School-year wish lists draw families to malls.

Byline: Sheri Buri McDonald The Register-Guard

Steve Korth remembers when he was a boy growing up in Eugene in the 1970s, he and his family made a special trip to Portland at the end of each summer to shop for school clothes.

That's not common among local families these days. An explosion of retail choices in Eugene and Springfield during the past decade gives residents more reasons to spend their back-to-school dollars at home, said the 37-year-old Korth, whose family owns Oakway Center on Coburg Road.

The expansion of national stores into "second-tier" markets, such as Eugene-Springfield, also has strengthened the area's draw as a shopping mecca for people in outlying towns.

Oakway and the area's other shopping centers commonly attract visitors from as far away as Albany to the north, Medford to the south, Bend to the east and North Bend/Coos Bay to the west.

Prominent local institutions, such as the University of Oregon and Sacred Heart Medical Center, also bring in out-of-towners, who end up shopping at local stores during their down time.

"It's not just us, but the greater pull of Eugene," Korth said. "We're on the list of things to do once you come to this marketplace."

He said stores that appeal to students, such as Old Navy, Borders, and Bed, Bath and Beyond, are very busy for the back-to-school season. "This is obviously very, very important for the retailers that are catering to the demographic of students," Korth said.

Jim Trench, manager of the JC Penney store at Valley River Center, said, "This is like our Christmas upstairs," referring to the boys and girls departments on the store's second floor.

"We've had a very successful August in back-to-school shopping - one of the strongest that we've had in the past few years," Trench said, adding that sales of uniforms, denim, and leggings and skirts for girls have all been strong.

Kimberly and Brandon Roberts, of Klamath Falls - a town less than 20 miles from the California border - were in Eugene over the Labor Day weekend to visit Kimberly's parents. They dropped by Oakway Center and Valley River Center to outfit their young son and daughter for school. The family prefers to shop in Eugene rather than nearby Medford because "there's just more variety," Kimberly Roberts said, and "Eugene has a good vibe."

That vibe was at high frequency, with the University of Oregon football team's season opener at Autzen Stadium at the start of Labor Day weekend - the final weekend before the younger set returned to school. (Classes resume at the UO and at Lane Community College on Sept. 24.)

"The tie-in of the home game with the holiday truly had a great effect," said Ron Glover, general manager of Gateway Mall, off Interstate 5 in Springfield. He described this year's back-to-school season as "reasonably good" overall.

Retailers at the mall were on a roll after the summer hoopla surrounding the competition among Springfields nationwide to premiere the Simpsons movie, and the release of the final book in the popular Harry Potter series, Glover said.

"We have some momentum from those two major national events that helped us going into the back-to-school season through August," he said, "so we're feeling quite good about the progress of our year and that momentum continuing as we go into the (winter) holiday season."

Glover said that some out-of-towners make a special trip to Gateway to shop but, often, because people are so busy, they piggyback a stop at the mall with other activities in Eugene.

"There used to be more of people coming in for shopping just for school," he said. Now, "when they have an opportunity for multiple activities, I think they combine (them)."

Cindy Johnson and her three children, ages 10, 11 and 14, were in Eugene to attend the UO game. They drove over from Bend on the Friday before Labor Day and headed to Valley River Center, where they loaded up on shirts, sweaters and sweatshirts for school.

Dawna Hollenbeck and her four girls, ages 13 to 18, set out for Valley River Center at the same time, but they came from a different direction - north from Roseburg.

The family has made an annual pilgrimage to Valley River Center for the past five years - "when (the girls) got older, and I couldn't take them to Wal-Mart anymore," Hollenbeck said.

With 835,694 square feet of shops, Valley River Center is the largest enclosed shopping center between Sacramento and Portland, marketing manager Diana Bray said.

Four hours and about $1,000 later, Hollenbeck's girls had almost finished their back-to-school shopping.

"With four teenage girls, let me tell you ..." Hollenbeck said. "I jokingly told my husband when I left, 'there goes my paycheck for the past two weeks.' '

The family heads to Valley River Center because "everyplace (the girls) want to go is right here in the mall," Hollenbeck said.

Among their favorites are Aeropostale, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle and Hollister.

For their annual back-to-school shopping spree, each girl goes her separate way - cell phone in purse or pocket - to hunt for clothes and shoes. When she finds something she wants, she calls up Hollenbeck, who swings by to approve the purchase and pay the bill.

The Robertses, the family from Klamath Falls, found themselves shopping for their children Zoe, 6, and Maddox, 4, at Valley River Center, even though they say they're "not mall people."

"Zoe and I were in the bathroom here," said Kimberly Roberts, who resembles actress Denise Richards, with her large blue eyes and broad smile. "She asked me, 'Mom, how come you don't like to shop at malls?' and two teenage girls looked at me like I had two heads," Roberts said.

She said the family was drawn to Valley River Center by an ad for a sale on kids' jeans at JC Penney: Buy one pair, get a second pair free. They picked out two pairs of jeans and underwear for Zoe at Penney's.

"We thought we were going to stay under a couple hundred bucks (for each child)," Roberts said.

All told, the Roberts estimate they spent $600 to $700 on back-to-school clothes, shoes and backpacks for their children.

That doesn't even include school supplies, Roberts said.

"We went a little crazy this year," she said. "There are too many options."

"When you find things that are modest and affordable, you stock up," Roberts said.

"I don't want her to look like a little hootchy in the first grade," Roberts said, glancing toward her daughter. "Shirts need to be long and cover the belly; pants need to be high (waisted) and underwear needs to cover the butt cheeks."

BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPING

Families with school-age children are expected to spend an average of $563.49 on back-to-school merchandise, up 6.9 percent from last year. Most of that amount will be spent on clothing ($242.98), followed by electronics, such as computers and calculators ($222.58). College students and their families are expected to spend an average of $956.93, up 8.6 percent from last year. Most of that amount will be spent on electronics ($513.36), followed by textbooks ($377.16).

Where parents are shopping for their school-age children: discount stores (67.6 percent); department stores (54.9 percent); office supplies stores (41.4 percent).

Teenagers plan to chip in $31.19 on average of their own money.

Pre-teens plan to chip in $15.38 on average of their own money.

Nearly two-thirds of parents say their children influence at least half of their back-to-school purchases.

- National Retail Federation