HOLIDAYS Retailers have hope for late shoppers

Weekend snowstorms put a damper on early holiday sales totals.
THE RECORD (BERGEN COUNTY, N.J.)
HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Heading into the crucial final shopping weekend of the holiday season, retailers are hoping there are a lot of shoppers out there like Terry Russinko.
Russinko, of East Rutherford, was pushing a cart loaded with toys, bed comforters, and other gifts through the Wal-Mart in Saddle Brook this week and said her holiday shopping was far from done.
"Actually, I just started," she said. She said she still needed to make at least one mall shopping trip, as well as stops at a few other stores, before she could check everyone off her gift lists.
Two weekend snowstorms in the Northeast have been blamed for less-than-stellar retail sales figures, but optimistic retail analysts are counting on the American tradition of a last-minute rush to boost the final figures.
Last year, 41 percent of all holiday sales occurred during the last weekend before Christmas, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. This year, because of the snowstorms and the growing tendency of time-crunched Americans to procrastinate, the council is expecting 50 percent of all sales to be rung up this weekend.
Lowered predictions
Several retail watchers have scaled back their predictions for this year's holiday in light of the early December figures. Expectations for the holiday season range from a 3 percent increase over last year to the 5.7 percent increase predicted by the National Retail Federation (NRF).
The NRF is sticking with that figure, and pointing to a survey of shoppers that showed only 10 percent of Americans had finished their shopping by mid-December, and that the average consumer still has to buy gifts for at least half the people on his or her shopping list.
"We are a nation of procrastinators," said NRF President Tracy Mullin, forecasting packed parking lots and long cash register lines this weekend.
The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) also is predicting an 11th-hour surge of shoppers. Its survey of shoppers found that as of Dec. 14, nearly one-quarter hadn't even begun to shop for Christmas.
"I think some people also believe that if they wait it out, they'll see better deals closer to Christmas," said Patrice Duker, a spokeswoman for the ICSC. "I'm not sure that's going to be true this year."
Early predictions
Before the holiday shopping season, some were hopeful this would be the year in which customers again shop with abandon. The jury is still out on whether or not that will happen.
Still, most analysts expect it to be the best retail season since 1999.
Upscale retailers have been pleasantly surprised with their results since the Thanksgiving weekend. Target and Gap also reported strong increases.
Wal-Mart, the country's largest retailer, dampened Wall Street's enthusiasm saying its holiday results will hit the low end of its predicted increase in same-store sales. However, that would still mean sales are up 3 percent over the last holiday season.
Carol Coger, an owner of the Coger's Thyme at Home gift shop in Wood Ridge, N.J., said the week before Christmas is her busiest -- and most profitable -- week of the year and she expects this year to be no different.
Her sales are up significantly -- more than 20 percent -- over last year, and her customers are spending more, she said. "People are happy about Christmas this year," she said. "That's what we're sensing. People, I think, are back to their old buying habits."
"We're very confident about this year," she said. "We were shaky last year, but this year is good." She's so confident, that she's not even worrying about a snowfall. "I figure this weekend people are down to the wire. It's going to have to take a national disaster or state of emergency to keep them off the road," she said.