Area retailers offer end-of-the-year specials
Sharon and Don Anderson opened DeHerbert’s Women’s Apparel in 1981, and they both say they have been through ups and downs as retailers, something that comes with the territory.
“You have to plow forward,” Sharon Anderson said Wednesday morning as customers filtered in and out of her Harrison Avenue store.
Though the Andersons acknowledged business this holiday season was somewhat slower than last, Sharon Anderson said she was optimistic about the store’s overall end-of-the-year sales.
According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., the week after Christmas accounts for about 16 percent of total holiday sales, and DeHerbert’s and other Bay County retailers welcomed shoppers looking for post-Christmas deals. The sign outside of DeHerbert’s Wednesday announced a “25 percent off storewide” sale.
Sharon Anderson said she could remember only a couple of times since DeHerbert’s opening that the store had rolled out a storewide sale.
“We thought that would encourage people to shop, and it has. That’s a good thing,” Sharon Anderson said.
Similar signs touting huge sales were seen at the Panama City Mall on Wednesday. Sharon Anderson said she and her husband had anticipated sales might be down this year because of a lagging economy.
The International Council of Shopping Centers said same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year during the November-December period, appear to be coming in just below meager projections, though the report noted that post-Christmas buying could help restore the shortfall.
At noon on Wednesday, store owner Juli Hudson of St. Andrews’ Juli’s Consignment held her own day-after-Christmas sale, which included a 50-percent-off discount for knickknacks and 40 percent off for shoes.
Hudson said the week before Christmas produced solid sales.
She said she thought the holiday shopping season would be slower this year, with the economy and higher gas prices contributing factors.
The store’s L.A. Fashions’ clothing items sold well this year, and Hudson said she expects 2008 to get off to a good sales start, with Mardi Gras in St. Andrews and the return of Snowbird and Spring Break customers.
“I usually do well during that period,” Hudson said.
Panama City Mall marketing manager Kim Wise said Monday that the mall’s office, as well as mall stores, had sold a lot of gift cards in an otherwise slow sales season.
According to the National Retail Federation, consumers were expected to spend a total of $26.3 billion in gift cards this holiday season, up 42 percent from $18.5 billion in 2005.