HOLIDAY SHOPPING UNDER WAY

Cape Girardeau retailers are reporting near-record sales as early Christmas shoppers get a jump on the after-Thanksgiving crowds.

"There's no word to describe it other than incredible," said Tony Stephens, manager of West Park Mall. "The fourth quarter of '92 was very strong, and this year, talking with retailers, a lot of them are looking at double-digit increases over last year."

Retailers, who a year ago basked in their best holiday season in years, are pleasantly surprised to find even brisker sales this year.

That's particularly gratifying in light of apprehension among merchants nationwide. Retailing consultants report that although consumers are shopping this year, they tend to put off purchases until the last minute and shun stores with higher-priced items.

That makes for an unnerving season in the retailing business, where Christmas accounts for half the year's sales and profits.

Jeffrey Feiner, a retailing industry analyst with Salomon Bros Inc., forecast a sales increase of 5.5 percent, compared with a gain of 8.5 percent during Christmas 1992. That's not bad, but some struggling retailers aren't likely to attain it.

Some Cape Girardeau stores will greet the 1993 holiday season with closed doors. Small department stores like Woolworth's and Ben Franklin, and local specialty stores such as the Village Stitchery and Ali's Crafts have either closed their doors or soon will.

But elsewhere, merchants are ecstatic.

"We don't see anything to lead us to believe we're not going have a very good Christmas," said Terry Godwin, director of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cape Girardeau. "Typically, the day after Thanksgiving is when the Christmas shopping season really picks up, so that would be a better yardstick.

"But a lot of people are starting to come in for our layaway sales, and those sales are up over last year."

Harry Rediger, manager of the JCPenney store at West Park Mall, said he anticipates a second consecutive record-sales year.

"Right now the retail business is record-setting, and the catalog business is record-setting," Rediger said.

He said that July and August were slow sales months -- something most merchants blamed on this summer's flooding.

Although they were the first "down" months in more than 40 that showed increased sales, Rediger said he was anxious to see even that short-term trend reversed.

"September came back strong with a record month, October came back with a record, and we're practically assured of a record November," he said. "Cape Girardeau continues to enjoy a widening of our trade area.

"People are shopping Cape Girardeau, not only on weekends but during the week, from several states, and we're maintaining that market from downtown to the west end."

Sears, Roebuck and Co. is expected to have a strong Christmas, reflecting the retailer's turnaround because of new management and merchandising strategies. It reported the biggest percentage sales increase among the nation's top retailers in October.

Graeme Wilson, general manager of the Sears store at Town Plaza in Cape Girardeau, said sales there have been brisk since Veterans Day.

"It's just been unbelievable," Wilson said. "It's almost scary, but a good kind of scary. I think we're going to have a good Christmas."

He said with several Sears catalog stores now closed in Southeast Missouri, many of those customers are making the trip to Cape Girardeau to shop.

"The market here is a lot bigger than I ever gave it credit for," Wilson said. "A lot of people come from throughout the region to shop here. When Cape is on, it's really on."

Traffic also is reported heavy in downtown Cape. Charles Hutson of Hutson Furniture Co. said the best is yet to come for downtown.

"Sales are up, to date," he said. "It looks like everybody's gearing up for it really well.

"But the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving is when things will really start jumping down here."

Hutson said he's pleased to see sales pick up after the "terrible summer" of the flood. "Everybody's upbeat about the season," he added.

Hutson said attractions such as the annual Christmas window display at his store and, for the first time in 30 years, a downtown Christmas parade Dec. 5 ought to draw shoppers to the east end of town.

But many consumers aren't waiting for Thanksgiving and parades to go shopping.

"We're selling a lot of Christmas right now," said Rediger. "We're finding that more and more the Christmas shopper buys really early and really late. October and November and the last seven days are really good in sales volume."

Stephens said that in the past couple of years, many budget-conscious consumers have made cash purchases, spread over several weeks, rather than last-minute credit buys.