Buying Into the Season : Holiday Shoppers Crowd Stores Across the County

It was open season on shopping malls throughout Ventura County on Friday as thousands of bargain-hungry shopaholics and Christmas-list early birds took to the streets in vigorous fashion--returning home with weary legs and considerably lighter wallets.

“I was at The Oaks mall at 7:30 this morning,” said Anke Bode of Camarillo, combing the racks at Off Fifth, the new Saks Fifth Avenue outlet at the Camarillo Factory Stores. “I had to go home for more money.”

The Camarillo outlet mall was bustling Friday afternoon as shoppers from as far away as San Francisco scoured stores for deals at Barney’s New York, Mikasa, Ann Taylor Country and other stores, like Forty-Niners looking for the mother lode.

“We’re shopaholics,” said Tammie Coronado of Pleasanton, shopping at the outlet mall with a friend from Studio City. “We’re just looking for an excuse to spend some money, and there’s plenty of good excuses in this place.”

Yvonne Golliher, manager of the Saks outlet, said business was better than she expected. The store debuted at the shopping center only a week earlier.

“It’s been a great, great response,” she said. “I hope it stays this way for a while.”

At The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks, hundreds of shoppers frantically hustled from one floor to the next, comparing prices and going through lengthy Christmas lists.

But far removed from the pack were Valerie and John Stilo of Agoura Hills, as they calmly awaited the afternoon appearance of Tweety Pie with their 5-year-old son, John Jr., at the mall’s Warner Bros. Studio Store.

The Stilos had reason to relax: Unlike many of their fellow shoppers, they were already nearly done for the holidays .

“This is our last trip,” said John Stilo, somewhat triumphantly. “Thirty presents in one day and we are finished.”

For the Stilos, the mad rush to get the perfect present started in September. The holidays are a time for more important things than shopping, said Valerie Stilo, as she lugged three huge bags of gifts.

“I don’t like to spend the last days of the season shopping,” she said. “I like to enjoy being at home, decorating and baking cookies.”

Although some shoppers said that crowds at The Oaks were not what they had been in years past, several merchants said they were more than pleased with business.

“It looks great,” said Eric Langkush, assistant store manager at J.C. Penney. “We’ve had a soft year, but sales are going much better than anticipated today.”

“Business is booming. We have opened like gangbusters,” agreed Mark Sulett, manager of Brookstone, a popular widget and gadget store. “Our doors opened at 9 a.m. and we were busy immediately.” Business is up about 25% over last year, he said. The most popular purchases at the store include personal care items such as massagers.

At the Bugle Boy outlet in Simi Valley, Terri Gillespie said she was trying to be less extravagant this Christmas, spending less on adults and more on children.

“We don’t exchange gifts with the adults anymore,” said Gillespie of Simi Valley. “It’s only for the kids.”

In Ventura, the aisles at Toys R Us were clogged with parents playing Santa Claus, trying to find the elusive items their children had requested before the toys all vanished from the shelves.

The Sony PlayStation, this year’s trendy high-tech new video game system, was already sold out. Fortunately for Irene and Chris Sandoval of Santa Paula, their 11-year-old son, Chris Jr., just wanted a new football game for Sega Genesis, either John Madden ’96 or NFL Quarterback Club.

But although pleasing their 4-year-old daughter, Vanessa, was usually easier than taking care of Chris Jr., this year it would be more difficult, the Sandovals said.

“My daughter wants one of those big old cars,” Chris Sandoval said. “This can get real expensive real quick.”

Steve and Maria Rush of Palmdale dropped the kids off at their grandmother’s place in Oxnard before hitting the crowded toy Mecca, which was hosting a special early-morning sale that lasted until 11 a.m.

“If we wait, we don’t get what we want, so we came out early,” Maria Rush said. “We’ve been through that two years in a row.”

“People are packed in there like crazy now,” said Steve Rush, emptying some Fisher-Price toys from a loaded cart into his car. “This is just crazy. But you do what you have to do.”

Not all shoppers viewed the holiday mobs as a nightmarish ordeal.

Barbara McDonald of Simi Valley said she and her daughter thought shopping at The Oaks would be a nice way to spend a day together.

They had not planned to seriously shop, but neither could resist the bargains, she said, stocking up on Christmas ornaments at Mrs. Anderson’s Christmas Treasures.

“You just have to go for it,” McDonald said. “You see all of the bargains and the holiday spirit. It is infectious.”

Of course, there were a few shopping Scrooges to be found at The Oaks--husbands loaded down with shopping bags, trailing in tow behind their wives.

“He fought with me about it this morning,” Rose Giroux-Kland, of Oxnard, said of her idea to brave the crowds on Black Friday.

“Guess who lost?” said her husband Ken. “I don’t care to get in with the crowds. The stuff will be here Monday, Tuesday. We’ve got a month, and the sales will get even better.”