Shoppers flock to the malls for post-Christmas bargains

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Christmas is over, the family’s leaving soon and now it’s time to relax. Right? Wrong. At least for the throngs of people who headed to LA’s malls today to take advantage of post-Christmas deals. The Beverly Center, Westfield Century City mall and the Third Street Promenade were all packed as shoppers, not yet satiated by pre-holiday sprees,continued to shop.

Todd Neuman, a risk management executive, was buying a few things at the 40% off sale at Restoration Hardware at the Beverly Center. He’s spending this year despite layoffs looming at his company.

‘It’s the spirit of giving,’ he said.

Retailers were trying hard to get others in the spirit of giving to make up for a lackluster holiday season. In the Beverly Center, clothing store Kenneth Cole had window signs advertising 70% off sales, Traffic boasted of 30-60% off sales and shoe store Aldo advertised 70% off. A worker in the Hugo Boss clothing store knelt at the glass window, sticking a red ‘Sale’ banner to the window.

The sales worked their magic on shoppers such as Lily Poncedeleon, who had visited the Beverly Center to return an Apple gift certificate she’d given her son for Christmas. The Apple computer store wasn’t open when she arrived, so she wandered into Macy’s department store, which opened at 6 a.m., and bought some jeans.

‘Things are hard, with food prices going up,’ she said. ‘But I guess I can afford jeans for myself.’

Others, such as Sovad Hammaoui, who was pushing a baby carriage on the Santa Monica Promenade, were not as impressed with the discounts being offered.

‘To be honest,’ she said, ‘there are sales all the time.’

-- Alana Semuels