By Hilary Lehman

Original Link: Daytona Beach News-Journal, FL 12.09.11

December 09, 2011

While this year's Thanksgiving weekend, the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, drew record numbers of shoppers who made a record amount of purchases, retailers are hoping the best is still to come.

Half of all holiday sales usually occur in the final three weeks leading up to Christmas, according to the Florida Retail Federation.

This year, though, retailers aren't taking those sales for granted, with many national big-box chains pulling out all the promotional stops in an effort to get shoppers into their stores this holiday season.

Smaller local shops, too, are banking on a rush as the gift-buying deadline nears -- and desperation grows.

"We stay busy right up until Christmas Eve," said Emily Granger, co-owner of Bahama Mama's gift shop in Flagler Beach. "There's always a man running in here on Christmas Eve going, 'I need something for my wife.' "

Sean Snaith, an economist with the University of Central Florida, said, "Consumers, regardless of how much they ultimately spend, are still very price conscious in this kind of economy. Retailers are going to have to work hard to part people from their dollars."

Snaith said retailers have to be cautious with their high hopes, despite an estimated $52 billion spent over Thanksgiving weekend, according to National Retail Federation estimates. Snaith said retailers in 2008 racked up record sales Thanksgiving weekend that year, but proceeded to experience a drop-off in sales the remainder of the holiday season, resulting in an overall decline, compared with 2007.

On Thursday afternoon, Christine Gerhardt of Ormond Beach was completing what she described as a rare shopping trip to Volusia Mall.

Gerhardt said she does most of her shopping online, but does look for deals when she comes to the mall. She said she noticed lots of discounts this year on department store merchandise, and said she was surprised at how low her total was at the cash register.

"I think they're working harder this year, but there's definitely less items to choose from," Gerhardt said.

John Fleming, a spokesman with the Florida Retail Federation, said the discounts may be deeper this year, but retailers are keeping less in inventory to make sure they can sell the products they have.

Fleming said he still believes the strong performance by retailers on Black Friday this year -- the day after Thanksgiving -- is an excellent indicator for the rest of the holiday shopping season.

"I think as long as things keep plugging along and we keep up the momentum that we appear to have right now, I'm not worried about finishing the year strong," he said.

However, he acknowledged that the question, "Do you get the revenue back with the higher traffic that you lose discounting?" was a fine line retailers have to walk.

Regardless, stores are still heavily promoting those discounts and deals. Wal-Mart, Best Buy and other big retailers have been advertising price match guarantees, saying they will match any local competitor's advertised price on a specific item.

At Volusia Mall, spokeswoman Mandy York said she has noticed that stores advertising big discounts appear to be faring better than others.

"I think it's more pronounced now than it's ever been," York said. "I think a lot of people are looking for deals."

At the Belk department store at The Pavilion at Port Orange shopping center, store manager Tina Bloeser said the discounts are spread throughout the store, from accessories to home goods to TVs. She said she's not worried about losing customers who might have finished their holiday shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving. Earlier this week, she was out on the floor herself ringing up customers.

"If I'm the one out here doing it, that's a good sign," she said.

For smaller retailers, holiday shopping doesn't play out in exactly the same way it does for the big-box stores.

Granger, who co-owns Bahama Mama's with Renee Worthington, her mother, said she thinks shoppers who hit up big stores on Black Friday for things like electronics are coming to her store now for more personalized gifts.

Worthington agreed, saying that although their gift shop doesn't have the ability to market itself heavily or offer deep discounts like the national chains, Bahama Mama's can offer things that bigger stores can't and depends on word-of-mouth rather than having to spend money on ads.

"Our customer service is excellent, and the people get the same gift wrapping whether they spend $5 or $100," she said.