'Tis the season for angst as retailers brace for challenging holiday period. (Up Front).

BERTHA Terraza is worried this holiday season. Really worried.

One of the top selling items at the San Francisco Music Box Company store she manages at the Glendale Galleria is a Nutcracker music box. But she doesn't have any on her glass shelves because the 10-day port shutdown has delayed the arrival of her shipments from Asia, where the box is made.

Some of the hot-selling music box Christmas tree ornaments arrived too late and were sent back to their Chinese manufacturers. If that weren't enough, Terraza frets she won't have enough Victorian Christmas trees, which play "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as they twirl around. The trees are selling briskly, but she didn't buy enough of them.

"It is going to be a tough holiday season," said Terraza, standing inside her store last week where the tinkle of music boxes filled the air. "We are really going to have to push those sales this year."

Terraza is not the only merchant with the jitters at the Galleria as the huge mall gears up for the holiday season that begins in earnest this week.

Port problems, nervous consumers, a looming war with Iraq and a shortened holiday buying season are prompting retailers to mark down much earlier than normal and move as much merchandise as quickly as possible.

Only 22 percent of consumers nationally said they would make their purchases at a mall specialty store this year, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers. That's unsettling news for places like the Galleria, which has 245 shops, many of them specialty stores like Terraza's.

"I'm spending less, a lot less because I bought a car this year," said Alexis Rhoads, a shopper in her late 20s who had just purchased a holiday sweater at The Gap. "I'm doing most of my shopping at the Camarillo outlet shops."

Strange season

The day after Thanksgiving is always the official jumping-off day for shoppers to head to the malls. But this year Thanksgiving arrives especially late, making the holiday shopping season only 26 days long compared with 32 days last year.

In addition, Hanukkah starts unusually early this year, the day after Thanksgiving. Last year, Hanukkah started 10 days later.

"With disappointing back-to-school sales and poor economic news coming out all the time, retailers are very cautious about this upcoming holiday season," said Richard Giss, a retail expert for accounting firm Deloitte & Touche, which has projected a modest 3 percent to 4 percent increase in holiday sales.

Giss, who each year surveys customers at the Gaileria, added, "Merchants are keeping their inventories tighter this year because they don't have expectations of a huge holiday season."

That's already in evidence at the Galleria, where retailers are being very promotional. Wilsons Leather, which primarily sells leather coats, has a sale where shoppers can buy one item and get a second one discounted at 50 percent.

Rampage, a clothing store for teen-agers, had a large sign alerting customers to their latest deal: "Spend $75 now and get $15 off now and another $15 later."

J. Jill, a contemporary women's store, advertised a $30 gift certificate for December if shoppers spent $150, but that $150 was reduced to $100 within minutes after a customer walked through the door.

"Customers are going for bargain and value," admitted Vanessa Lynn, manager of the Aerosoles shoe store. Aerosoles boots that normally sell for $55 to $85 already are reduced to $29.99 to $49.99. A similar sale was going on at rival shoe store Nine West.

Sales before Thanksgiving are not unusual. But merchants are taking an early lead on price reductions. "We are seeing retailers be a bit more promotional earlier than we have in the past," said Annette Bethers, senior marketing director at the Galleria.

Discount programs

She noted that this year many big retailers, such as Macy's and Ann Taylor, were extending their 20 percent to 25 per0cent employee discount program to friends and relatives of employees or to their vendors. "There is a big grassroots effort to drive sales:' she said.

To top it off, there is no single hot gift item this year.

For Windsor, a family-owned chain of 35 stores for the 17- to 23-year-old junior customer, the strategy has been to reduce inventory by 10 percent, identify what is selling well and then quickly order another shipment by air.

"We've been trying to react to fashion trends instead of predict them and then sink our teeth into it," said Ike Zekaria, general merchandise manager and vice president. "We'll fly the items in and pay a little more if it means getting the right stuff in the stores."

At Jimmy Au's, a clothing store for diminutive men, conservative suits and ties have been the norm as more people hit the unemployment line and dress up for the next job interview. But for Christmas there are a few trendy items flying off the shelf. "The hot item for us right now is a suede shirt jacket," said Alan Au. "But I may be kicking myself for not ordering enough."