Area retailers eager to fill Santa's sack

By Melissa Westphal

BusinessRockford.com

ROCKFORD — Retailers hope consumers will loosen their grip on their dollars when they do their holiday shopping after a relatively disappointing back-to-school shopping season.

Still, retailers are feeling more upbeat: Although back-to-school sales locally and across the country remain low compared to the same time last year, they’re showing promise by coming out on top of previous months this year.

Same-store sales declined 4.7 percent in July compared with July 2008, but even a soft back-to-school shopping season gave stores a little relief, according to industry analyst Retail Metrics.

August sales, minus drug stores and Wal-Mart figures, are forecast to drop 3.2 percent over August 2008. Back-to-school shopping totals will spill over into September because of the late Labor Day weekend.

Retail Metrics expects monthly improvements to continue through the end of the year, with “Christmas 2009 likely to be weak but not disastrous.”

The clear winners are still discount and dollar stores, which continue to post the best results. In fact, Family Dollar, 1432 S. Main St. in Rockford, is already stocking holiday merchandise after a successful back-to-school shopping season.

“Our last few weeks have been excellent,” manager Candy Burkholder said. “We’re coming out now with all kinds of gift packs, sales on big stuff like comforters, and we have a gift aisle with ideas like coffee pots, Crock Pots and kids’ toys.”

American TV Appliance & Furniture, 6651 E. State St., saw a decent boost in sales last month during back-to-school shopping time, mostly from people buying laptop computers. But
General Manager Steve Grappe said customers also bought TVs and other electronics to prepare for football season, so it’s difficult to tell if the boost was just from back-to-school purchases.

“We always see a lift in sales during August and September when it’s football season,” Grappe said. “But laptop computers these days have gotten down to reasonable enough prices that college kids and even high school kids are buying them.”

Grappe thinks “perfect price will meet technology” for holiday shoppers, as consumers will find unusually good deals on flat-screen TVs, Blu-ray DVD players and discounted gaming systems.

While his hopes are high, Grappe also knows that better sales this holiday season won’t compare to similar shopping seasons of two and three years ago.

“The holiday season was so bleak last year that everybody is going to be doing more research this year on what people will be buying and making sure that’s available,” Grappe said. “I think the typical American family has buckled down this year, and Christmas time is when they’re going to spend more money. Economic indicators are saying things have already started loosening up a little, so there is some expendable income out there.”

Reach staff writer Melissa Westphal at 815-987-1341 or mwestpha@rrstar.com.

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