‘It’s Going to Be a Good Christmas’ : Specter of Stock Market Crash Doesn’t Frighten Shoppers
The possibility of an economic downturn in the wake of the Oct. 19 stock market crash seemed far from the minds of shoppers interviewed at San Diego County shopping malls Friday, a day retailers commonly regard as the first in the Christmas shopping season.
In fact, several mall managers said they expect a particularly strong Christmas season this year, noting that 1987 sales have shown a strong increase over 1986, even since Black Monday.
“All the mall managers I’m in touch with were concerned about the stock crash,” said Mark Ashton, general manager of University Towne Centre. “But there has been no observed negative impact on sales, whatsoever.”
Most shoppers interviewed said that predictions of economic “doom and gloom” in 1988 have had little effect on them or their Christmas spending plans.
“It’s going to be a good Christmas,” said John D’Angelo, a shopper at UTC Friday. “My work is still good, so I’m not affected by the external conditions.”
Several shoppers, including Jan Pradels of San Diego, struck a more conservative note. Shopping at UTC Friday with her husband and son, Pradels said her family will be “much more careful about how we spend money. . . . There won’t be as much crazy spending on things that may only last a couple of weeks.”
Bill Plank, an early-morning shopper at Grossmont Center in La Mesa, expressed little concern about economic problems in the wake of the Oct. 19 market crash. The Santee resident did note, however, that the family’s credit cards are “maxxed out.”
Plank, his wife, Karen, and their three small children spent Friday in search of clothing and toys. However, Karen, who is expecting the couple’s fourth child, “won’t buy anything that’s not on sale. I’m looking for the best quality (merchandise) that’s on sale.”
Unfortunately, “toys never seem to go on sale, at least not the good ones,” she complained. “I guess (manufacturers) know there’s always a demand.”
Downtown at Horton Plaza, detours forced by road repair crews along Broadway seemed to present more of a barrier for shoppers than concern over the economy.
“October was (the) strongest month in the last four months for us, and November appears to be equally strong,” Horton Plaza General Manager Craig Pettitt said Friday. “Overall, I hear positive things (from retailers) and the larger-ticket customers have no reluctance to spend.”
The threat of an economic downturn in 1988 was more real to some shoppers than to others. The specter of “double-digit inflation” next year worried San Diegan Rich Dow, another UTC shopper, who complained that “for average working stiffs, it’s always tight for Christmas. We’ll spend our dollars on practical things for the kids, like clothes.” But the prevailing attitude Friday among shoppers seemed to be the same as that exhibited by shoppers all year: spending gusto.
After a slow start, shoppers were crowding county malls by noon on the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.
“Like most grandparents, we started buying last Jan. 1,” said Jim Sofianos, a Phoenix-area resident shopping at UTC Friday with wife Jackie. “The economy’s about the same as last year. I can’t see a lot of difference.”
Interviewed at UTC, shopper Ligia Varga said she felt no reluctance to spend money for Christmas gifts. “I haven’t noticed anything get worse in my family’s situation,” she said.
Fashion Valley was “really busy this morning . . . it’s a typical ‘day-after,’ ” said Marilee Bankert, director of marketing for the center. Her mall experienced “strong sales during October and November,” despite the market crash.
“Our business has been good all year,” Ashton of UTC said. “We attribute it to the outstanding growth the San Diego area is experiencing.”
At malls around the county, individual stores are trying to make spending easier for customers. In 1986, “the stores open late at night were the exception, not the rule,” Fashion Valley’s Bankert said. “It’s the reverse this year.”
There are still bargains, however, for shoppers who are willing to wait, according to San Diego resident Carolyn Mills, who shopped at Grossmont Center Friday morning.
Mills said her family will get a chandelier and a luggage set for Christmas, but she knows the presents won’t be under the tree on Christmas morning.
Instead, Mills will “wait until after Christmas, when the real sales begin,” to buy the presents. That strategy is countered by Mills’ 20-year-old daughter, Debbie, who “is willing to pay top dollar for the top name brands,” Mills said. “I try to tell her that she can get twice as much for half the money if she just waits.”
The crash was on the mind of one retiree who was shopping at Grossmont along with a friend who will retire from General Dynamics in January.
That soon-to-retire shopper “is really concerned about the stock market,” the man said, “because before she knew exactly what she had coming (from a retirement fund). Now, she’s really concerned.”
