Unimpressive weekend has retailers nervous

updated 10:55 a.m. ET Dec. 17, 2007

NEW YORK - Following a lukewarm shopping weekend, the nation’s stores are now focusing their attention on the final week leading to Christmas, as consumers seem to be postponing more of their buying to the last minute compared to a year ago.

Just as malls and stores ushered in the official start of the holiday season with expanded hours and generous discounts, they plan to do the same in the final stretch. Macy’s Inc. plans to pull all-nighters at several of its stores, including its Manhattan flagship, starting Friday. Toys “R” Us plans to keep its doors open until midnight every day until Dec. 24.

Based on early reports from analysts and malls on Sunday, sales results were generally unimpressive this past weekend, as shoppers were held back by a snow storm that spread a mix of sleet, freezing rain and snow from the Great Lakes states to New England. Consumers, fretting about economic worries, were also delaying their shopping even more this year, knowing there’s a full weekend before Christmas, when the bargains will be even better.

Meanwhile, for online retailers, which likely finished their busiest days last week, their fate appears to be already sealed: Holiday sales didn’t live up to industry’s hopes as lower-income shoppers pulled back on spending amid a housing slump. ComScore Inc. reported Sunday that online sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 14 rose 18 percent — less than the 26 percent growth rate seen in the same period a year ago and the 20 percent projection for the season.

“This holiday season at this point has been disappointing, whether they’re brick and mortar, catalog or online,” said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, based in Charleston, S.C. “Shopper are more frugal and cost-conscious because they have less money to spend.” As for Saturday and Sunday, he said, “This weekend was busy, but it wasn’t huge.”

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Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak RCT Corp., was more upbeat, noting that the fate of the holiday season depends on the final stretch, predicting business in the final days will be “huge.” According to ShopperTrak, five of the remaining days left until Christmas account for the biggest sales days of the season.

Shoppers at malls over the weekend seemed to be taking their time.

“I think there’s better deals now,” said Mike Weigel of Shoreview, Minn. He just started holiday shopping and was on the hunt for a plasma TV while at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., Friday afternoon.

“I always like to wait until the panic rush,” said Michelle Williams of Kingwood, Texas, who was at the Woodlands Mall near Houston. She had just started Friday night. “I want to get it all done this week,” he added.

After a strong Thanksgiving weekend, the official start of the holiday shopping season, business has slowed even more than normal, resulting in mixed November results for retailers and uneven business so far in December. There’s been a shopping frenzy surrounding such hard-to-find items as Nintendo Co.’s Wii and UGG Australian sheepskin boots, and anything from Walt Disney Co.’s Hannah Montana and “High School Musical” franchises have been hugely popular. But generally there seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for holiday buying.

“I am trying to get almost everybody done in one shot, type of thing, because I am pretty busy with school and work and stuff. So I’m basically tired,” said Melissa Browne-Smith, who was at Stonestown Mall in San Francisco on Saturday night.

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