Retailers report good sales despite economy

John Petrovic/The Olathe News

Karen Thomasson, Gardner, talked with Cindy Jones, right, after making purchases Tuesday at Feeney's Hallmark, 16150 W. 135th St.

Contact John Petrovic at 764-2211, ext. 129 for reprints.

The holiday shopping season kicked off with a bang nationally on Black Friday.

According to ShopperTrak RCT, shoppers drove total retail sales up 3 percent over 2007, just days before the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that the U.S. economy is officially in a recession.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, more than 172 million shoppers visited retailers and Web sites last weekend, up from 147 million last year. NRF is an interest group for retailers and shopping malls.

Total weekend spending was estimated at $41 billion, NRF’s survey concluded.

Locally, Olathe retailers said sales did improve over last year, though official numbers were unavailable.

Kmart, 2000 E. Santa Fe St., scheduled additional employees and opened its doors at 6 a.m. to accommodate the influx of spenders.

“We don’t have exact numbers, but we did improve somewhat over last year,” store manager Debbie Morris said. “The biggest draws were probably the same as everybody else, toys and electronics.”

Morris said Kmart’s layaway program, which allows shoppers to make interest-free payments and then take items home once payments are completed, remains a popular feature.

“It’s very popular amongst customers because they can buy hot items early,” Morris said. “Parents don’t have to hide the items from their kids, but can keep them in the store closer to Christmas.

“With the credit crunch, they won’t have to charge on their credit card. They can just pay it off over eight weeks at no interest. Layaway probably had an impact, to some extent. We are the only major retailer that still has layaway.”

Target store manager Jimmy Gaona said his store, 20255 W. 154th St., also opened early Black Friday and will continue expanded hours through Dec. 26.

“We will be open 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. through the 26th, except for Christmas Eve, when we’ll be open until 6 p.m.,” Gaona said. “We also always make sure we are well-staffed in order to accommodate the busy season.”

Gaona said he was pleased with sales from the holiday season’s busiest weekend.

“Considering the current economic conditions, we had a very good weekend,” he said. “Our overall guest turnout was the same if not better than last year, and our sales were still strong considering the current economic climate.”

Exact figures were not available, Gaona said.

“I’m just one of over 1,600 stores. Considering there are so many stores, I’d hate to put a number out there,” he said. Similar to Kmart, toys and electronics remained popular at Target, Gaona said.

“I think electronics this year is something everyone is looking for no matter their age, hot items like iPods and Wii,” he said. “Electronics was very strong this year as in years past, and toys is always a strong department during this time of year.”

Alexander & Ray’s TV & Appliance, 1740 E. Harold, ran a full-week sale rather than offering specific Black Friday deals, owner Mark Alexander said.

“We kind of play up Friday and Saturday, but don’t do that 4:30-in-the-morning thing to get something,” Alexander said. “I don’t want to get up that early.”

For the week of Nov. 24-30, sales were up around 10 percent, Alexander said, but Black Friday sales were flat and within $80 of 2007 receipts.

Saturday sales increased about 13 percent over last year, he added.

Are shoppers staying local to support hometown businesses?

“Part of it is that we’re local, but also the Midwest economy is not struggling as much as the East and West coasts,” Alexander said. “For the year, we’re still up about 3 or 4 percent. Nationally, the appliance business is down considerably, around 9 percent, and electronics is up quantity-wise but not dollar-wise.”

One popular item at Alexander & Ray’s was a $699 42-inch flat panel LCD television. The store’s electronic sales, for the week, did not increase over last year.

“We probably sold the same amount of flat panels as last year, but at half the price or less of last year,” Alexander said. “The pricing has gone down so much, so we sold fewer dollar-wise. My appliance business for the week was way up, even though it really doesn’t fit the category of Black Friday.”

Alexander hopes sales for the year will be at least flat, though the goal is to be up around 4 to 5 percent.

“I think we’ll come close; we have a couple things on our side,” he said. “It’s pretty calm here, we’re pretty low-pressure. We didn’t have those things for people to bust down the door and trample people over. We had quite a few people in just looking and I’m sure they’ll be back.”

Retailers in neighboring Lenexa and Gardner reported no huge dip in sales from last year, though no real increases either.

Past and Presents, a card, gift and decorative accessories store at 87th Street and Lackman Road, Lenexa, does not play up Black Friday specials, but instead relies on its local customer base and “new and fresh” inventory, manager Melinda Gibson said.

“We don’t do any major promotions or sales that day,” Gibson said. “That’s just not how we do our business. We don’t try to discount stuff in general. We feel that probably is the biggest reason we aren’t as busy as a lot of retailers that day, but it doesn’t really hurt our overall sales at all. As a small business, we just can’t afford to play that game.”

Gibson said crowds are increasing slightly along with Lenexa’s population. Customers may be spending a bit less, but overall, the store is not noticing a big difference in sales from years past, she said.

“We’re straightforward, we’re going to give them the best price we can, and hope they appreciate our friendly staff, our uniqueness that we provide, the quality of our products,” Gibson said. “We’ve got a great customer base, and as long as people keep supporting their local businesses, it just goes back into the local economy, and I think everything is going to be fine.”

Despite NRF reports of more than 172 million shoppers hitting the stores or Internet on Black Friday, not everyone woke at 4 a.m. to fight the crowds in search of the hottest deal.

Holly Kramer, an Olathe resident, said she avoided stores on Black Friday because she thought they would be too busy and crowded.

“I figured I could go after work and avoid some of the crowds,” she said.

The economy, however, will likely impact her spending this year. Kramer said she will spend less than last year and do more online shopping because of fluctuating gas prices.

She said she was “not really surprised” by reports of higher retail sales over 2007.

“I think it had to do with really good sales,” Kramer said. “People already knew what they wanted to buy before they went out. I went out on Black Friday when I was younger, when it was more of a fun family thing to do, but now it seems like it’s too busy to go out.”

Staff writer Aaron Cedeno contributed to this report.