Hardy Bargain-Hunters Flood Southland Malls : Spending: Gridlock at after-Christmas sales tests shoppers’ patience but gives retailers a lift.

Displaying the kind of holiday-season stamina that might bring a wink of admiration from St. Nick, millions of hardy--perhaps foolhardy--Southern California shoppers decided Saturday was no time for a breather as recession-weary merchants offered some of the best prices and sales gimmicks in years.

Lauren Tom, for one, took the bait at the Beverly Center on the Westside.

By 10 a.m., she already had bought herself a pair of sweat pants at the Broadway--with an hour to spare. Discount coupon in hand, she had qualified for the store’s early bird sale by making her purchase before 11 a.m.

“If you want to beat the crowds the day after Christmas,” she said, “you have to get started in the morning.”

At the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, John Alvarez’s first purchase was a strategic one--tennis shoes.

“I’m putting the shoes on right now,” he said, “because I’m going to shop some more and the shoes will give me the traction I need to get around all these other shoppers.”

In what has already been a season of holiday sales, the lure of even bigger savings brought consumers flooding into retail centers throughout the Southland and much of the nation.

The siege of shoppers on the day after Christmas--traditionally the second-busiest shopping day of the year--produced heavy traffic on the freeways and gridlock at the entrances of several malls, including South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, where motorists slowly circled the huge parking lot looking for someplace--anyplace--to park.

At noon Saturday at the Glendale Galleria, motorists had to wait in line or circle the roof of the multilevel parking structure near Nordstrom for 10 minutes because it was entirely filled. Inside, it was even worse. At Nordstrom, where price-slashing was in full swing, shoppers were shoulder to shoulder. There was even a line for the women’s restroom.

In the men’s clothing section, discounted shirts were strewn on the floor next to a table where shoppers had pawed through them. One astonished salesman said: “We haven’t seen a day like this in two years.”

Not everyone was bargain-hunting. Many braved the crowds to return gifts.

Elisa Arellano said she arrived early at Target in Santa Ana because she did not want to be stuck for hours in the return line.

“I hate to be kept waiting,” said Arellano, who was returning a dartboard that a friend had bought for her 2-year-old grandson. “Can you imagine? A dartboard for a baby?” she said, shaking her head.

The only reported mishap for shoppers occurred at the Broadway store in Anaheim Plaza when an escalator “suddenly reversed directions for unknown reasons,” authorities said. Nine people suffered minor injuries, according to the Anaheim Fire Department.

For those who love malls, the fact that the traditionally heavy shopping day fell on a Saturday was sort of a present in itself. But for those who would rather find coal in their stocking than spend a day at the mall, well, it wasn’t pretty.

“I’m here under duress,” said Christopher Evans, 18, of Costa Mesa, who drove his mother to the Sears store at South Coast Plaza. “I don’t know why anybody would be here unless they had to. No sale is worth this.”

The sound of all that money changing hands was sweet music to retailers, who had worried that the flagging economy would keep people away from the malls during the holiday shopping season that began around Thanksgiving.

Although final tallies have not been made, retailers nationwide are expected to have bettered their pre-Christmas sales of last year, with analysts predicting an increase of 3% to 9% over last year.

And, while the pre-Christmas sales in Southern California are expected to be more modest, local retailers appear to have good reason to hope that the post-Christmas season will improve their bottom line.

Despite the weak California economy, there were many shoppers who were not afraid to part with their money.

For example, at San Diego’s packed Horton Plaza mall, Roger Droessler said he spent more time and money shopping this year than last, enticed by sales and encouraged by a job promotion. But, he said, “I still did 90% of my shopping at Price Club.”

Still, there were others such as Connie Stavropoulos, who was also shopping in Horton Plaza. She said she spent less, despite the plethora of sales, “because things are bad. People are fearful about losing their jobs, their health insurance. It’s hard to spend money when you’re afraid. I just don’t buy as much any more.”

The post-Christmas sales this year have become particularly important to California retailers. Many economists and retail industry analysts have been predicting that there will be no significant increase in holiday season spending in the state compared to a year ago, and some observers say sales in the Southland will be flat or will drop slightly.

Although Southern California sales are expected to be lower than the national average, some retailers are doing surprisingly well. Sears’ Southland sales increase has outpaced the company’s national average, said Matt Howard, the company’s senior vice president for marketing. Sears had projected an overall holiday season sales increase in the low-to-middle single digits nationwide, but Howard said nationwide sales have exceeded those expectations.

“We’re very pleased with the entire season,” Howard said. “We started out well at Thanksgiving and business was better than expected though Christmas--with a good balance of sales throughout the country.”

Howard said men’s and women’s apparel was the big seller at Sears. Some big-ticket items--such as appliances, big-screen televisions and videocassette recorders--also generated strong consumer interest, he said.

Sears executives expect the company to continue to perform well because the retail firm has sales promotions scheduled until Jan. 15, Howard said.

Carter Hawley Hale, the Los Angeles-based parent of the Broadway stores, also surpassed its sales expectations, said William Dombrowski, a company spokesman. Although the company does not have a final tally, Carter Hawley is expected to have a national sales increase in the single digits, Dombrowski said.

Minneapolis-based Dayton Hudson Corp.--the largest retailer in California with 113 Target stores and 118 Mervyn’s stores--met its national expectations, said Ann Barkelew, a company spokeswoman. Its stores did not fare as well in Southern California as in other parts of the nation.

Overall, Dayton Hudson estimates that its nationwide holiday season sales rose about 5% from a year ago, Barkelew said.

“Sales in early December were soft,” Barkelew said. “However, we had very strong sales the week of Christmas.”

Although retailers are happy to see shoppers who buy holiday season gifts late, they would also like more consumers like Susan Peterson. For this resident of Orange, Saturday was the first of only 363 shopping days left before Christmas--and she wasn’t wasting any time.

As Peterson left the Target store on 17th Street in Santa Ana, she had just enough room in her bright orange cart for her 2-year-old son, Derek, who was surrounded by brown paper bags filled with holiday wrapping paper, ornaments, figurines and a few stocking stuffers for Christmas 1993.

“I’m one of those people who like to get their shopping done early. Especially when you can take advantage of sales,” Peterson said. “All the Christmas stuff is 70% off--you can’t beat it.”

Times staff writers Chris Kraul in San Diego, Rene Lynch in Orange County and Melissa Payton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.