Last-minute shoppers a gift for stores

A last minute surge of holiday shoppers helped blunt what was looking like a dismal Christmas for retailers.

Sales from the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before Christmas were up 18.7% over the same period last year, according to a report from ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which monitors more than 45,000 retail stores. Sales for the week ended Saturday were up 33% over the previous week.

“Last-minute shoppers swamped stores over the weekend, allowing retailers to breathe a sigh of relief,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. Martin said the busy shopping weekend helped put sales on track with his firm’s forecast of a 3.6% sales gain for the holiday season over the previous year.

Those last-minute shoppers included John Shin, a 29-year-old graphic designer who was rushing around the Grove shopping mall in the Fairfax district. With Christmas Eve fast approaching, Shin needed a present for his girlfriend.

He waited until the last minute because “they didn’t have sales on the things I wanted to buy,” he said.

Representatives from popular retail hubs such as the Beverly Center and Westfield Century City and mall owner Santa Monica-based Macerich Co. said they had seen an increase in traffic over the weekend as shoppers who had procrastinated finally hit the stores.

That’s been the case for retailers across the country, especially those selling electronics.

“It has been very busy with lots of last-minute shoppers,” said Kirsten Whipple, a spokeswoman for Sears Holding Corp. “We’ve had very good traffic, especially today.”

Some Macerich centers reported more traffic than they did on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that is traditionally one of the busiest days of the year, said Phil Vise, vice president of consumer marketing for Macerich Southern California.

“It certainly has been a season of procrastination,” he said. “It’s really come down to the last few days.”

Still, some believe all those shoppers hitting the malls this last weekend might not be enough to boost sales by any significant amount.

The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts only a 2.5% gain in holiday season sales at stores open at least a year, and Brit Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, forecast last week that same-store sales would rise only 1.8% over the previous year. That’s his lowest forecast in a decade.

Target Corp. said Monday that same-store sales for December might fall as much as 1% from a year ago. The Minneapolis-based company had previously predicted sales would rise 3% to 5%.

“Overall, a lot of retailers are going to be pretty disappointed,” Beemer said Monday. His group surveyed shoppers over the weekend and found that only 71% had finished their shopping. Usually, about 85% of consumers are done with their shopping by then.

“There’s a lot of dollars that aren’t going to get spent,” Beemer said.

Consumers worried about the economy didn’t want to shop until they saw big sales, and most retailers didn’t discount as much as they should have, Beemer said. Retailers that have been doing well this holiday season, according to ARG surveys, include Costco Wholesale Corp., JCPenney Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Barnes & Noble Inc.

“Usually I find the things I want on sale by this time, but not this year,” said Tony Dunlap, who was carrying bags from the American Girl store as he finished shopping with his wife and three children. Dunlap said he was forced to spend more this year because things weren’t on sale. He paid $100 each for three American Girl dolls and was frustrated by his inability to find good prices on the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally known for blowout sales.

The apparel industry will probably post especially slow sales this holiday season, said Eli Portnoy, chief brand strategist for Portnoy Group Inc. in L.A.

That means shoppers will probably see attractive post-Christmas discounts.

Bloomingdale’s, for example, sent out advertisements reminding people that Dec. 26 they would be able to take an extra 50% off many already marked-down items.

Analysts said the promotion would probably draw those who received gift cards for the holidays into the stores to redeem them on discounted items.

Although stores will probably be busy redeeming gift cards this week, they’ll also be exchanging plenty of unwanted presents, according to a poll by NPD Group. It showed that what people most wanted was electronics items, but what they were most likely to receive was apparel.

Said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst: “There’s an awful lot of disparity this year [between] what I wanted versus what I’m going to get.”

alana.semuels@latimes.com

Times staff writer Leslie Earnest contributed to this report.