Malls Flooded by Tidal Wave of Shoppers

The rain Friday cut into the number of shoppers during the first few hours of business at most San Diego County malls. But by noon, parking lots at Fashion Valley, Mission Valley Center and Seaport Village in San Diego and North County Fair in Escondido were all filled.

Gene Kemp, general manager of Fashion Valley, San Diego County’s busiest mall last year with $251 million in sales, reported its 7,000-space parking lot was “locked tight” with shoppers by noon. Given the 10% surge in Fashion Valley sales over the last three months compared with the same period last year, Kemp said Fashion Valley expects a banner shopping season.

North County Fair, a 180-store, climate-controlled mall in Escondido, was helped by the Friday rainstorm, mall manager Frank Daly said. “In weather like this, people will come here if they have a choice between us and an outdoor mall,” Daly said. “They know we’re under cover.”

Additional Parking

Daly said his mall expected 125,000 shoppers Friday, adding that the day after Thanksgiving is typically one of his two or three highest volume days of the year. To leave as many parking spaces as possible for shoppers, 1,500 of North County Fair’s employees were shuttled in from a nearby high school.

Richard Harchol, manager of Hoffritz for Cutlery specialty store in Mission Valley Center, said Friday’s sales volume at 3:30 p.m. had already equalled his store’s total for the entire day after Thanksgiving last year. Still, Harchol says shopper traffic is never quite as much as the media hype leads him to expect.

“I’m really busy but the next two days will be better,” Harchol said. “People shy away (the day after Thanksgiving) because they think the crowds will be too bad.”

Many San Diego shoppers who braved the crowds and the elements to cash in on “early bird” sales said their pessimism on the economy was causing them to tighten their purse strings this year.

“We’re into quality and not quantity this year,” said Anne Van of Moraga, who was visiting San Diego with her husband, Bruce. “We’re drawing two names from a list of 15 family members” to give gifts to, she said.

‘Just for the Thrill’

Bruce Van said he picked up the habit of going Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving from a friend. “We go just for the thrill of it, kind of like the first day of duck hunting,” he said.

Sherry Engberg, a San Diego schoolteacher, said her Christmas shopping budget will be trimmed somewhat because her family’s “real income is less than it was last year.”

“There’s been a salary increase but it doesn’t match up with expenses. I just looked at a nice cotton sport shirt for my husband that cost $49.95. I was thinking it might be about $30. I’m just casing the joint now and thinking, ‘I’ll make things myself at home.’ ”

“Prices generally are up. The discounts at places like Marshall’s (a clothing store) aren’t that great. They had tremendous bargains before,” Engberg said.

Engberg said she doesn’t usually shop on the day after Thanksgiving but decided to on Friday morning because “it was raining and I knew it wouldn’t be too crowded.”

‘Best to Be Conservative’

Priscilla Risk of San Diego, a shopper at Fashion Valley, said she doesn’t plan to do much shopping this year. “Given the uncertainties in the economy, it’s best to be conservative,” Risk said. “There is little correlation between the economy in general and my shopping budget, but if I had a major purchase to make, I would certainly postpone it.”

Risk always shops the day after Thanksgiving, not so much because of the sales but to mingle with the crowds. “It’s nice to be out among people and see them all around you.”

Also pessimistic was Dick Domingos, a visitor to San Diego from Fresno, who said his shopping this year was “inhibited” by the feeling that the “economy will get worse with the Adminstration we just voted in.”

“The government is spending a tremendous amount of money on defense and not enough on food and housing for the people that need it,” Domingos said.

He said he and his wife have already finished most of their Christmas shopping. “That way, when it’s crunch time, we don’t have to crunch.”

Not all shoppers took the gloomy view of things. Scott Schuetz, a San Diego financial services agent, said he is optimistic about the economy in 1989, judging from the way his sales of mutual funds and insurance policies have increased. Schuetz said he expects the stock market to improve in 1989 and that the benefits will “trickle down” to the rest of the economy.

Pam and Mark Cunningham, a Navy couple visiting San Diego from their base in Adak in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, said the overall economy, which they say is worsening, is not affecting their shopping budget this year.

“When we come off the island, we don’t care about price. We don’t have stores there, “ Pam Cunningham said. “The same boots that were $45 last year may cost $60 now, but we don’t have any choice but to buy them.”