Malls, stores bustling on Christmas Eve

After-Christmas sales could get a boost this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — Last-minute shoppers — snowed in by last weekend’s East Coast storm or just waiting for the best deals — came out in force the day before Christmas.

Stores are counting on these procrastinators in a season that so far appears to be turning out slightly better than last year’s disaster.

The final word on the holiday season is still uncertain, because the week after Christmas accounts for about 15 percent of sales as gift card-toting shoppers return to the malls.

After-Christmas sales could get a boost because shoppers may be postponing some of their buying until after Christmas because they were dissatisfied with the 50 to 60 percent discounts instead of the 80 to 90 percent off they saw a year ago, according to David Bassuk, managing director in the retail practice of AlixPartners, a global business advisory firm.

A Christmas Eve snowstorm in the nation’s heartland were slowing some shoppers after snarling roads in the mountain states a day earlier. But based on early readings, stores nationally have been packed all week.

Shoppers delayed their buying even more this year than last year. A storm that slammed the Northeast on the critical weekend before Christmas also put more pressure on merchants. Stores are counting they’ll make up for lost sales in the final days before and after Christmas.

The Kohl’s department store in Aurora, Ohio, gradually filled with customers as the sun rose Thursday. Employees stocking shelves and straightening sale signs outnumbered customers sifting through rows of clothes and displays of jewelry.

Carol Ratcliff shook her head as she ran down her list of gifts — sweaters, coats, scarves — in the checkout line. She finally set aside time the night before to figure out her remaining gifts for six people.

“I’m disgusted. I normally am out on Christmas Eve, but every year I say to myself I’ll be all done with my gifts before then,” said the 55-year-old nurse from Auburn, Ohio. “You have to have a plan, and I didn’t come up with my plan until last night.”

Joe Roberts, 59, left a RadioShack at a mall in Madison, Wis., with a huge smile and the PlayStation3 his teenage son insisted on for Christmas.

He said he delayed making the $300 purchase because of economic concerns.