Shoppers flock to bargains

Cold temperatures and snow Wednesday morning couldn't keep hundreds of seasoned bargain hunters in Southeast Missouri from getting out early for the after-Christmas sales.

Merchants nationwide are hoping the post-Christmas deals attract enough business to compensate for otherwise dismal results. In Cape Girardeau, where pre-Christmas shopping was brisk, hundreds of area consumers crowded stores, from tiny specialty shops to Westfield Shoppingtown West Park.

Store managers said most shoppers were pleasant. When the snow started coming down, the shoppers' spirits picked up.

Kirk Williams, who spent the day showing people around The Fantasticks store in Plaza Galleria and carrying bags to customers' cars, said the snow couldn't have come at a better time.

"When it started snowing, everyone got fired up," he said. "It made it feel more like the season."

The Fantasticks employees started preparing for a 50-percent-off Christmas items sale at 8:30 a.m. When the doors opened at 9:30, the crowds poured in. The checkout line was 50 people deep within minutes.

At 11 a.m. Janet Loucks of Chaffee, Mo., waited midway through the line with a pile of ornaments, baskets and other Christmas items at her feet. She had been in line for 35 minutes already, but she said the wait was worth it.

"I shop here for presents before Christmas," she said. "I come here for me after Christmas."

For the Biggs family, shopping the day after Christmas is as much of a tradition as opening presents Christmas morning.

Sheila Biggs said she already had hit the mall and a few small shops with her mother and daughters before checking out The Fantasticks.

"It started several years ago," Biggs said. "My mother needed a helper to hold things while she shopped. Now it's an annual event."

Shoppers also lined up outside Carol's Hallmark Wednesday morning. At 9 a.m., clerk Pat Scheel opened the doors to a steady stream of shoppers.

"They were lined up outside, waiting in their cars for us to open," Scheel said. "When they saw me come in they followed me."

Jan Eichhorn of Cape Girardeau shopped at Hallmark for ornaments to decorate for Christmas next year. "As long as it's on sale I might as well buy it," she said.

Looking for bargains

Scheel said there were no returns by mid-morning Wednesday and only two exchanges.

Sears store manager Paul Hawkins said that was what he found at his store too.

"The past four or five years returns have been down," Hawkins said. "People are more into exchanging or bargain hunting now."

That's why Mary and Randall Smith drove from Fredericktown, Mo., with their sons Cory and Chris.

"We come out every year for the sales," Mary Smith said. "I'm shopping for myself. The boys like to come along because they usually get money for Christmas and they want to spend it."

While sales were heavy locally, nationally, retailers fear even if sales are brisk this week it probably won't save them from their worst shopping season in a decade.

The seven days leading up to the new year typically account for about 10 percent of total holiday sales, but this year those results were more important than usual. Merchants need to make room for spring goods, which start coming in at the end of the month.

Spring goods arriving

"Retailers have to be concerned with getting their stores ready for the spring selling season, and they must sell everything by mid to late January -- no matter what the cost," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group in Charleston, S.C.

Beemer noted that retailers don't want to repeat the mistakes of a year ago, when they couldn't move merchandise fast enough. "A lot of retailers were still having clearance sales in February and couldn't bring in their spring merchandise," he said.

Many stores had cut back on holiday inventories because of the slowdown, but those efforts weren't enough. As a result, discounts began early.

The markdowns intensified as Christmas approached, with some stores offering discounts of up to 75 percent, typical of what customers would find during post-holiday sales. Some of the biggest sales were for sweaters, coats and other heavy winter apparel because demand was stymied by warmer-than-usual weather.

Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report in Upper Montclair, N.J., expects shoppers to find "discounts galore."

"There is no question that customers will enjoy extraordinary opportunities for extraordinary bargains," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

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