RETAIL STORES GEAR UP FOR 11TH-HOUR SHOPPERS, BUT...

If you are one of those people who have not yet begun your Christmas shopping -- but have given the matter some thought -- you are not alone.

Area retailers have extended shopping hours, stocked shelves to the brim and have increased sales staffs, awaiting an expected frenzy of frantic, last-minute shoppers.

"For the last several years, we have geared our staffing toward the last week of shopping before Christmas," said Mark Morrisey, senior merchandise manager of the JCPenney store in the West Park Mall. "We put on extra help to stock the shelves and keep the store presentable, especially for this last week."

Starting today, JCPenney will be open from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m., through Thursday.

"We're staying open two to three extra hours a day to make last-minute shopping more convenient," said Morrisey.

But perhaps the king of convenience in local retail stores is the Wal-Mart Supercenter, open 24-hours a day, until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, when they close until the morning of Dec. 26.

"People come in here at all hours of the day," said Lonnie Lusk, support manager at Wal-Mart. "In fact, we had long lines at every open check-out line (Saturday) night up through midnight."

In response to the influx of shoppers, Wal-Mart is staffing more check-out clerks to work late-night hours.

Sears Roebuck and Co., has also extended shopping hours, opening at 8 a.m. today through Thursday, and at 7 a.m. on Friday.

"I think all the stores have extended hours at this time of year to accommodate as many shoppers at possible," said Mona Nenninger, sales manager of women's fashions at Sears. "We're expecting a lot of late shoppers this year."

This holiday season, retailers say they are experiencing a "nice" increase in sales, and are finding that shoppers are buying more practical gifts for friends and loved ones.

Jim Furey, assistant manager in charge of merchandise at Kmart, said people are buying everyday items to top of their gift list.

For example, Furey said shoppers bought up his entire supply of bridge table and chair sets and television tray sets -- something he said he had not expected.

Shoppers are also buying a menagerie of shirts, sweaters, blouses and jeans this holiday season -- for themselves, and people on their shopping lists.

"We sell as many or more jeans between Thanksgiving and Christmas than we do during our `Back to School' sales in August," said Morrisey. "We're also selling a lot of white blouses this year. I don't really know why, but we are."

JCPenney also carries plush Barney dolls, which Morrisey said are becoming short in supply in the face of seemingly endless demand.

"We still have pretty well everything on our shelves, but we are expecting a lot of shoppers early this week," said Morrisey. "We might not have the selection we had a few weeks ago, but we have just about everything people are looking for."

Retailers say that gifts like robes, lingerie and flannel shirts are high in demand and becoming short in supply as Christmas nears.

"I couldn't really pinpoint anything that is selling better than something else," said Lusk. "There are a lot of popular items this year."