Throwback Thursday – Christmas Shopping

PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) – Though Christmas has come and gone, the holiday shopping season was in high gear for weeks leading up to it. For many retailers, the rush began the day after Thanksgiving and shaped much of their year’s success. It’s the focus of this week’s Throwback Thursday with Brian Bouchard.

From crowded parking lots to jam packed aisles, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas can make or break a store’s bottom line, with the National Retail Federation estimating that Holiday shopping accounts for nearly 30% of all annual retail sales. In this week’s Throwback Thursday, we dial the time machine back to 1984 where WAGM reporter Frank Graff took a closer look at how businesses were preparing for a critical holiday season.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, as well as the weekend following, are traditionally the busiest days of the year for retailers, and a check with several stores throughout the county today showed parking lots to be full. Aisleways crowded and cash registers ringing.

“And as you can see, it’s quite exciting today, We had a good flow of traffic. The weather is in our favor. It’s the start of our holiday season.”

“I think it’s going to get busier as a Christmas gets closer. Been busy this morning right off from the start. I’ll probably get busier.”

“It’s busier than usual for the holidays.”

“Very good, very good. And we’re looking for better things than last year.”

The four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas is vital for retailers. Most take in 30 to 40% and possibly even more of their total yearly sales during that one month period. Economists are mixed, though, in their views of how the Christmas buying season will be this year, most agree the economy is slowing down, but they say that consumers are still willing to spend and spend a lot for gifts that are carefully thought out. But they differ as to how rosy the picture will be for retailers. Not only are sales going down, but to make matters even worse, many retailers were caught short by the surge in buyer demand last year. The result, Many inventories are higher than expected, which means good buys for the price conscious consumer. Still, economists say that with an upbeat consumer, and if retailers are willing to promote their stores and their sales. Christmas should be cheerful for all concerned.

“Oh yeah, I think everybody’s in an upbeat. It’s the first time in years that all the news media hasn’t been crying the Blues. Seems to be looking. Interest rates are going down and all from all reports everything should be great this season.”

“I think it’s going to be a good holiday. I think you’re going to find a lot of promotional activity going on. Going to be consumers buying market.”

“It’s just an advantage for me to be off of work and my daughter’s out of school, so we were taking advantage of the day.”

“Like everybody else is, you know, biggest day of the year, right?”

One of the most popular Christmas songs of all time is white Christmas. And while most people are hoping for that, retailers are also hoping for a Green one. And judging from the Business Today, it looks like they’ll get it.

Frank Graff, News Line 8.

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