Beverly Lambert expects more holiday shoppers to pass through the doors of her Marysville shop this year, especially since she’s already seen an early rush.
“Right now, I’m feeling very good,” said Lambert, who owns Third Street Interiors. “Everybody seems to be more in a buying mood this year.”
In the wake of two holiday seasons that brought either declines or minimal gains in sales, there are signs that this Christmas will be a bit more merry and bright for merchants.
Today is the traditional first day of the hectic retail season that runs through late December. Though it’s usually not the busiest shopping day of the year, many stores opened early this morning or are offering special discounts to kick-start sales.
Like Lambert, owner Mary Burns at The BookWorks on Third Street in Marysville has seen more early shoppers.
“Last year, it didn’t pick up at all until two weeks before Christmas,” said Burns, who described the 2002 Christmas season as “very, very bad” at her business.
While Burns is hopeful, she also pragmatic in attracting customers by putting out a catalog spotlighting a number of books. That catalog, which was inserted in newspapers, has worked well, she said. The local paintings for sale in her shop also have brought in shoppers and browsers, she said.
Third Street merchants are staying open late and serving refreshments Dec. 6, in conjunction with the city’s Christmas parade and tree-lighting event.
Away from the relative serenity of downtown Marysville, shop managers in bustling Alderwood Mall share the same cautious optimism. Cathy Leistikow, manager of Itz-a-Puzzle, said several kinds of jigsaw puzzles are flying off her shelves.
“Since we moved to this space in July, we’ve just been doing great,” she said.
Among the bestsellers at her business are hologram puzzles and those with images of lighthouses, panda bears and Elvis. As of this week, she also had sold all her copies of an 18,000-piece puzzle measuring 9 feet wide.
At Sanrio Surprises, which specializes in Hello Kitty products and related gifts, manager Seung Kim said she’s still waiting for the seasonal increase in business. She expressed concern that the ongoing construction work on the Lynnwood mall’s expansion may keep some shoppers away this year, although she noted new parking garages have opened since last year.
The new Nordstrom store also has opened, which will help Beauty Works, said manager Gloria Harvey. Until late September, when the new anchor store opened, few people walked past the shop because it was in a dead-end wing of the mall.
“I think we’ll be great, now that all the stores are opening up and the renovation’s done inside,” Harvey said.
As in most years, forecasts for the upcoming shopping season are mixed.
On the plus side, Deloitte Research’s chief economist, Carl Steidtmann, is predicting that retail sales from November through January will increase 6 percent to 7 percent over last year.
The Conference Board is making less rosy predictions. Though the board’s Consumer Confidence Index increased 10 points, reaching 91.7 this month, its holiday spending survey showed people may buy fewer gifts this year. According to the survey of 5,000 households contacted during the first half of November, the average per-family spending on gifts will be $455 this season, down from last year’s $483.
The Conference Board added that most consumers will be shopping for bargains again this year, so retailers offering the best deals could see the biggest sales growth.
Scott Smallman, managing director of investments for US Bank Piper Jaffray in Seattle, said he has read, however, that high-end retailers may see bigger gains this season since higher-income consumers are feeling good about the stock market’s rise. He tends to agree with forecasts that this season will beat the past several years.
“I think this will be the best since 1999,” Smallman said.
That would cheer Janna Mitchell, co-owner of Marysville Floral. Located between Third Street Interiors and BookWorks, her store’s holiday offerings include bright red poinsettias and Christmas tree ornaments. But Mitchell said it seems that many people, either worried about or personally affected by the sluggish economy, still are buying more practical items than decorative gifts.
“I think people are still being pretty traditional and not spending frivolously,” she said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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