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Hernando Today

Sometimes It's Better To Shop On Christmas Eve

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: December 25, 2008

SPRING HILL - Some of the folks shopping on Christmas Eve weren't from here.

They were in town visiting relatives. They simply wanted to avoid bringing all of their gifts with them.

That was the most common reason for waiting until the day before Christmas. Fighting the crowds at the local stores seemed like a better alternative to stuffing wrapped presents into a suitcase and dragging them through the mobbed airport.

"I didn't want to carry all of my gifts down here," said Jill Stone, of Cape Cod, Mass.

Her mother, Debbie Stone of Spring Hill, did most of her shopping before her daughter's arrival, but held out for her last few gifts. She didn't want her to shop alone.

There were plenty of local shoppers like Jill Stone - out-of-towners spending money in Hernando County - but if retailers were relying on Christmas Eve business to bolster their annual profits, they are likely to be disappointed.

The Kohl's in Spring Hill looked nothing like the typical day before Christmas. Some of the check-out lines at the front of the store were empty.

Smaller-than-average crowds have been the norm since Black Friday.

"(Christmas Eve) was even more depressing than normal," said Britt Beemer, chairman of the American Research Group, a consumer-behavior research firm out of Charleston, S.C. "The whole season was a disappointment."

He visited several retailers throughout the day Wednesday and the results were the same for all of them, he said. The stores were nearly vacant.

"There were a lot of big deals out there," said Beemer. "A lot of stores were selling things for 40, 50 and 70 percent off and still nobody showed up."

The sales at Kohl's did not go unappreciated by those few shoppers who did visit the store Wednesday.

Jennifer Skinner of Spring Hill was searching for jewelry for her preteen daughter. She paced herself during the Christmas shopping season - she started early and finished on the last possible day.

"I'm basically doing a few more last-minute things," she admitted. "I'm so glad this is here. It's really nice to walk into a store and get some extra discounts."

The crowds were larger at Target, but they were still far from record-setting levels. If there was a drop in sales at the chain, no one told company spokeswoman Donna Egan.

"It's been crazy, but in a good way," she said. "We have tons of great merchandise and we're already seeing big crowds."

Regardless of what is being said by retailers, the 2008 Christmas shopping season is shaping up to be one of the worst in decades, economists have said. That is sobering news for an industry that makes up to 40 percent of its annual profits between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

"It's reached the point that 30 percent of people are concerned about their jobs," said Beemer. "When consumers are in the mindset, they can go into survival mode. They only want to buy what they feel they need. They buy groceries ... They don't buy too many gifts."

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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