Prime Shopping Season Off to a Strong Start

Responding to discounts, prizes and other promotions, consumers flocked to many shopping centers in Southern California and nationwide Friday, rewarding some retailers with a genuine rush on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season.

Although some malls reported a lighter volume of shoppers, turnout overall was up 5% to 10% nationally and in Southern California, according to estimates from the International Council of Shopping Centers, which surveys malls nationwide.

That prompted industry analysts to stick with predictions of a modest 3% to 5% sales increase over the moderately successful 1996 holiday season. Many analysts expect slightly better results in Southern California, where merchants hope to record their first back-to-back seasonal sales increases this decade after being ravaged by the early 1990s recession.

However, despite the strong turnout in some locations, not everyone was buying heavily. Sales appeared to be up only slightly over last year, and much of the increase was generated by bargain hunters. Stores offering the deepest discounts attracted the biggest throngs.

For example, the post-Thanksgiving sales day normally starts slowly at the Beverly Center in West Los Angeles, but dozens of shoppers lined up at 6 a.m. for the sale at the KayBee toy store, which opened at 7 a.m. The store was sold out of Sing & Snore Ernie--the hot toy of the season--by 8 a.m.

“Our prices are lower this year and shoppers are coming for the bargains,” said store manager Norik Georgian. “I expect to do 40% better today than last year.”

Another mall that traditionally experiences slow post-Thanksgiving mornings--the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza--also was bustling thanks to price-cutting, celebrity appearances and promotional activity, said Valerie Loduem, the mall’s marketing director. Its parking lot was full at about 8 a.m.

“There were long lines when I arrived at 7:40,” said shopper Fran Khrone, a Los Angeles resident who carried two large bags of gifts. “I’m here because there are bargains to be had. Prices were not as low last year. I plan to spend more.”

At the Fry’s Electronics in Fountain Valley, parking was scarce as shoppers sought to take advantage of discounts. Among those shopping was Pardeep Singh, who hurriedly pushed a shopping cart containing an Epson color printer. Singh, a 23-year-old supermarket warehouseman, started his holiday shopping last week, earlier than last year so “I can get it all done in time.”

In contrast, there was plenty of parking and wide open stores Friday morning at the Huntington Beach Mall, which is still haunted by the loss of two of its anchors, the Broadway and JCPenney.

The situation was also spotty in other parts of the nation as stores with the big advertised discounts drew the lion’s share of the crowds.

“The parking lots are jammed and the malls are jammed, but there are very few shopping bags in sight,” said Kurt Barnard, a New Jersey-based retail economist who visited East Coast malls. “This year, we have a very cautious consumer who searches for low prices.”

Although the economy is strong, many consumers are worried about job security in the wake of large layoffs at companies such as Eastman Kodak and Levi Strauss, said Barnard, who predicts a 3.5% sales increase this holiday season. Consumers may also moderate their spending because of high debt burdens from credit cards and other borrowings, although spending nationwide rose at a healthy rate in October, according to figures released Friday.

Holiday season buying is crucial to retailers, because some merchants generate as much as 40% of their annual business during the period. The industry has made a concerted effort to encourage early-bird buying this year in a bid to avoid the profit-shaving late-season clearance sales that have become the hallmark and bane of merchandising.

Thanksgiving week accounts for about 8% of holiday season sales. However, the first shopping day after Thanksgiving rarely ranks as the top sales day of the holiday season. Last year, for example, it ranked fifth, with Dec. 21, the last Saturday before Christmas, the busiest day.

However, the day after Thanksgiving is significant because retailers invest so heavily to promote sales that day, said Michael Steinberg, chairman of Macy’s West, the San Francisco-based division that operates the chain’s Western stores.

“We promote it more and more, and stores in recent years have been opening earlier and earlier,” he said.

Retailers served up some of the biggest “Friday only” incentives to the earliest of early birds. JCPenney offered a 10% discount to those shopping between 7 a.m. and noon. Macy’s offered savings of 10% to 50% to those shopping between 8 a.m. and noon. And there were discounts of up to 50% for those shopping Robinsons-May stores between 7 a.m. and noon.

Consumers responded. In the first hour it was open, the flagship Bloomingdale’s store in Manhattan had rung up 12% more sales than the same time a year ago, said Stephen Spiro, senior vice president and general manager of the store.

At Target stores, there were lines of 600 to 700 people waiting outside in many cities for a 7 a.m. opening, a spokeswoman said.

The Target in Valencia helped lure customers with a promise of a gift bag--filled with discount coupons and small items--for the first 1,000 to pass through its doors. By the look of the line outside the store before opening, it seemed the bags would be gone quickly.

