Hot start to shopping season, except Wal-Mart

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Retailers were optimistic but also a little uneasy going into the season, concerned that economic factors like the slowing housing market might make shoppers more conservative. And many shoppers interviewed during the weekend said they were trying to be budget-conscious.

Heather Ackors, 24, who was shopping on Friday at Wal-Mart in the Kansas City area suburb of Roeland Park, Kan., said she planned to spend less this year.

“Less, less is more,” Ackors said. “You’ve go to budget when you have a little kid. You’ve got to be careful. You can’t be spending up all the food budget on toys.”

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Still, the discounts accomplished what they were supposed to do for many retailers — get consumers spending early. Penney said in a statement Saturday that the holiday shopping season was “off to a good start.”

Karen MacDonald, spokeswoman at Taubman Centers Inc., which operates or owns 23 malls in 11 states, on Sunday reported “two solid days of post-Thanksgiving business.” According to a sampling of half of Taubman’s malls, business was up in the low to mid-single digits so far this weekend, she said. The most popular items were consumer electronics, cosmetics and toys; the weakest category was home furnishings.

Billie Scott, spokeswoman at Simon Property Group, which owns or operates 175 malls in 38 states, said that business was at least as good as a year ago.

But Wal-Mart had a slow start despite attracting crowds for special offers on flat-screen TVs and other items. The discounter said it expects to report a same-store sales decline of 0.1 percent in November, slightly below its projections for flat sales for the month. The results puzzled analysts as Wal-Mart has stepped up its discounting throughout the month, including offering certain generic drugs for as low as $4 per prescription.

As for Black Friday, C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, speculated that Wal-Mart customers might have looked only for special offers and so didn’t shop the entire store.

A clearer picture of how retailers’ sales fared over the Thanksgiving weekend will emerge Thursday, when merchants report monthly sales results for November.

“Consumers wanted bargains, and more bargains,” said Beemer. “You have to give the customer what they want at the price they want to pay or else you will lose them.”

Nicole Machica, who was at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance, Calif., had already spent a third of her projected $200 gift budget by Saturday afternoon, mostly on bargains. Her gifts included Barbies and a pair of pajama pants for her boyfriend “because they were on sale for $7.”

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