Day-After Crowds at Malls Gladden Retailers’ Season

With visions of post-Christmas bargains dancing in their heads, shoppers packed malls and stores throughout Southern California and the nation Saturday, bringing cheer to merchants who had been less than dazzled by pre-holiday results.

Dozens of customers ignored the cold weather and lined up before 7:30 a.m. outside Bullock’s at South Coast Plaza and the Broadway in Orange. Both stores let the shivering crowds inside well ahead of their planned 8 a.m. openings, and shoppers headed straight for sale merchandise.

By 9 a.m., the Bristol Street off-ramp of the San Diego Freeway heading into South Coast Plaza was congested. “Stores really seem to be packed. No doubt it’s a full house,” said Maura K. Eggan, marketing director at South Coast, the region’s largest mall. Parking in the 37,804-space lots was at a premium throughout the morning.

By 8:05 a.m., five minutes after the Westside Pavilion opened in Westwood, choice spots in the uncovered lot behind the Nordstrom store were gone, and drivers were jockeying for places in the covered structure by May Co. The biggest action was in Nordstrom’s men’s department, where a sale was under way. Scores of husbands rummaged through a table of sale-priced Bally loafers as their wives scooped up armloads of cashmere sweaters.

By noon, major streets leading to the Glendale Galleria were clogged up to three blocks away. Inside, customers were grabbing brightly colored fleece tops and pants off the lower shelves at Pure Sweat. “It’s a mess; I can’t even think,” said store manager Valerie Santana as she replenished merchandise from her perch on a ladder. Meanwhile, shoppers lined up against one wall waiting for an available cashier.

In general, it appeared that Southern California merchants fared better than their counterparts in other regions this holiday season. Elsewhere throughout the country, shoppers did not seem to spend as freely.

Profit Margins Unclear

Despite Saturday’s hordes, it was too soon to tell whether pre- or post-holiday buying would help retailers improve their profits after a shopping season marked by widespread discounting and sales. Throughout the season, the opinion among retail industry analysts was that early markdowns might have helped boost volume, but at the expense of retailers’ profits.

“After the (Oct. 19) stock market crash, we initially scaled back our plans,” said Jim Brust, assistant managing director in charge of operations at the Carson Pirie Scott flagship store on Chicago’s State Street.

“But business all came this last week, and it turned out to be a pretty good Christmas after all.” Sales were above expectations, he said, and the final tally will be modestly higher than last year’s.

By mid-Saturday, Brust was pleased that his store appeared to be handling only “minimal returns, and a lot of people are buying,” particularly marked-down winter merchandise and Christmas decorations.

At Saks Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, business was brisk in fur coats, cashmere sweaters, ladies’ coats, men’s shirts and Christmas items, store manager Jack DeLargy said. Because the day after Christmas fell on a Saturday for the first time since 1981, “we have a lot of families in shopping” instead of the usual crowd of business people in suits, he said.

Focus on Smaller Items

DeLargy said the store will show a percentage gain over last year “in the high single digits,” but he indicated that the shopping season was disappointing. “(Most people) seemed to focus on smaller items like gloves, mufflers and ladies’ fragrances,” he said. Although the store had a spending surge on Christmas Eve, “the last week was not intense,” he said.

Among Southern California merchants, Bullock’s and Bullocks Wilshire sounded decidedly more upbeat than their counterparts in other parts of the country.

“We were very pleased with the Christmas season,” said Allen I. Questrom, chairman of Bullock’s. “With all the negative comments about the economy (and how) it was going to turn out, I would have to categorize us as very pleasantly surprised.”

Questrom said his 22-store chain will report “very strong double-digit” increases over the 1986 holiday season, with customers lured by expensive, different and “fun” merchandise such as cashmere sweat suits. Unlike many other stores, where markdowns came well before Christmas, Bullock’s waited until Saturday to slash prices.

Few Wanted Refunds

Those customers who brought back gift merchandise generally wanted to exchange it for another size or color rather than get a refund, he noted.

Bullocks Wilshire President Terry Lundgren, who pitched in to operate elevators and wrap merchandise for several hours Saturday, said the seven-store specialty chain is having “the best Christmas in our history,” with percentage gains in the low teens and a 25% increase Saturday compared to the day after Christmas last year.

Throughout the season, the store found that higher-priced women’s apparel sold better than items at the lowest end of the store’s price scale, which proved to be the weakest-selling merchandise.

At the Broadway department stores, lines of customers seeking refunds or credits were “not that bad,” said William D. McDonald Jr., senior vice president of marketing and sales promotion. “We’re heavy with traffic, very busy. People are looking for Christmas bargains first and foremost.”

The Broadway, which had been expecting a mediocre shopping season even before the October market crash, will report gains over last year “nicely into the mid-single-digit range,” McDonald added.

$100 Electric Toothbrushes

At the Broadway store in Newport Center/Fashion Island, sales were running about 20% ahead of last year’s day-after-Christmas levels, said Dan Gillen, general manager. “We started out very, very strong, and it seems to be continuing. And we’re not getting a lot of returns.” Better merchandise--such as suede and leather collections and a $100 electric toothbrush--was selling well, Gillen said.

At Main Place/Santa Ana, Sharon Fritz of Tustin and Julie Borras of Orange said they spent an hour and a half returning a gift to Robinson’s. “They seem to have cut down on the number of salespeople (since before Christmas),” Borras complained. “It was much easier to get (merchandise) out than back in.”

On tony Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Chanel boutique exceeded its projections, which had become more optimistic as the year progressed and were not set back by the uncertainties caused by the stock market crash, said manager Catherine Kiek. Unlike others, the store did not participate in pre-Christmas discounting and, in fact, does not plan a sale until next month. During the Christmas season, one of the hottest sellers was a $1,100 Chanel watch; the store sold at least 75.

Chanel’s experience aside, some shoppers indicated that the economy definitely put a damper on the season.

“People are really worried. They don’t know what to expect,” said Dawn De Lauren, a Laguna Hills shopper who got up early to hunt for bargains at South Coast Plaza. “I was very conservative and wasn’t even tempted to buy (for everyone). I just bought for those closest to me.”

De Lauren said that among her friends, “people aren’t living by plastic anymore, charging (items) that will take two years to pay.” She personally spent only half what she spent last year.

Times staff writers Mary Ann Galante in Orange County and Jesus Sanchez in Glendale contributed to this story.