Published: December 02, 2007 12:56 am            

‘Could be a whole lot worse’

Local retailers seeing a successful holiday shopping season

EDMOND — Black Friday kicked off a holiday shopping season that has retailers across the country — and in Edmond — seeing green.

According to information from the International Council of Shopping Centers, U.S. combined retail sales for Black Friday and Black Saturday rose 7.2 percent above the comparable period last year.

Local merchants are reporting a good start to the holidays as well.

B.J. Robinson, a sales clerk at Cinnamon Bears LLC, said the post-Thanksgiving weekend was very busy in downtown Edmond, in spite of dire forecasts.

“I think it has been fantastic,” she said. “We were really skeptical, because you read all this doom and gloom about gas prices and stock prices and the housing market, so we expected the worst.”

Instead, Robinson said, “We couldn’t have been more pleased.” Sales on Black Friday and the following two days were brisk, she reported.

Weather may be a factor in Edmond’s pre-holiday retail scene, Robinson said.

“I think it has really helped that we had a cold snap. People were just ready to get out, and they brought their out-of-town company along when they went shopping.”

Janet Yowell, executive director of the Edmond Economic Development Authority, said a good holiday buying season will help end the year on a positive note.

“Retailers across the country have been aggressive, and Black Friday sales (nationwide) were up more than 8 percent. That’s pretty encouraging,” she said.

But Mickey Hepner, associate professor of economics at the University of Central Oklahoma, said the sales forecast across the country remains more questionable.

“Nationwide, the picture is pretty clear; it’s shaping up to be kind of a rough Christmas,” he said.

Hepner cited several factors, including a decline in home prices, rising oil and gas prices, slowing of the overall economy and a sagging consumer confidence.

But in Oklahoma, and particularly in Edmond, things look more positive.

“Our (state’s) economy is somewhat protected from some of those forces,” he said. “Increased energy prices help increase income, with higher profits for our oil and gas companies, and we haven’t seen the same decline in house prices as other places.”

City leaders are hoping sales in November and December will help make up for lagging sales tax receipts earlier in the year.

Edmond sales tax collections for fiscal year 2007-08, which began July 1, are up only 4.56 percent from 2006, Yowell said. The city’s budget is based on a projected 7 percent increase, so the shortfall since July is about 2.5 percent.

Will the holiday shopping season make up that deficit?

“I would think so,” Yowell said.

Some nationwide studies predict high gas prices might put a crimp in holiday shopping budgets, but Yowell said she hasn’t heard much about the topic locally.

“I don’t think gas prices are so much a factor in Edmond,” she said. “People still get out and go where they want to go.”

Hepner remains optimistic about end-of-the-year retail sales locally.

“There’s a lot of reason to think Edmond will be in pretty good shape,” he said.

Ken Moore, president and CEO of the Edmond Area Chamber of Commerce, agreed.

“Things could be better, but they could be a whole lot worse.”



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