Southland Retailers Still Wallowing in Sales Slump : * Economy: Orange County sales were off 3% for first 11 months of 1991. San Diego County saw a 5.5% slide.

As if more were required, additional evidence of the depressed state of retailing in Orange and San Diego counties was made available Monday.

A monthly sampling of Orange County and San Diego retailers by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau revealed drops in retail sales. Orange County retail sales fell 3% and San Diego County sales were off 5.5% for the first 11 months of 1991, compared to the same period in 1990. The decline does not reflect the effect of inflation, which was pegged at between 3% and 4% last year.

Hahn Co.--the San Diego-based operator of 49 regional malls nationwide including the Cerritos Mall, which draws many Orange County residents--said statewide sales at Hahn-operated malls declined by about 3%, whereas sales volume at malls outside the state was up 3% to 4% contrasted with 1990. Robert L. Sorensen, Hahn’s vice president for property management, expects a small increase in statewide mall sales over the first half of 1992, but in part only because 1991 was such a weak year.

Retailers’ problems were also implicit in the drop in retail employment in San Diego County to 193,100 jobs as of December, 1991, off about 2% from the 197,200 retail-related jobs at the end of December, 1990.

“Nineteen ninety-one was a tough year, there is no way around it,” Sorensen said. “In California, it was partly a result of Desert Storm, compounded by the changes pending in the defense industry and the subsequent layoffs that are causing a drop in consumer confidence.”

Statewide, 1991 retail sales were down 1.7% through the end of November, compared with the same 11 months in 1990, according to the Census Bureau sampling, whereas U.S. retail sales were up 0.7%. Neither the state nor U.S. figures are adjusted for inflation.

In Orange County, retail sales were $17.8 billion for the first 11 months of the year, contrasted with $18.4 billion in same period for 1990.

Hahn reported that a late Christmas season shopping surge was not enough to lift its four San Diego County malls out of a sluggish December and said there was a 1% drop in sales for all of 1991 compared with mall sales volume the previous year.

The Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce is projecting a 4.4% decline in retail sales countywide for 1991, a figure that is not adjusted for inflation. A decline in retail sales volume is considered a key economic indicator because it is a measure of both economic robustness and consumer confidence, said Max Schetter, director of the chamber’s economic research department.

“The war had an impact because we had more than 80,000 military personnel out of the county (during part of 1991) and their families who stayed behind were not in a spending mood, nor was much of the rest of San Diego,” Schetter said.

The Christmas shopping season was a disappointing one for most area retailers. “Some of the discount chains did OK, but overall the Christmas shopping season was pretty mediocre,” Schetter said.

Sorensen of the Hahn Co. said Christmas shopping began to surge about Dec. 20, igniting “the most intense four days of shopping we’ve ever seen.” But sales at California malls operated by Hahn were still down 5% from the previous year, he said.

Asked to single out strong performances, Sorensen said the Gap apparel chain “bucked the trend” and rolled up healthy increases. Sales were particularly weak at jewelry and housewares stores, he said.