Holidays challenge independent stores further

Sometimes a negative for the economy, such as a weak dollar, can help retailers.

Joanie McDonald, who owns Jennifer Reale Design, an upscale women's fashion boutique in Delray Beach, Fla., hears from other retailers that business is slow and hopes are dim for the holidays. At her store, however, "business is good and I'm expecting a very strong season."

McDonald said her success is coming from the foreign tourists who have been streaming into Florida to take advantage of currency rates as well as the sun and sand.

"I had a group of women in my store today that spent $500," McDonald said. "I'm very impressed with the number of foreigners we get in and the money they're spending."

There are Borders and Barnes & Noble Inc. stores in Austin, Texas, but Steve Bercu, CEO of BookPeople, a huge store in the capital's downtown area, has few if any concerns.

"We've had our best season in store history each of the last seven years and I'm expecting this year to be another really pretty good year," Bercu said.

BookPeople differentiates itself from the chains in several ways. It offers a big selection of gifts alongside its massive book inventory; Bercu estimates gifts account for 30 percent of revenues. It also has developed its own offbeat culture — BookPeople is a proponent of a tongue-in-cheek movement called Keep Austin Weird — and uses it as a marketing tool.

"We have a looser view of things," Bercu said.

BookPeople also holds programs that go beyond the typical author signings. It holds literary day camps for children of different ages, hoping to create a new generation of customers.

Being different has also helped keep Plum, a Harrisburg, Pa., women's clothing store in business for 40 years, and owner Isaac Mishkin expects that to help him through a sales slowdown that has also afflicted other retailers in the area.

"Our year was fine until two months ago and then had what I'd say is a 10 percent decline," said Mishkin, adding that sales look like they're picking up now.

What has worked for him is to stock clothes that are different from competitors', especially the national apparel chains. Mishkin's clothes are moderate to upscale, and he'll buy merchandise, including some suits that can run $800 to $900, with groups of his customers in mind; by knowing what they're looking for, he buys clothes he knows he can sell.

He's expecting sales to bump higher as the season progresses, but the difficult environment will likely shave his sales and margins somewhat.

"When it's all said and done, we'll probably end up a couple percent in sales and down a couple percent in profit," he said.

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