YULE SEASON USHERS IN NEW HOPE FOR ECONOMY

Christmas is meant to be a season of good cheer and giving. This nation's business community could use some of both. Most retailers do the majority of their year's business at this time of year, and signs are pointing to a prosperous yule season. Such indications are good for merchants and the economy in general. We hope it comes to pass.

This week, a business research organization called the Conference Board released a survey showing that consumer confidence is on the rise. According to the survey, Christmas gift spending is expected to increase by about $23 per American household this year. Retailing consultant Walter Loeb, though conceding the industry is approaching this season cautiously, forecasts as much as a 6.5 percent increase in sales.

While these numbers offered some quantitative hope for retailers, one needed only to look at the parking lots of area stores Friday to know that shoppers are ready to oblige. (A cold snap Friday might have also put shoppers in a Christmas frame of mind; psychologically, nothing melts the yule spirit more than a sunny late November day with a temperature in the 60s.) True, recent times are keeping consumers mindful of their budgets, and good sales and bargain merchandise still get special attention, but shoppers are likely to be more relaxed than in recent past years.

None of this is to suggest that retailers can sit back and let the cash registers ring. If nothing else, the weakened economy of late and increased competition have taught businesses they must do their jobs better, buy smarter, be innovative, staff themselves more efficiently and, above all, service their customers. Some of those same lessons are reflected in the publication you now hold; the Southeast Missourian is testing a Saturday edition as a means of better serving our customers, testing the skills and resourcefulness of our employees and exploring a market niche that might be fruitful. We are not unique in this regard, but we are proud to be just one of the businesses in this community trying to strengthen ourselves and the economy through invention and hard work.

While Christmas displays have been in stores for some time, Friday marked the traditional beginning of the yule shopping season. From all appearances, things are off to a good start. We will not lose sight of Christmas as a holy time of year, whose true meaning is in our hearts and not our pocketbooks, but it bears noting that times for our business community seem to be improving.