “are not quite as important as they used to be.”

“You have a lot of people shopping earlier to stretch their budgets,” she said.

The Deloitte survey shows only 9% of shoppers plan to hit the stores on Black Friday, while 22% will start their holiday bargain hunts earlier than that.

Ritter-Martinez was flanked by Santa Claus and a table lined with an array of what are expected to be the hottest toys.

Among them were the Pie Face game, a board game in which the loser gets a pastry hurled into his or her face and the Meccano Meccanoid, a buildable robot that can interact with people and give high fives.

At one point, a remote-controlled version of BB-8 — a spherical robot based on a character in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” — made an appearance.

On Thanksgiving day, Macy’s, Target and Dick’s Sporting Goods will open at 6 p.m. JCPenney will open at 4 p.m.

Arin Mikailian, arin.mikailian@latimes.com

Twitter: @arinmikailian