Holiday sales barely predicted to rise; local retailers predict sales will be OK
Beaumont, TX — Christmas has arrived at GiGi’s, A Children’s Boutique, on Dowlen Road.
And Halloween still is four Fridays away.
Owners Cara Kinchen and Suzette Smith already have received a shipment of Christmas clothes, and they’re gearing up for the busiest shopping season of the year.
Kinchen said there hasn’t been talk among customers of cutting corners this Christmas or spending less money. And she hopes she won’t hear that anytime soon.
“A lot of our customers are regulars that we know will come in,” Kinchen said. “But with the economy and hurricanes and everything, it’s kind of scary.”
The National Retail Federation predicted holiday sales (sales in the months of November and December) will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion – the slowest pace in six years.
For the last 10 years, holiday sales rose an average of 4.4 percent, except in 2002, when sales rose 1.3 percent.
But Mike Kraus, retail adviser for Allbusiness.com, an online media company that provides resources for businesses, said he thinks that’s a generous prediction.
“It comes down to consumer confidence, which is in the basement,” Kraus said.
“Consumers just aren’t shopping (like they have in the past). People are still going to buy gifts, but not nearly to the degree and dollar amount in the past.”
That’s something Debbie Bando-Duit, who owns three Bando’s locations in Beaumont, said she’s noticed recently in the gift shop in her store on 11th Street.
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