Shoppers--Not Buyers--Flood Stores, Malls

There was something noticeably absent from the arms of many shoppers patronizing The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks on Friday.

Few people in the mall’s crowded promenade were carrying more than two bags.

And more often than not, shoppers were empty-handed. Lines at the Orange Julius and other fast-food stands far outdistanced those at store cash registers.

“People are shopping, but they’re not necessarily purchasing,” said Wendy Levin, area manager for Lanz, a women’s clothing store.

Throughout Ventura County, people’s gift-giving generosity this year is being closely scrutinized as a measure of the local economy’s strength. Thanksgiving Day newspapers were fat with circulars from stores trying to persuade consumers to part with savings and tap credit cards in uncertain economic times.

“We’ve been in past years in a pocket of relative prosperity in this county,” said Bob Seitz, executive vice president of the Oxnard Chamber of Commerce. “This shopping season will give us a strong indication of whether the downturn in the national economy has reached Ventura County.”

While managers of several large department stores in the county said sales through midday were running close to last year’s levels, dozens of shoppers said they were paring their Christmas gift budget as much as 50% this year because of misgivings about the economy.

“There’s an imminent possibility of my husband being laid off, so we’re going to be careful for the next six months to be sure he has a job,” said Joanne Buhek, 50, of Thousand Oaks, an administrative assistant at Cal Lutheran University whose husband is a quality assurance manager at Northrop’s Newbury Park plant.

“You have to take care of the necessities of life first, and with gas going up so much, that doesn’t leave a lot of money for other things,” said Pedro Alejandro, a 49-year-old social worker from Oxnard who was buying two $10 framed prints and a pair of pajamas for his two sons at a Ventura K mart. “Many people will just get a card instead of a gift this year.”

Even people who said they plan to spend more on gifts this year than last were frugal with their purchases Friday.

John Phillips, 44, of Camarillo bought his grandsons two Nintendo entertainment centers for $89 with a special JC Penney coupon. Phillips owns a high-tech hand tool manufacturing company that he said fared well over the last year.

Every gift that Jackie Colleran bought at The Oaks was not only on sale, but marked down additionally from its sale price.

“I’m trying to stay within a budget,” said Colleran, 50, a health clerk in the Conejo Valley Unified School District. She said she expects to spend $1,000 this year on presents.

Nearly 200 people were lined up at 7 a.m. when the Ventura K mart on Victoria Avenue opened for a four-hour special sale, store Manager Jay Jones said. The incentive included such early-bird specials as a $169 videocassette recorder, artificial Christmas trees for $34.98 and $3.47 Ninja Turtle action figures normally selling for $4.97.

“Sales of Ninja Turtles continue to be absolutely awesome,” said Jones, noting that Bart Simpson items have fallen out of fashion. “He seems to have run his course.”

Keith Arimura, manager of Dexter’s Camera in Ventura, said that foot traffic was fairly brisk at his East Main Street shop, but that the sales outlook for the next month is less promising.

“Things will probably be slower, because we are basically a big toy store for adults,” Arimura said. “When there’s an impending recession, people spend less on these type of things.”

At the entrance to the JC Penney store, Melanie Bonvicino managed to sign up only 10 credit card applicants over six hours. She said that suggested that not many people want to be saddled with additional consumer debt after the holidays.

That is exactly what Nancy Barron, a resource specialist at Santa Paula High School, said she intends to avoid. “It’s usually my buffer but it’s not going to be this year,” she said of credit cards.

Merchants concerned about how much disposable income they can attract from consumers at least have time on their side this year. With Thanksgiving falling on its earliest possible date, the traditional shopping season includes nine days in November.

The manager of an Oxnard department store said the extended shopping season may have contributed Friday to the preponderance of window-shoppers who were using their time to comparison shop.

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