ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 27, 1996 TAG: 9612270047
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
While national chain stores cut prices in a last-ditch effort to attract shoppers and salvage a generally disappointing holiday season, Roanoke-area merchants said their stores had a very good Christmas season.
Even so, local retailers said the post-holiday sales that began Thursday are important to them financially and to clear seasonal merchandise.
"We had a great year - a very solid fall and Christmas," said Rusty Lester, owner of Frances Kahn, a woman's apparel shop in Roanoke County. He said holiday sales were up 16 percent over last year.
The clearance time always is important, he said, but sales normally produce good business. "It's the time before Christmas that's touch and go," Lester said.
Jeff Wendell, owner of the John Norman clothing stores, described the season as "pretty good." He said the result will be pretty close to last year's.
Inventories are lower than last year, he reported. That means customers seeking to exchange Christmas gifts should come early for the best choices. Desirable items are disappearing quickly, Wendell said.
"Our season was unbelievably wonderful," said Nancy Cole, owner of Toad'ly Kids at The Forum. "We had an incredible season."
Cole keeps her records by the month, but she estimated that December sales will add up to about 11 percent more than last December's. That's pretty good for a small store, she said.
Still, it's important that sales clear winter merchandise, Cole said, because "we have a bunch of spring stuff in boxes ready to go on the floor."
A spokeswoman at Bonomo's in Blacksburg said its women's apparel stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys "had a very good year, a very good Christmas."
Everything in the stores was marked down one-third on Thursday, and traffic was brisk.
The season started strong for Roanoke-based Davidson's men's clothing chain, sagged in the middle and ended strongly. The result, said the company's president Larry Davidson, was "pretty good."
"We had a very strong Christmas," as did many stores specializing in luxury goods, according to Marc Fink of the Roanoke-based Fink's jewelry chain. He said sales were up 15 percent to 18 percent at his stores that were operating last December.
"This was a very strong diamond year," Fink said.
Unlike apparel stores, jewelers do not conduct clearance sales. Jewelry does not go in or out of fashion nor is it seasonal the way winter clothing is, Fink said.
At the Ram's Head Book Shop at Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke, owner Lolly Rosemond said that "business has been good. We were quite pleased."
Frank Ewald of the Ewald Clark chain of camera and photography supplies shops said he "breathed a sigh of relief" because his stores recovered from the poor seasons of the past three or four years.
Noteworthy, he said, was the performance of his downtown Roanoke store, which "held its own and stopped its slide" this year. With the closing of Heironimus across the street this year, Ewald said, he had "expected more bleeding."
Nationally, many retailers are expected to barely meet modest sales targets of 4 percent to 5 percent increases.
``Profits will be better than they were last year but not by a big margin simply because for the most part retailers didn't meet their sales goals,'' said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Marketing Report, a national newsletter.
Although sales will be higher than last year's dismal 2 percent jump, they won't be as high as many retailers had hoped.
Retailers that sell higher-end goods, such as Neiman Marcus Group Inc., and mid-priced department store chains, such as Sears, Roebuck & Co., had the best sales increases overall, analysts said.
Mid-price department store chains are expected to fare the best in December, with Sears reporting 7 percent gain in sales at stores open at least a year. By similar comparisons, sales are expected to rise 5 percent at J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and 2 percent at May Department Stores Co., parent of Hecht's.
Of the major discount stores, sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are expected to rise 6 percent, while Kmart Corp. is expected to report a 1 percent gain.
To get the most accurate picture of overall holiday sales strength, though, most analysts said November and December results must be combined because retailers report sales on different calendars.
Bloomberg Business News contributed to this report.
LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL Staffi 1. Above, Valley View Mall shoppersby CNBspend Christmas cash or make exchanges. 2. At left, a store clerk
marks down items for a day-after -Christmas sale. color.