Out in Force : Brisk Holiday Shopping Eases Fears of Recession

San Diego County merchants reported generally brisk sales Friday, the first day of the Christmas shopping season, and are hopeful about Christmas sales, despite increasing concerns about a nationwide economic downturn.

At area shopping centers, which filled early with shoppers, business was reported to be as steady as or slightly better than last year on the same day, according to many merchants and shoppers, who said sales and good buys were plentiful.

For merchants, the most obvious and encouraging sign of a busy Christmas shopping season was that parking lots around the county were full or nearly full by noon. Electronic traffic counters at North County Fair, a 184-store regional mall in Escondido, indicated there were 7% more cars visiting the mall this year than last.

“The question is: Are shoppers going to spend the same amount of money as they did last year,” said Clyde Ahl, North County Fair’s general manager. “We won’t know that until . . . we sample about 25 merchants for an indicator” of mall sales levels.

Scot Turcotte, manager of the Mission Valley Center in San Diego, said traffic over the coming weekend will provide a better indication of what kind of a shopping season it will be. “Today was a nice day, and shoppers may have found other things to do to enjoy the holiday. The weekend will be a better guide.”

Some malls, such as Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad, which rely on shoppers from nearby military bases, said the movement of troops to the Middle East has caused a drop-off in business.

Plaza Camino Real, a 150-store mall several miles south of the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, said 40% of the stores are offering discounts of 10% and up to military families. The mall’s marketing manager, Gretchen Manoogian, said Friday that the center is also giving away free photos of military dependents with Santa Claus.

Manoogian insists the promotions are not meant to hype business. Rather, they are gestures aimed at demonstrating support for military families, she said.

There was little evidence at most malls of a looming recession.

“We’ve been very busy. It’s much better than last year,” said Carol Ball, a fragrance counter manager at Robinson’s department store in the Fashion Valley shopping center in San Diego. “Business has been down slightly (during the past several months), but we’ve been doing very well today.”

Shoppers generally seemed unconcerned and unaffected by growing signs that the national economy has entered a recession. Dane Lowe, a shopper from Poway interviewed at Horton Plaza in downtown San Diego, said she did not view the economy as “a real big problem.”

“If everyone buys into it being bad, then it will go down the tubes. It’s a state of mind. If you want it to be bad, it will be,” Lowe said.

Bob Vandenberg, another Horton Plaza shopper, said that, when it comes to Christmas shopping, he and his wife, Jeanine, “know what we want and we get it,” regardless of how the economy may be at a given point.

“My individual position is I still have a job,” said Don Oliver, a Santee shopper at Horton Plaza in San Diego, who said his shopping budget is unchanged from a year ago. “So we’ll do the same things we’ve always done.”

Gary Roach, shopping with his wife, Sherry, at Fashion Valley, said their financial situation was about the same as last year, and they plan to do about as much shopping as in previous years. “We keep reading about a recession or a coming recession, but we just haven’t felt it yet,” Roach said.

Other shoppers, including E’Louise Ondash, a newspaper reporter from Escondido who shopped Friday at Horton Plaza, said reports of a looming recession have already made her “nervous about the future” and will indeed affect her Christmas shopping.

“I’ll probably buy prudent things, look out for the sales and maybe buy a little less this year, “ Ondash said.

Some stores reported good but unspectacular sales for the day after Thanksgiving.

“It’s been busy, but not the mad rush like in previous years. People seem to be looking more. They’re more sensitive to prices,” said Michele Ybarra, manager of J.C. Penney’s junior department.

“Today has been pretty good, steady, with a good number of people in the store, but we can’t say how many are actually buying and what (total sales) will be until tomorrow,” Ybarra added. “It’s hard to tell at this point if they are spending the same amount as last year on the day after Thanksgiving.”

Most of the stores contacted, however, reported shopper traffic to be about the same as last year, if not up slightly, echoing several shoppers’ comments that reports of a recession may be overblown.

Still, a few mall managers admitted to being apprehensive about the worsening economic climate and the effect it may have on the Christmas shopping season, the most important time of the year for most retailers.

North County Fair’s Ahl acknowledges having been nervous about how many shoppers would show up Friday.

“Our store managers are pleasantly surprised by amount of traffic we are receiving here . . . (given) the mood of the economy at this particular point in time,” Ahl said. “There were questions about not knowing what to anticipate, which gave (merchants) problems with staffing and extended hours.”

“We’re all watching the economic situation very closely, said Mission Valley Center’s Turcotte.

“Business has been great today for us,” said Martin Harmon, manager of Ben Bridge jewelers in Fashion Valley. “We’ve haven’t seen any impact of the national economic downturn here.” Business on Friday was better than the same day last year, he said.

“Business has been good,” said Saltana Sultana, a clerk at Buffums’ womens clothing department. “As good as expected. Much busier than last year for the day after Thanksgiving. We’ve seen a general slowdown (through the year) but not today.”

“It’s been very good from the start of the day,” said Greg Rivera, a clerk in the young men’s department at The Broadway. “Last year, people started shopping later (in the Christmas shopping season), but this year they’re taking advantage of sales earlier.”

Times staff writer Chris Kraul contributed to this story.