Sunday, December 24, 2006
“It’s looking like it’s going to be a really good season,” said Tammy Darnell, manager of Liberty Fair Mall in Martinsville. Darnell said she did not yet have the exact sales figures, but traffic seems to be higher and early indications show sales are up at the mall. Darnell said she believed the shopping season started slowly because of the weather.
It is hard to get in the Christmas shopping spirit when its 70 degrees outside, she noted. However, she said Friday she expected a rush of last minute shoppers this weekend, in anticipation of Monday’s Christmas holiday. “I think the weekend’s going to finish really, really strong,” she said.
At Kmart, store manager Jackie Younger said the Christmas season has been good “for the location and the buyers market we’re in.” She also did not have sales figures or a percentage change over last year to share. “Christmas looks good, though,” she said.
And like Darnell, she expected a rush this weekend. Rick McDonald, co-manager of the Wal-Mart in Martinsville, would not quote sales figures but said they are about “flat” compared to last year. The newly opened Wal-Marts in Stuart and Mayodan mean fewer people are traveling to Henry County to shop here, but that was expected.
“It’s about where we thought it was going to be,” he said. Judy Smith, manager of Rose’s, also did not share sales figures or percentages, but said “it’s going great.” “I would say that we have exceeded last year,” she said, but not by a great margin.
“Usually the last week is our best week,” she said. Store managers said electronics, including iPods and the new video game consoles, such as Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii, are popular, as are certain toys such as Tickle Me Elmo TMX. McDonald said that the iPod is becoming a traditional gift.
Other good sellers in electronics were DVD recorders and flatscreen televisions. Sweaters were popular at Kmart because of a special price but overall, warm weather has decreased the demand for winter clothing. At Kaybee Toys in Liberty Fair Mall, Assistant Manager Kenny Biggs said the new Elmo doll is the hot toy.
“I sold about 60 Elmos. We sell them out like in one day,” he said. The store also gets a lot of calls about the Nintendo Wii and the Playstation 3, he said, but only carries handheld video games now.
There was great demand but short supply for the two new video game consoles, managers said. “We did get a few in for this season, not as many as we would like,” said Younger. McDonald said that at Wal-Mart, the shipments of the $600 Playstation 3 Wal-Mart sold out the first day.
The Wii is doing “at least as good,” he said, in part because of its $250 price tag and also because of innovations in the way it is controlled that make it easier for more people to play. “The Wii’s just so interactive. I think it appeals to a broader range,” he said.
Replay Games in Collinsville had not gotten shipments of the two new consoles yet, but store manager Josh Walthall said it gets many calls about it. People are buying a console that was released last year, the Xbox 360, which is in ample supply this year. They also are buying new and used games for all systems.
“We stay busy,” he said. Walthall had no sales comparison to last year, however, because Replay Games in Collinsville opened this year.
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