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Holiday Shoppers Look for, Find Deep Discounts

Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 09:00 CST

By Heather Landy, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Dec. 19--FORT WORTH -- While the early birds and Martha Stewart types may have spent the weekend at home wrapping presents, millions of Americans were still wrapping up their holiday shopping.

Or, in some cases, just starting it.

Although more than 90 percent of consumers had done at least some of their holiday shopping as of a week ago, only 13 percent were finished, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, an industry trade group.

Add Michael Haygood to the "finished" crowd. The North Richland Hills resident started his shopping about a week ago -- "I'm a guy," he explained -- and crossed off the last of the items on his wife's Christmas list, including perfume from Dillard's and a photo printer from Best Buy, on Sunday afternoon.

"She had a long list," he said, removing a folded-up sheet of paper from his pocket and revealing its detailed notes as he made room in the trunk of his car for the printer.

This season is shaping up to be a fair one for most of the nation's retailers.

Analysts' predictions for holiday sales growth range from 3 percent to 6 percent versus the 2004 season. But between lingering concerns about job security and the shock of higher gas prices and home-heating bills, many consumers are hunting for steep discounts, which could hurt retailers' profits.

Pier 1 Imports said last week that it would step up its promotions after a disappointing first half of the season.

Others retailers have also gotten more aggressive in the final week before Christmas. Sears marked down its jewelry by 40 percent to 70 percent, and Jo-Ann Stores slashed prices on Christmas items by 70 percent.

"Nobody is going to go bankrupt because of what is happening right now, but it's a challenging period for retailers, and there are going to be fantastic buys for consumers come January," said analyst Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnard's Retail Trend Report.

Barnard said that although the markdowns are "sizable," most retailers have yet to panic.

Ditto for consumers, or so it seemed at strip centers and malls around Tarrant County this weekend.

Good parking places were tough to find, but with six days until Christmas Eve, shoppers including Bettye Killgore of Burleson were browsing calmly.

"Christmas is not a time to be stressed out. It's a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus," said Killgore, who was shopping with a friend Sunday at the Wal-Mart at Texas 121 and North Beach Street in Fort Worth.

Killgore said she recently shipped presents to the out-of-towners on her list and bought the ingredients for the cookies and candy she likes to make for 20 or so people locally each year. Now she just needs to find time to make the treats, she said.

David and Pat Perry also shopped over the weekend without a hint of worry about meeting Christmas deadlines. The couple, whose home in Jefferson Parish in Louisiana was damaged by Hurricane Katrina, have browsed in plenty of stores in North Texas to pass the three months they have been living in an efficiency at a hotel in Fort Worth.

"We're just getting the sweets right before Christmas so we don't eat them all beforehand," Pat Perry joked, holding up a bag of gourmet chocolates from Cost Plus World Market in Fort Worth's Chapel Hill shopping center.

Heather Landy, (817) 390-7725 hlandy@star-telegram.com

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Copyright (c) 2005, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

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Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)

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