Holiday shopping: More traffic, less spending

By Greta Guest, Detroit Free Press - 12/02/2007

Black Friday shoppers Fernando Cervantes, from left, Jose L. Ortiz, and Jose Ortiz leave a Best Buy store in Hurst, Texas, loaded with electronics to send back home to family in Mexico.

DETROIT — More shoppers were out, but they spent less money over the Thanksgiving weekend compared with last year, according to one national survey.

More than 147 million people went shopping over the three-day holiday weekend, up 4.8 percent over 2006 crowds, the National Retail Federation survey said Monday.

Consumers spent an average of $347.44, down 3.5 percent from last year, but still up 14.8 percent from 2005. Retailers made up for the lower average spending with increased traffic.

‘‘Knowing that consumers would be challenged by the current economic environment, retailers hoped that higher traffic would offset lower individual spending, which it did,’’ said Phil Rist, spokesman for BIGresearch, which conducted the consumer survey for the retail federation.

At Somerset Collection in Troy, Mich., the parking lot with 7,000 spaces was 100 percent full many times over the weekend with shoppers being shuttled from nearby lots, spokeswoman Linda McIntosh said Monday.

‘‘Our new luxury stores were doing very well. People seemed to know what they want this year, whether it was a Burberry handbag or Ugg boots,’’ McIntosh said. ‘‘There were so many wonderful sales, more so than I’ve ever seen in previous years. If it’s a high-demand item people are getting it rather than waiting.’’

‘‘For everything we hear about the economy, I have to say people are in a great mood,’’ she said.

The national retail survey indicated that as of Sunday, the average person had completed 36.4 percent of his or her holiday shopping, about the same pace as last year. Just 8.2 percent of consumers said they are done with their holiday shopping.

Lorraine Wangler, 42, of Royal Oak, Mich., said she always avoids the Thanksgiving weekend hoopla. She shops for her six children, who range in age from 10 to 19.

‘‘I don’t like the mobs. It’s too crazy. And my kids are older, so it’s not like I need that blockbuster thing,’’ Wangler said Monday.

So after Thanksgiving weekend, Wangler gets together her children’s wish lists and adds a few staples like socks and underwear and starts her shopping after the big rush. She tries to keep to a budget of about $200 per child.

‘‘I’m starting now,’’ Wangler said Monday while shopping. ‘‘I want to get it done in a week.’’

At Great Lakes Crossing in Auburn Hills, Mich., stores were seeing single-digit sales increases on Saturday. At Twelve Oaks Mall, sales were flat at stores surveyed, yet mall gift cards rose by double-digits for the day, See SHOPPERS, Page D5 according to Taubman Centers Inc., which owns both malls.

Friday was even better for the malls. Partridge Creek in Clinton Township, Mich., had all its restaurants booked for the night by 4 p.m.

‘‘I’d say that Friday was fantastic, Friday was great. Saturday was good and Sunday was fair. Overall, we were thrilled with the kickoff to the holiday season,’’ said Taubman spokeswoman Karen MacDonald. ‘‘It doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a strong season, but it does show the mind-set of the consumer. Many of our stores tell us they were up mid-single-digits for the weekend.’’

The national retail survey defined the weekend as sales from Thursday to Sunday. The poll of 2,395 consumers was conducted by BIGresearch from Thursday to Saturday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

National Retail Federation President and CEO Tracy Mullin said: ‘‘Though Black Friday weekend was a complete success for many retailers, the results of the holiday season won’t be determined until the last two weeks of December.’’

The retail federation predicts that holiday sales will rise by 4 percent this year to $474.5 billion.

——— (c) 2007, Detroit Free Press.

Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

————— PHOTOS (from MCT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): blackfriday