Shoppers line up for sales
Holiday shopping dropped by 11 percent across the nation
Kelli Monts pushed two full shopping carts stacked with wrapping-paper rolls and boxes of Christmas lights through the slushy parking lot at Super Kmart Center on Thursday afternoon.
"Christmas decorations, baking tins, Christmas sweaters." Monts ticked off her purchases as she loaded them in the back of her sport utility vehicle. "You name it, we bought it. We're on our way to Gottschalks to do clothes now," she said.
Monts, along with hundreds of other savvy Juneau shoppers, headed to stores Thursday to take advantage of post-holiday sales advertised across the city.
"Everyone knows to shop after Christmas," Monts said.
Though there are no numbers to indicate how much money Alaskans spent before Christmas, such consumer spending was down nationally, and retailers were slashing prices after the holiday to try to make up the difference.
Holiday shopping fell 11 percent, to $113 billion, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to estimates released Thursday by ShopperTrak, which monitors retail sales. That is the most dismal shopping season in 30 years. Experts have blamed low consumer spending on the downturn in the economy since the Sept. 11 attacks and the impending war with Iraq. Juneau was minimally affected by the slow season, according to local retailers.
Pre-Christmas consumer spending "was a bit soft this year," said Debbie Saddler, the store director at Juneau's Super Kmart. "The biggest thing we noticed was how late the sales were."
People shopped later and less before Christmas, Saddler said, but the Juneau store had the best seasonal sales in the state. Shoppers also lined up at Super Kmart's doors before the store opened on Christmas morning to shop the after-Christmas sale.
Thursday "was really busy," Saddler said. "We have had a great after-Christmas sale."
At Gottschalks, cash registers beeped and purred as shoppers stood in line to buy sale items from sweaters to sheets. Kate Troll and her daughter Erin compared heavily discounted rolling carry-on bags in the luggage section. Troll doesn't usually shop after Christmas but came because she read about the sale in the paper.
"I did come here because of luggage and flannel sheets," she said.
Near a pyramid display of sale socks, Jean Mikesell and her daughter discussed possible gifts for an upcoming bridal shower. Mikesell always shops the after-Christmas sale, and especially appreciated it this year as her budget was tighter with one daughter in college.
"We shopped less (before Christmas). We kind of cut back because we just didn't have as much money," she said.
This year Gottschalks' holiday-season sales were up compared to last year, in part because of a recent move from the Nugget Mall to the Mendenhall Center, said Debbie Oleman, the store manager. It didn't offer any deeper discounts this year than it did in previous years. In her experience, Juneau doesn't seem to be much affected by economic trends in the Lower 48, Oleman said.
"Seems like Alaska is always an exception to the rule," she said.
Julia O'Malley can be reached at jomalley@juneauempire.com.