STRICTLY BUSINESS; CHRISTMAS WISH BOOKS STACKING UP

"The big rush of holiday mail is already under way, with a stream of catalogs and sales circulars."This small paragraph, concerning the heavy deluge of mail expected for the Christmas holidays, caught my eye.

From two to four catalogs a day can be found in my mailbox. Count 'em up since Nov. 1, and you have a stack of about 100 of the wish books, ranging in pages from 20 to 50.

Each day, the catalogs are promptly transferred from the mailbox to the growing mound of previously delivered catalogs stacked on the kitchen counter.

The stack now teeters at about two feet in height, and I'm sure there's more to come. So far, we have more than a 100 gift catalogs, accounting for more than 3,500 pages. These range from the Popcorn Factory's "Great Eats and Treats" to the Celebration Fantastic and its Limoges boxes to Pedigrees, a catalog for pampered pooches that is loaded with everything from doggie St. Francis Medallions to faux pearl dog collars and a "Collector Catalog."At his point, the Collector Catalog is my favorite, a real collector's dream. It contains gold and silver coins, stamps, jewelry, medals and bank notes from around the world -- great source for adding to your collection.

With only 31 more shopping days until Christmas, browsing the catalogs could be a full-time job.

Catalogs and more catalogs. Everyone wants to capture the armchair shopper.

Catalogs do provide a big boost to the nation's economy, accounting for about 10 percent of annual general merchandise sales. With more than 15,000 catalogs out there, the overall mail order and catalog sales total more than $300 billion a year.

This all translates into 10.8 percent of general merchandise; 3.8 percent of retail sales, which are expected at over $2 trillion this year; and 2 percent of consumer service sales.

On a per capita basis, Americans spend $550 in catalog sales a year. Specialty mail order vendors get the lion's share of the catalog dollar (some 83 percent).There was a time when catalog shopping was pretty much limited to the "Big Book."The big book was the Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog, which contained color illustrations in its 1,500 pages. Sometimes called the "Wish Book," the 3-inch-thick catalog became history in 1993.

Although Sears, Spiegel, JCPenney and the Montgomery Wards Catalog may be among the best known catalogs, the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog is the longest continually published catalog in America.

The first Hammacher Schlemmer catalog was in 1881, six years prior to Sears, and only 500 of the publications were sent out.

Today, the Fairfield, Ohio, company sends out a dozen catalog editions every year to Hammacher customers throughout the world, offering a variety of gifts for the entire family with many geared to the "person who has everything."A year ago, Hammacher featured a full-size, fully functional carousel that seats 20 on prancing horses, at a price of $150,000. This year's feature is not as pricey -- a $1,700 solar-powered scooter.

The scooter can travel 15 to 18 miles on a charge. And, unlike some fuel-burning scooters, this model is street-legal and licensable, so it can be used for daily commutable, making for easy transportation. Oh, it's also collapsible, making for easy storage.

Hammacher also features its Pokemon Center, where you can create your own Pokemon cards, and see all the Pokemons and toys.

Also in the never ending list of catalogs are: Illuminations, featuring candles of all shapes and sizes; Hershey, a chocoholic's downfall; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this year featuring tiny jeweled shoe Christmas tree ornaments; Tiffany's, loaded with exquisite gifts for those with very deep pockets; and what home in the United States is without this one? Miles Kimball, with hundreds of pages of goodies. The catalog of the Christmas season is you guessed it Neiman Marcus. Stocking stuffers from Neiman's include an 1822 manuscript of "The Night Before Christmas" for $795,000, a 161-carat diamond necklace for $450,000 and, for the tycoon of the family, a $35.2 million Boeing business jet.

For shoppers on a budget, the Neiman catalog offers a 2001 BMW X5 sport-ultility vehicle for $57,995, a nylon golf bag for only $860 or a Donna York strapless tube dress at $780.

B. Ray Owen is business editor of the Southeast Missourian.