‘Tis Still the Season, Shops Hope

A light load of returned merchandise and brisk sales on the day after Christmas gave San Diego retailers hope that this season will be a merry one despite economic forecasts of doom and gloom.

Retailers said consumers have not shied from spending, and while most stores reported only a modest increase in sales, they were thankful for it.

“We may have taken markdowns earlier than normal,” said John Van Sickle, manager of the Broadway in Horton Plaza. “Some markdowns that we might normally have held back until after Christmas, we may have taken them down a day or two earlier this year.

“But people have came in to buy, not just return and exchange,” Van Sickle said. “It really changed as of Sunday. You saw a lot of customers who may have been holding back, you saw the purchase of more luxury items just before Christmas, maybe releasing some pent-up buying fever.”

Department stores contacted in the San Diego area said returns of merchandise were down this year, with most customers asking for exchanges instead.

“A lot of people gave money for Christmas and those people come in the day after Christmas to buy things,” said Bob Riesgo, general merchandise manager at JC Penney in Carlsbad.

“Returns have not been as heavy as we thought they would be. I think it was a very conservative Christmas, with people getting what they needed as opposed to luxury items,” said Riesgo, who reported a slight increase in sales over last year.

But even upscale department stores said they were pleasantly surprised this year after reports that consumers would be tightening purse strings.

“I think we may have been anticipating that a little bit, but we haven’t seen that at all,” said Leslie Harris, a representative of Nordstrom stores in San Diego.

“It’s been better than last year, and we’re having great increases in our San Diego stores,” Harris said.