SALES PRICE MATCHES SHOPPING PACE TRAFFIC AT MALLS SLOW AS AFTER-CHRISTMAS PRICES CONTINUE TO TUMBLE.Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer The after-Christmas crunch hit mildly this year, as sated sate 1 tr.v. sat·ed, sat·ing, sates 1. To satisfy (an appetite) fully. 2. To satisfy to excess. shoppers stayed away from malls. Though sales are still fantastic, with 25 percent off just a starting point Noun 1. starting point - earliest limiting point terminus a quo commencement, get-go, offset, outset, showtime, starting time, beginning, start, kickoff, first - the time at which something is supposed to begin; "they got an early start"; "she knew from the at most stores and cresting crest·ing n. An ornamental ridge, as on top of a wall or roof. near 75 percent at many, traffic seemed lighter than usual at some local shopping centers. Retail experts forecast that these massive discounts, which began as early as last week, might have displaced after-Christmas sales with their generous savings. Though the diehards still turned out, much of the madness that has filled malls' halls in recent days subsided to less harried levels. ``People have done all their spending, to be honest,'' said Shana Yao, marketing manager for the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. ``The discounts can't get much lower, and people are pretty shopped out.'' Other malls expected a small resurgence over the weekend, when shoppers are off work and can begin the returns process. ``There's a lull right now,'' said Louise Marquez, general manager of the Panorama Mall. ``The past four days have been pretty hellish for everyone, so they just want to get back to work and not think about shopping. They'll probably be back this weekend when it's quieted down.'' Those who made the trip enjoyed slashed prices to go with uncrowded stores, making for an easy shopping experience. Barbara Jones Barbara Pearl Jones (born 26 March, 1937 in Chicago) is an American athlete, who mainly competed in the 100 metres. She competed for the United States in the 1952 Summer Olympics held in Helsinki, Finland in the 4 x 100 metres where she won the gold medal with her team mates joined forces with her sisters, Diane Alexander and Helen Copen, to hit Fashion Square, making the same shopping pilgrimage they've made ``since forever.'' ``I always come out,'' said Jones, a configuration management analyst for Northrop Grumman Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) is an aerospace and defense conglomerate that is the result of the 1994 purchase of Grumman by Northrop. The company is the third largest defense contractor for the U.S. . ``It's the anticipation of maybe getting the best deal of the year. It seems like there's been good bargains all through the season, though, so if I see anything good, I'll buy it.'' Tony di Milo Milo, athlete of ancient Greece Milo (mī`lō) or Milon (mī`lŏn), fl. 500 B.C., athlete of ancient Greece, b. Crotona. , a Sherman Oaks actor, scored 50 percent off his Christmas cards at Papyrus papyrus (pəpī`rəs), a sedge (Cyperus papyrus), now almost extinct in Egypt but so universally used there in antiquity as to be the hieroglyphic symbol for Lower Egypt and a common motif in art. and saw good bargains throughout the mall. The relatively sparse morning traffic seemed unusual, he said, given the prices. ``I'm surprised,'' he said. ``It's not as busy as it usually is.'' Sales appeared fairly strong at the Panorama Mall's Wal-Mart, especially on holiday-related items. This mirrors the national trend; the megachain reported Wednesday that it expects a sales increase of 6 percent over last year, attained with minimal price slashing. Helen Spencer, a Northridge stay-at-home mom, completely filled her trunk with garlands and wreathes, hoping to adapt them for a medieval school fair in April. As she crammed cram v. crammed, cram·ming, crams v.tr. 1. To force, press, or squeeze into an insufficient space; stuff. 2. To fill too tightly. 3. a. To gorge with food. the half-off merchandise into her car, she, too, noticed the fairly placid traffic through the rest of the shopping center. ``The crowd wasn't bad at all,'' she said. ``In the past, it was just a disaster on the day after Christmas, but this is just like another day.'' One possible reason for the shoppers' hesitation to return to stores so quickly is their all-out rally in the final week of the shopping season. Check acceptance firm TeleCheck reported a sudden nationwide sales spike following Dec. 17. Prior to that date, sales across the country had showed a modest 1.8 percent gain over last year's season. In the crucial final week, however, procrastinators flocked to malls and pushed sales up to finish at a 2.2 percent gain for the full 32-day shopping period. ``It's a plus, although it's not as positive as retailers would like to have seen,'' said Bill Ford, the Houston-based firm's senior economic adviser. ``We saw a surge in the last few days, so the last week showed better than a 3 percent gain over the same period last year. California was a little weaker than the rest for a variety of reasons.'' Throughout the state, sales were up only 1.8 percent, though Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, generally leads the pack. Ford cited factors such as inclement in·clem·ent adj. 1. Stormy: inclement weather. 2. Showing no clemency; unmerciful. in·clem weather early in the season and economic nervousness elsewhere stemming from laid-off dot-commers and those hit harder by the recession. Locally, not all malls saw diminished traffic. Both the Northridge Fashion Center Northridge Fashion Center is a large shopping mall located in Northridge, California. It opened in 1971. It was severely damaged during the Northridge Earthquake in 1994, but renovated extensively in 1995 and 1998. and Westfield Shoppingtown Topanga's parking lots hummed with cars, and the Glendale Galleria The Glendale Galleria is a large 3 story regional shopping mall located in Glendale, Los Angeles County, California. It is the second largest mall in Los Angeles County. It is located in Downtown Glendale. reported more than 100,000 shoppers had turned out, on par with heavy holiday numbers. ``It's been busy all day,'' said Westfield's marketing manager, Kathy Klingele. ``I'd have to assume it's all people hunting for after-Christmas bargains and doing returns. I've noticed a lot of additional sales that were happening today that we didn't see before Christmas, and some of them are really pretty good.'' And the promises of bargains, no matter how low retailers have already gone, are what keep people coming year after year. ``I always come after Christmas,'' said Bobbi Maycumber, a Northridge dental assistant dental assistant n. A person trained to assist a dentist with clinical and administrative procedures. taking a break from cruising the Fashion Center. ``I go until I either get tired or run out of money.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- color) Sisters Helen Copen, left, and Barbara Jones rest during after- Christmas shopping Wednesday at the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. (2 -- color) Southland malls prepared for the after-Christmas rush with sales. Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer |
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