The Chart Online

Shops expect prosperous season
Virginia Fairchild

City Editor

Time is running out for area stores and boutiques to prepare for the holiday shopping season.

From the day after Thanksgiving on, stores typically are filled to the brim with bustling customers searching for the perfect gift and taking advantage of the season's sales.

As holiday cheer is blaring over the intercom systems in department stores across the country, more work has to be done behind the scenes to accommodate the excess customers and ensure the busy days pass smoothly. Customers not only want a high product in return for their dollar, most would also like to be treated with hospitality. With all the extra work to be done, stores have to kick management into high gear and put on extra pads of workers to handle the money-spending consumers.

Michael White, owner of Dryer's Shoe Store in the Northpark Mall, said he waited on his first holiday customers a few weekends ago. He said the busy season for his store begins around this time of year and doesn't end until the first week in January.

White said he doesn't hire extra help just for the busy time. Instead, he plans his inventory well in advance to ensure he has quality products with a variety of sizes on the shelf.

"We look at what kind of merchandise has not moved during the season and it's probably going to get discounted more to clear it out," he said. "We try to have more profitable merchandise in the store.

It gets challenging through December because most of the manufacturers are out of the good inventory. The best sellers are gone."

White said he doubles the amount of advertising, and his store has special sales throughout the holiday season.

"It brings customers in," he said, "and we give them some good deals and hopefully make them buyers."

Jane Richart, owner of Upstairs Boutique at 502 S. Main St. and UB2 located in the Northpark Mall, said she hires additional staff, promotes special sales and events, as well as increases advertising to encourage the holiday shoppers to visit her store. Inventory is also an area in which she prepares her stores.

Sales during the month of December at Dryer's Shoe Store, White said, are around 30-35 percent higher than any other month in the year.

White said the low economy is a question on every retailer s mind right now. He said the economy has only affected the consistency of his store's sales.

"Over a fiscal year, we're about even with last year," he said. "It's difficult to try and figure out what kind of inventory to bring in each month because we're on such a rollercoaster throughout the year.

"I look for Christmas to be good in our store due to the economy. People will buy things that make more since like clothes and shoes."

As for goals, White said his store is aiming to maintain last year's sales levels.

"If we remain even or a little up, we'll be happy," he said. "Everybody I've talked to doesn't know what's going to happen. The big challenge is with all the uncertainty right now."

Richart is confident her store will exceed the goals she has set for this holiday season.

"Last year, after 9-11, we thought it'd affect our Christmas significantly and the sales were sporadic," she said. "They have been this fall too, but then it just kicks in.

We had a tremendous selling season last year for gift giving at Christmas time, and we expect that this year too."

She said the store will open its doors on Sundays during the month of December to give customers more time to shop.

"We have a lot of new things this year that are different from last year," Richart said.

The store invested in gift cards, and designed special "wish list" forms to ease the frustration experienced in finding the perfect gift.