As Danbury Fair”™s senior manager for marketing, Melissa Eigen liked what she saw over the Thanksgiving weekend.
She lacked hard numbers for sales across the mall”™s 1.3 million square feet, but reported firsthand, “The parking lots were full. We had lots of shoppers with lots of shopping bags.”
Nationally, Eigen said, retailers are expecting a 3.9 percent uptick from last year”™s sales figures, which were, in turn, already up 3.5 percent from 2011, as charted by the National Retail Federation. Eigen used the term “cautiously optimistic” to paint the coming holiday sales season, which this year found Hanukkah arriving with Thanksgiving.
Post-turkey Thanksgiving shopping is a relatively new trend that has been embraced at Danbury Fair. Eigen said 44 stores opened at 8 o”™clock Thanksgiving night, including three of the center”™s department stores. “The retailers did not disappoint with great sales,” Eigen said. “Again, a lot of shoppers with lots and lots of bags.”
Danbury Fair does not passively await the crowds. Families are invited to bring their pets Mondays from 6 to 9 p.m. to meet Santa and get their pictures taken. And for three Wednesdays ”” Dec. 4, 11 and 18 ”” the mall hosts a concert series of songs and short performances from family favorites like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
Marcia O”™Kane, executive director of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interest of some 4,000 businesses, expressed similar findings after a Dec. 2 walking tour of her bailiwick.
“All the stores on Greenwich Avenue were reporting increased traffic,” O”™Kane said. “A large percentage of stores reported stronger sales than normal, with Jack Wills ” ”” a clothing and accessories store ”” “through the roof. We saw a lot of family activity, a lot of families window shopping, enjoying the days. Sales were good and only a couple of businesses reported business as usual. I”™m just happy the stores are so delighted with the results.”
The Greenwich store windows will have their own turn in the limelight Dec. 11, 5:30 p.m., at the Bruce Museum when the flashiest (or most sincere) will receive awards.
Bruce McCain manages investments nationally for Key Bank, which operates branches throughout the tristate region.
“In our view, holiday sales won”™t be great but they won”™t be terrible either,” McCain said. “For the most part, this should be an OK year with sales increasing between 3 percent and 3.5 percent over 2012, and that is in line with the 10-year average growth rate in holiday sales.
“In our view, there are three themes that we expect to persist throughout the 2013 holiday shopping season,” he said. “No. 1, retailers continue to feel a sense of urgency; No. 2, consumers will remain value conscious; and No. 3, e-commerce sales will become an even bigger driver of the retail sector”™s overall growth.”
McCain cited fewer shopping days this year than last, saying, “Retailers have been feeling the pressure of this year”™s compressed calendar because there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas compared to last year.”
The result was greater impetus to open on Thanksgiving. “Retailers have rolled out promotions earlier this year and more stores plan on being open on Thanksgiving day,” McCain said. “Retailers want to get shoppers in their stores as early as possible in order to fight for consumer discretionary dollars that might not be there later in the season.”
Brick-and-mortar- themed Small Business Saturday, Nov. 30, gave way to so-called Cyber Monday on Dec. 2. McCain cited the Internet analytics firm comScore, saying, “Holiday e-commerce sales are expected to grow 13 percent to 15 percent this year. With consumers continuing to look for value and convenience when they shop, growth in the online channel is going to remain strong for some time.”
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