Target employee Steve DiCicco said the store was prepared.

“We’ve got 95 employees working today, compared with about 70 people on regular weekends,” DiCicco said.

The store, which has 24 checkout lines, had opened 12 of them by 7:15 a.m.

Several shoppers were buying a product called Popcorn Tin, a metal container filled with roughly a pound of popped corn.

“Even if people don’t like the tin, they’ll eat the popcorn, so a lot of people are buying them as gifts for those they don’t know what else to get,” said DiCicco.

Meanwhile, there were long lines at some Sears stores in Detroit, New York and Minneapolis as well as in Southern California, said John Costello, senior executive vice president at the retailer. Sears gave a $500 spending spree to one lucky shopper at each of its stores before 10 a.m. Sears was among the most successful chains last holiday season, posting a 9.5% sales increase for December partly because of its success luring early-bird shoppers.

“It appears that the promotions are getting some consumers to do their buying earlier,” he said.

An earliest of early birds, David Kawakami of West Los Angeles arrived at the Westside Pavilion in Los Angeles at 5 a.m. “I waited for all the sales today,” Kawakami said.

Another Westside Pavilion shopper, Linda Gomillion of Santa Monica, had five shopping bags by 9:30 Friday morning. She said she tries to avoid the crowds by shopping at off-peak hours such as early morning; but many had the same game plan Friday.

Dominic Casperi of Santa Clarita braved the early morning cold to claim his place in line outside Mervyn’s in Valencia at 6:15 a.m. along with his 3-year-old son.

“He’s the only one I could get up with me this early,” Casperi said, patting his yawning son on the head. “I’ll probably spend $200 more this year than I did last year.”

Emily Roller was another shopper in that Mervyn’s line awaiting a 7 a.m. opening.

“I’m shopping for 21 grandchildren,” she said. “I can’t attempt much with 21 grandchildren, but I’ll get them each something little, something nice. . . . I have to watch the money.”

The morning turnout was lighter in some malls, but crowds at many of those shopping centers swelled by midafternoon. Mall officials at the Glendale Galleria said they expected to reach about 150,000, which is their typical post-Thanksgiving turnout.

West Los Angeles resident Luis Hernandez, who shopped the Glendale mall, spent more money because he has new nephews as well as a 3-year-old daughter. With his arms full of Baywatch Barbies, the Deluxe Barbie Trunk, Monopoly board game and the new interactive Barney, all of which almost obscured his face, Hernandez wondered if saving $30 from the sale prices was worth standing in the hourlong line. He said he was disappointed because he couldn’t find the remote-control Batmobile.

Mall operators were prepared to accommodate the crowds. For example, about 1,300 employees at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa parked off-site, freeing up extra space at the shopping center’s 16,000-car parking facility.

The sales events continue today, and some chains--Bloomingdale’s among them--will also offer Sunday discounts.

Retailers plan to offer still more promotions. In early December, for example, Express, a women’s clothing chain, will offer customers “Elf cash,” a voucher worth $25 for every $50 spent.

Also, many retailers are planning “volume-building” promotions such as a discount on a second item when full price is paid on an initial purchase, said Richard Giss, partner in the retail services group at the Los Angeles offices of accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.

Advertised sales events were not the only lure. Many shoppers swarmed Nordstrom stores to get the popular Beanie Babies toy.

Also, entertainment venues such as Dave & Buster’s at Ontario Mills sought to encourage and accommodate family shopping outings. Dave & Buster’s--which touts itself as a “playground for adults”--provided a “Hubby Hangout,” complete with a brewery company’s Bud Girls who officiated at a variety of games and contests at its billiards and electronic arcade complex.

The Mills’ interactive games complex known as GameWorks, which attracts a younger crowd, hosted its first fashion show at the mall.

Overall, retailers posted a 4.5% gain nationwide in December 1996 over the year-ago period, with Southern California merchants recording sales increases of between 5% and 5.5%.

Southern California could outpace the nation again. A nationwide consumer poll by the accounting firm of Arthur Andersen shows that people in the West are the most optimistic about the economy, and consumers in the West and South will spend more on “personal indulgences” this holiday season.

The official sales tally for Friday won’t be known until Sunday and Monday, when chains and mall trade groups report the totals.

Times staff writers Russ Stanton and Daryl Strickland in Orange County, Vanessa Hua and Susan Abram in Los Angeles and Jon Steinman from the San Fernando Valley contributed to this story. Also contributing were correspondents Leslie Earnest and Mimi Ko Cruz in Orange County.