Christmas Cheer: Sales Stronger Than Predicted : Retailing: Several chains report increases. Some say business took an upward turn soon after November election.
Defying predictions of gloom, many Orange County merchants appear to have fared well during a holiday season that they hope will ring in a 1993 rebound from recession.
Several chains reported strong sales increases at their stores here and elsewhere. Some merchants said they saw business start to perk up immediately after November’s general election.
“There was more willingness to spend,” said Jim Chick, president of Chick’s Sporting Goods in the San Fernando Valley. “The election made people think psychologically that things will get better, or at least not any worse,” said Chick, whose company has three stores in Orange County.
Most retailers had not expected the season to be so bright. A few months ago, many were anticipating another dreary year of tight inventories and reduced store staffs. The California economy was in the dumps, and employers were laying off workers.
As it turned out, shoppers rushed to the stores in the few days before Christmas and the weekend after, buying so much that some popular items were in short supply and clerks were hard-pressed to cope with long lines at the checkout counters.
Until the final figures are tallied, retailers and mall officials won’t know just how well they did. There are some early indications, though: The number of children lining up to have photos taken with Santa at Laguna Hills Mall ran more than 10% ahead of last year’s pace for the weeks before Christmas.
At South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, General Manager Jim Henwood said that “everything we have is up”--sales of mall gift certificates, number of international shoppers, average distances traveled by shoppers.
“The holiday season in general brought increased business over last year for our retailers,” he said.
Westminster Mall is projecting that its merchants will have rung up 9% more in sales this December compared with last, Marketing Director Kim Kelly said. “I think the fourth quarter certainly made up for the rest of the year.”
Many of those sales were apparently made in a beat-the-clock rush during the final week before Christmas. “The few days before Christmas were incredible,” said Norman Abramson, president of the Clothestime apparel chain based in Anaheim. He said that the scramble was typical of a recession, when shoppers depend on the last paycheck before the holidays to buy a few gifts.
Overall, Abramson said, the 462-store chain will post strong year-to-year holiday gains.
The same last-minute rush swamped sneaker maker Vans Inc. with Yuletide cheer. Chief Financial Officer Winston Hickman said he thinks that smart merchandising--keeping pace with the latest styles--accounted for good sales for the company, which has more than 60 retail stores.
The season, however, was not kind to everyone. Wet Seal, the Irvine-based chain of women’s apparel stores, said its sales were disappointing.
The chain, which operates most of its stores in malls, apparently failed to discount enough merchandise early in the season. As trendy new merchandise arrived, it was buried under older items that had gone unsold, said Alan Weinstein, chief financial officer.
“It seemed like a lot of retailers were running big sales early on,” Weinstein said. “We might have gotten into it a little too late.”
For other merchants, the best may be yet to come. Mike Gibbons, president of the 68-store Krause’s Sofa Factory chain, said that the week after Christmas is usually one of the best of the year for furniture sales. With Christmas behind them, consumers turn their attention from buying personal gifts to purchasing items for their homes.
Indications so far are good.
“We expect this to be a very strong week for us,” Gibbons said. Even though December typically starts off slowly as shoppers buy gifts instead of furniture, the chain, based in Brea, is showing a 10% increase so far this month.
