Shoppers give gift of late sales surge

NEW YORK – Shoppers appear to have given the nation’s stores a needed last-minute sales surge.

Early readings from Toys R Us, Sears Holdings Corp. and several mall operators show packed stores Christmas Eve after a busy week fueled by shoppers who delayed buying, waiting for bigger discounts that never came or slowed by last weekend’s big East Coast snowstorm.

Stores are counting on these stragglers in a season that so far appears slightly better than last year’s disaster. The jury is out because the week after Christmas accounts for about 15 percent of sales as gift card-toting shoppers return to malls.

“The procrastinators were really out in force,” says David Bassuk, managing director in the retail practice of AlixPartners, a global business advisory firm.

“But I think retailers needed to be more aggressive to fight for those sales. A lot of people are still willing to hold out until after Christmas because the deals weren’t as good.”

A Christmas Eve snowstorm in the nation’s heartland were slowing some shoppers after snarling roads in the mountain states a day earlier.

Steve Burns, 42, and his 15-year-old daughter, Amber, of Hastings, Minn., took advantage of the empty stores at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., to browse for shirts and other last-minute gifts. Burns said the snow wasn’t a problem and traffic was light because others stayed home.

“It doesn’t bother me any,” he said.

Some shoppers had challenges finding what they wanted as stores had slashed their inventories heading into the season.

An Ann Taylor store at Westside Pavilion in West Los Angeles pulled in 33 cartons of January merchandise earlier than planned, said Rebecca Stenholm, a company spokesman at the mall’s operator, Macerich Co.

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

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