SHOPPERS GET AN EARLY START

The Christmas shopping season officially gets under way Friday.

But consumers were out in force last weekend, taking advantage of well-stock shelves and good prices.

"I don't have figures, but I can tell you that last weekend was a big one here," said Karen Beckman, manager of West Park Mall. "Our parking lot was almost filled. We had great traffic inside and overall we had a busy mall."

With many big sales in progress -- including Famous Barr and J.C. Penney Co. -- and the arrival of Santa Claus, shoppers were out in force.

Some of the shoppers may have trickled over from arts and crafts shows held at three Cape Girardeau sites Saturday and Sunday, which attracted several thousand people.

"We had great weather all weekend," added Beckman. "I think when we receive the vehicle count totals, last weekend will shake out to be comparable with the Thanksgiving weekend of last year."

Jo Sharp, manager of Famous Barr in West Park Mall, agreed.

"We had a really great sale last weekend," she said. "We had good response, and it turned out to be the biggest sale of the year for us."

The weekend following Turkey Day is the traditional kickoff to the Christmas holiday shopping season. If last weekend's crowds are an indication, this looks to be a record year for area merchants.

"We're certainly looking forward to next weekend, and those following," Sharp said.

"We've been selling a lot of Christmas the past month," said Harry Rediger of Penney's. "We're finding that more and more Christmas shoppers are buying early and late."

Many consumers weren't waiting for Thanksgiving to go shopping. And shoppers aren't concentrating their efforts in any one location.

Shopping traffic was heavy in the Town Plaza Shopping Center, in downtown Cape Girardeau, and in the area of Crossroads Shopping Center near the intersection of Kingshighway and Independence.

"We sold a lot of Christmas last weekend," said Mike Pind of Chrisman Art Gallery & Outfitters, 34 N. Main in downtown Cape. "We had great crowds last weekend, and are looking forward to more of the same this weekend."

Pind, who is anticipating a good Christmas season for Chrisman, said a number of big-ticket items were sold last weekend.

Kent Zickfield, president of the Downtown Merchants Association and owner of Zickfield Jewelers and Gemologists, said traffic was up over the weekend.

"We had good sales and we had a lot of lookers," he said.

Zickfield is anticipating another big weekend coming up.

"We always have good traffic on Thanksgiving weekend," he said. "And Sunday, we'll have our annual Christmas parade."

"Every day seems better than the last," said Judy Wilferth, owner of Crossroads Shopping and Professional Center at the intersection of Independence Kingshighway, and operator of some retail operations there, including Children's Bazaar. "We're looking forward to a super holiday shopping season."

"We feel that Sandy's has increased the traffic at Crossroads," said Wilferth. Sandy's, a women's sportswear store, opened at #4 Crossroads early this year.

"We gift-wrapped a lot of things last weekend," said Rodney Bridges of Garber's Men's Wear in Town Plaza Shopping Center. "The weather was good, traffic was good, sales were good."

"Things were crazy here Saturday," said Scott Shivelbine, of Shivelbine's Music Store, 535 Broadway. "We had great traffic Thursday, Friday and Saturday."

Shivelbine added that this week was also off to a good start. "We were busy Monday," said Shivelbine, who feels the business will get better this weekend and continue to Christmas.

"We had a lot of lookers on some big-ticket items for the family," he said. "I think people are doing lot of comparative shopping this year."

Surveys of shoppers taken by a variety of companies all point to higher spending by consumers this year. How much people will buy is hard to tell, though.

A MasterCard poll predicts shoppers will spend an average of $486 each but a canvass by the International Mass Retailers Association says consumers will spend an average of $700.

Analysts predict overall holiday sales will rise 5.5 percent to 6.5 percent from last Christmas, citing a stronger economy and more people are working this year than last.