Day-After Shoppers Keep Sales Strong
After a brief holiday break, exuberant shoppers returned to the malls Sunday, continuing a yearlong spree fueled by a strong economy.
Shoppers found fewer post-Christmas bargains than in past years, in part because holiday sales had been so good. But the lack of discounts didn’t stop consumers armed with gift certificates and Christmas gift money, and ready to turn their attention to items for the biggest New Year’s Eve in a millennium.
“There are markdowns, but the focus of the day really has changed,” said Jeremiah J. Sullivan, who on Feb. 1 takes over as Macy’s West chairman and chief executive. “We’ve all gotten to the point where if we have items that are not selling, we try to clear them before Christmas.”
On Sunday, die-hard shoppers rose early to line up and wait for stores to open, one pair sitting on a mall floor, playing cards. At the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Men’s Sale, crowds of shoppers carried Nordstrom bags reading, “Who says men don’t like to shop?” A young fashion designer prowled through Macy’s flush with Christmas money and another forewent church in favor of the mall. Disappointed teenagers, meanwhile, returned to Old Navy for the items Santa forgot, only to find the items had since sold.
December looks to be better than November’s solid performance, analysts said, and more in line with the rest of 1999’s very strong retail sales.
Michael Niemira, retail analyst with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in New York, estimated retail sales for the last month of the century will rise 5% to 5.5% over last December.
What’s more, Niemira said, because of the gain of gift certificate sales, the climate is looking good through January. Selling after Christmas is likely to benefit from teenagers spending Christmas money and gift certificate recipients beefing up their gift with money of their own.
“In general, I think it was a good season,” said Stephanie Shern, global vice chairwoman of retail and consumer products for consultant Ernst & Young. “Inventories were in line, which is the good news. The bad news is that inventories were so well in line that when it came to the end of the season, some retailers were out of the things people wanted.”
Some shoppers were girding themselves for a new after-holiday headache, following an e-commerce Christmas that spiked up between $6 billion and $12 billion: lining up at the post office to arrange old-fashioned return shipping for their unwanted e-commerce presents.
A few shoppers returned to the Web this weekend; discounts and specials weren’t as numerous in cyberspace as at the mall.
“We’re still doing business, which is still pretty surprising,” said Ken Seiff, chief executive of Internet discount clothes seller Bluefly.com, who said his company sold more on Dec. 13 and 14 than the site sold during all of 1998’s fourth quarter. “But it is nothing like the rush before Christmas.”
Many real-world retailers plan their day-after-Christmas offerings almost as carefully as their holiday selection. The day ranks as one of the busiest of the year.
“It’s one of the biggest days of the year when we sell denim,” said Sullivan of Macy’s. “Kids get money for Christmas and come in and buy themselves bluejeans.”
At the retailer’s South Coast Plaza location, store manager Sue Graham-Sparks said that, despite efforts to improve crowd control, customers pushing strollers and toting shopping bags faced a challenge as they maneuvered through the aisles.
Crowds were especially large Sunday, she said, because most people had to return to work today.
“Last year Christmas was on a Friday, and they had Saturday and Sunday to shop,” she said. She also attributed some of the crush to some people buying for New Year’s Eve and others lured by a home sale that started Sunday.
Much of the store’s millennium merchandise was half off, including Party in a Box kits that sold for $9.99 and included hats, horns, balloons, confetti and a disposable camera. Tuxedos at 30% off were a big draw, as were time capsules for $20 and Year 2000 crystal champagne flutes for $19.99.
Christmas leftovers--Santas, cards and ornaments--at 50% off drew customers to long tables set up in the aisles on the third floor.
Graham-Sparks said the store’s strategy was to keep basic items fully stocked.
One group of South Coast Plaza shoppers makes it an annual custom to shop together for bargains the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they have figured out a way to minimize the parking hassle. They shared their secret as they took a midafternoon break amid their array of department store bags.
“We’ve been doing this for 20 years,” said Gerri Perlbinder of Costa Mesa. The friends take two vehicles to the mall, parking the first in a prime location at 6:30 a.m. Then they pick up the rest of the crowd and begin the bargain hunting.
“When we finish shopping, we have a car waiting for us outside,” Perlbinder explained. They use the vehicle to stash their purchases during the day, then shuttle everybody to cars parked farther away.
Group members Piera and Joe Pickett of Cypress said they spend the night before clipping coupons.
“You can’t beat it,” Piera Pickett said. “You can get 65% off clothes.”
Customers at Armani Exchange were in such a buying frenzy that the store’s staff had to yell over the din to help customers distinguish the exchange line from the checkout line. Employee Ali Khan faced an uphill battle trying to refold sweaters and shirts faster than shoppers could unfold them. But he was philosophical.
“We can’t, like, panic,” he said with a smile.
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Times staff writers Hector Becerra and Ann L. Kim contributed to this report.
