Southland Malls See Brisk Traffic : Retailing: Shoppers surpass last year’s post-Thanksgiving turnout but lag behind national pace, which grew 3% to 4%. Increase is a sign of stronger holiday buying.

Enticed by deep discounts, prizes and other promotions, consumers flocked to Southern California shopping centers in greater numbers than expected Friday, a hopeful sign that the holiday shopping season could give an added boost to the recovering Southland economy.

Turnout at Southland malls on what is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year exceeded last year’s hefty totals by 2% to 3%, said John Konarski, vice president of the International Council of Shopping Centers, which surveys most major malls nationwide.

Nationally, turnout rose by 3% to 4% over last year. But consumers in much of the nation appeared to be spending less than expected, analysts said.

On the other hand, Southland consumers were not as tightfisted as many had feared.

“It was a very solid turnout” in Southern California, said Richard Giss, a Los Angeles-based partner at the accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche. Despite concerns that the region’s increasingly debt-laden consumers might pare their holiday spending and impede the area’s recovery, “there was more buying than expected,” he said.

Most early-bird shoppers flew past regularly priced items in favor of merchandise markdowns that will cut into retailers’ profit margins.

“I’m trying not to get so much of the cutesy-poo things,” said Carol Hunt, pointing to a kitchen appliance in her red cart that she considered useful. Hunt passed up her local mall in search of bigger discounts at Target in Torrance.

Retailers are betting on the Christmas sales to help turn around what has been a dismal year. But the widespread and heavy discounting means that while holiday sales are expected to rise a modest 3% to 5%, less than last year’s disappointing 5.2%, fourth-quarter earnings will be harmed because of markdowns. That’s bad news for retailers, which generate about 25% of their annual sales and 40% of their profits during the holidays.

And many consumers continue to show caution about spending due to economic uncertainties. Stretched budgets and heavy debts could make many shoppers buy more frugally.

In Chicago, Marshall Field’s President Dan Skoda said the department store’s 2 million square feet were packed, but many people were shopping with their eyes.

That was true for shopper Sharon Sky in Denver, who said that she was cutting back compared to previous years because “it’s just tougher times. It seems as if my dollar doesn’t go as far.”

In Seattle, where Boeing Co. is a major source of economic vitality, the aerospace giant’s 23,000 striking employees are expected to cut back on their purchases this year, hurting retail sales in that area.

Likewise in Southern California, analysts say the fly in retailers’ Christmas pudding this year is the uncertainty in the job market because of bank mergers and other pending developments.

Giss expects overall retail sales to increase 3% to 4% in the Los Angeles region this holiday season--roughly in line with projections for nationwide sales.

But he warned: “If anything, we may be a little behind that.” A possible merger involving First Interstate Bancorp has “rekindled a whole set of employment fears among Southern Californians.”

Moreover, some shoppers complained that even with retailers’ discounts, prices were still too high. Eileen Solomon of Northridge was shopping Friday for a present for a friend in the local Victoria’s Secret, but said she buys most of her other gifts at swap meets or discount stores. She was particularly pleased with $10 men’s wallets she found at T.J. Maxx.

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“I look for name brands, but I’m not going to spend the money they want,” she said of the major department stores. “I already blew my budget, but at least I got good deals.”

Credit-card debt may also turn some shoppers away this year. Many are looking twice before buying with plastic because they’re already behind in their payments. The government reported last month that banks are seeing more consumer delinquencies in credit card and other installment loans.

“A couple years ago I charged all the Christmas presents, thinking that would make it easier,” said Felicia Bumgarner, who was shopping at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo. “Man, you’re paying Christmas off till June with the high interest rates.”

Despite high levels of credit-card debt, consumers are still expected to charge more than $120 billion between now and Christmas, says RAM Research, a firm that tracks credit-card use.

After months of depressed sales, the nation’s retailers launched major promotions this holiday season, trying to spark some buying interest in wary consumers. Prices were slashed on everything from clothes to computers to sporting goods by as much as 50% off the retail price.

Some of the biggest discounts locally could be found at the Broadway and Bullock’s, whose names will be disappearing from the Southern California retail scene after this holiday season.

Broadway was acquired earlier this year by Federated Department Stores--operator of the Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Bullock’s chains. Some Broadway stores will be closed, and the rest will be converted to Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s next year; Bullock’s stores will be converted to Macy’s.

At the Northridge Fashion Center, which reopened in August after extensive earthquake repairs, retailers anxiously awaited indications that this holiday season was getting off to a good start.

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By midmorning, the main mall corridors were packed. Many shoppers at the mall said they were at last feeling as if their lives were returning to normal after nearly two years of coping with the aftermath of the January, 1994, earthquake.

Yet, in another telling sign for retailers, most customers also said they’re playing it safe this year. Many plan to spend cautiously on Christmas goods, largely because they still feel uncertain about the economy.

And nearly every shopper at the center said they were looking for deals.

“That’s why we’re here--to get the good prices,” said Tony Pinkowski of Northridge, who visited the mall with his wife, Linda, and their 3-year-old daughter, Natalie. It was the family’s first trip to the center since it reopened.

“I’m a K mart shopper,” Linda Pinkowski said. But on Friday, the Pinkowskis said they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy clothes and shoes on sale at Bullock’s.

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Marjorie Binns of Simi Valley, who was shopping at the Northridge Fashion Center with her teen-age daughter, said that last Christmas was tight for her family because they had $50,000 worth of quake damage and no insurance. She’s planning to spend more on Christmas gifts this year, but she’s “still being careful” because her husband was laid off earlier this year and had to take a cut in pay at his new job.

Others said they felt they had finally gotten past the hump of the recession and were now comfortable to splurge for Christmas. Tom Dirickson, 48, a supervisor at a computer print shop in Irvine, said he was recently promoted. His wife, Sandi, said she had even more to spend this Christmas because, for the first time, she had saved throughout the year for this occasion.

“I feel better,” Dirickson said about his job and the economy, as he and his wife emerged from the K mart store in Anaheim, their cart overflowing with toys, towels, clothes and Christmas accessories.

Retailers won’t have actual sales totals for Friday until Sunday. While the Friday following Thanksgiving is still an important sales day, it is no longer a harbinger of overall holiday sales because consumers have been shopping later in the season in recent years. Many retailers tried to counter that trend by offering price-cutting promotions weeks before Thanksgiving.

Indeed, Deloitte & Touche’s recent survey showed that nationwide, 19% of retailers were planning to have huge markdowns before Dec. 1, compared with 9% in 1994.

Retailers are trying to avoid the earnings-busting scenario of a year ago. Although retail sales in the region rose 8% last holiday season--a surprising surge after several recession years--much of those sales were generated after Dec. 25, when retailers reduced their profits by slashing prices during clearance sales.

Times staff writers Emi Endo in Los Angeles and Greg Miller, Karen D’Souza, Anna Cekola and community correspondent Dan Margolis in Orange County contributed to this story.