Big ticket Christmas: A look at this year's spendiest gifts

For those with big money to spend this Christmas, style and status are two of the driving forces behind choosing presents, some store owners say.

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Sales at Alaska Audio/Video have been slightly higher this Christmas season, largely because of plasma and LCD televisions, which can cost more than $7,000.

This is the first season the store has carried plasma televisions, said Bobby Lowe, who owns the store.

Customers buy the high-end televisions because they don't take up much space - the televisions are two to four inches thick - and they have a very high-quality picture, Lowe said. They also buy them as a status symbol.

"It's a pretty awesome little statement piece to put in your house," he said.

Also popular at Alaska Audio/Visual are remote-controlled starting devices for cars, which sell for $700 installed, Lowe said.

Pete Bernstein, manager of Alaska Ship Chandlers, doesn't remember ever selling a boat as a Christmas gift, but he said the store has sold some outboard motors.

More popular than boat parts during the holiday season are electronic navigation devices that use radar or a global positioning system (GPS), Bernstein said. Those items sell for around $1,500.

Ken Spencer, sales manager at Honda Hut, Team Toyota and GMC of Juneau, has been selling cars for most of his life, he said. In his experience, people buy cars as Christmas presents when they've been waiting to buy a car for a while and just need some extra motivation.

"Not very often does somebody just walk in the door and go 'I think I'm going to buy a car for my wife today,' " he said. "It's usually been a process, and they've been thinking about it for a while."

Instead of spending $3,000 or $4,000 on a piece of jewelry, people sometimes use the money on a down payment for a car.

"The whole family can't drive the necklace," Spencer said.

Practical or not, jewelry will find its way under many Juneau Christmas trees this year.

"Last year it was a lot of colored stones like rubies and sapphires, this year it's been watches and diamonds," said Cori Tocco, manager of the Jewel Box in downtown Juneau. "It's high fashion. A lot of it depends on Hollywood really. Just whatever celebrities are wearing they have to have."

Like many stores, the Jewel Box sees most of its sales in the last three days before Christmas. A husband shopping for his wife is the typical customer.

This year, the store is selling many diamond pendants and earrings that fall in the $150 to $3,000 price range, with $800 being the average sale.

Though the store has sold a few $6,000 watches this season, most timekeepers given around the holidays are in the $400 to $500 range.

"The Alaska Airlines credit card is pretty much our form of currency around here," Cocco said.

• Christine Schmid can be reached at cschmid@juneauempire.com.