Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

2 Christmas c: A fu/PS Darav^A oiarr Kopom The Christmas shoppinj season seems to start earliei each year. Before some mer chants take down the Halloween jack-o'-lanterns they've already trimmed the Christmas trees. In other words, Christmas shopping is not just big busi ness; it's the make or breal time of year for many retailers. While big departmeni stores can usually absorb the k1 a ttt ac a ^ioonnninfinf uiu w ui a uioappuiuuiuf Christmas season, many smal businesses and seasonal spe cialty shops cannot. According to Jin Overstreet, director of th< USC's Center for retailing even the most experience( retailer has difficulty predict ing how business will fare dur ing the holidays. "Retailers look at las year's sales, interest rates an< credit card spending level: . when deciding how much mer chandise to stock," Overstree said. "But predicting how i business will do during the hoi idays is still a crap shoot. Ii the end, you have to go wit! CROSS' SINCE 1046 Lifetime Mechanical Guarantee an make or br your gut feeling." r The merchants who are - hurt the most by a lackluster PVatnafmoa aVannm'nrr anocnn aro ViU 10 VlllUU OUUOWli U1V i those who deal in perishable , items such as Christmas trees, j Overstreet said. "Selling Christmas trees is i risky business because, unlike - shops that can store their holii day items until the next year, tree sellers have to throw away t their stock." 5 For a tree seller, predicting r how many trees to stock is not 1 much different from a restau rant owner deciding how much food to cook or a grocery store 1 deciding how many bananas to j buy, Overstreet said. , "After a limited period of 1 i-- L.i. J >4- 11 ??? 1 time, wlicit yviL uun t sen, )uu - have to throw away. The differ ence is, a restaurant or grocery store owner has better historit cal data to go by, they do this i every day instead of once a s year," he said. Competition from grocery t stores and home improvement a outlets are also putting a - squeeze on independent tree a sellers, Overstreet said. 1 For toy sellers, forecasting This holiday sea pen and pen Phone: 803/256-66 Holiday Shopper eak retailers what toys to stock for Christmas can be a big dilemma. "Manufacturers force retailers to commit really early to what they will stock for Christmas. So it's really risky to speculate on what the 'hot' toys will be. A lot of it depends on how much money a retailer or manufacturer is willing to put behind a product," Overstreet said. Cunnvt T miwir r? i?no AO uusau uaui y, a. icocaiui economist at USC, says retailers shouldn't worry too mush about this year's Christmas buying season. "All indications are that this year's retail sales will be in pretty good shape for the holidays," She said. Laury said retail sales during the third quarter - which includes July, August and September - showed a 4 percent growth rate. "But a lot of retailers have been doing a tremendous amount of discounting, so while sales are expected to be up this Christmas, earnings for retailers might be down from last year." she said. son take $ 10 off a gr cil sets. Perfect for evei Our Holiday Sale is on nc Je 66 Fax: 803/252-0459 Phone: 803/777 Best Buy prepar snoppers oy spe BEN PILLOW Asst. Features Editor Having already established itse buy" in the eyes of many, consumei rate chain that goes by that very i season. Well, for a start, Best Buy nn and offers more financing opportur perfect Christmas gift that much m "It's a constant thing as far as of the Best Buy at 370 Harbison E do a lot of things with computers { special financing." In addition to also offering mor Buy at 6912 Two Notch Rd. is runn the holiday season instead of thei i? n??l weeiv, cuaajj. u.mg tu vjenciai ivxaiiag' which is run out of the corporate ofl "There are between 35 and 5( Schreivogal said. Best Buy has also extended th< holiday season, which unofficially 1 to 9 a.m.-lO p.m. Monday through Sunday. "Generally, 30 to 35 percent of holiday season," Schreivogal said. That number is slightly lo\ Boulevard, but 20 to 25 percent o still a formidable chunk, Hamilton ^ninrr fonfoofin Kncinooc UAJlilg UUJiilLJ,! ourselves in the market," Hamiltt low...that's why we're Best Buy." 1 . C nI I? eat selection ot uross~ -yone on your list! >w! -4160 Fax: 803/777-8673 Friday, December 8,1995 es for holiday iniolft irlo rUICIId, QUO slf as the place to go for the "best s may ask what more the corpoaame can do during the holiday is more specials in publications lities, making the search for the ore accommodating, advertising," assistant manager ilvd. Mickey Hamilton said. "We md electronics and offer a lot of e financing promotions, the Best ing multiple specials throughout r standard one advertisement a Br Greg Schreivogal, a campaign ice in Minnesota. ) items on sale any given day," Bir hours of operation during the *uns from November to January, Saturday and 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on our yearly sales come during the ver at the store on Harbison f business for the whole year is said. because of the way we structure >n said. "Our prices are always