Tidings of Profit and Joy

Browsing the aisles of a Broadway store in Los Angeles last week, Donna Darr glowed with confidence. Like the cheery crowds around her, Darr was in the mood to buy. Said she: "Things are better this year. I have more money, and I'm going all out."

That Christmas spirit of spending was in the air as shoppers embarked on a robust post-Thanksgiving Day parade into stores. No longer held back by recession worries, consumers were buying presents that ranged from stocking stuffers to such big-ticket items as television sets and refrigerators. This season's merry merchants expect holiday revenues to climb by a healthy 10%, after four years of slack sales. Shopkeepers feel confident because customers have got the spending itch so early this year. When Dallas-based Neiman-Marcus opened its first Chicago outlet on Nov. 5, some 40,000 shoppers crowded into the aisles in one day. Says General Manager Lawrence Gore: "It's phenomenal. It's crazy every day."

Consumers are showing a renewed taste for extravagance. Among the most popular items are high-fashion clothes and high-tech gadgetry. Shoppers are buying Oriental rugs, videocassette recorders, fur-tipped sweaters, microwave ovens and lots of costume jewelry. In toy departments, traditional and huggable products are upstaging video games. This year's hits: Coleco's pudgy Cabbage Patch Kids (about $35) and Kenner's fuzzy Care Bears (about $23). Military toys like Hasbro's G.I. Joe have also made a comeback.

The department-store industry has been enjoying a boom since last April, and the holiday sales surge should push earnings even higher. Third-quarter profits were up dramatically. K mart's earnings increased 171%, to $81 million over the same period last year. At Associated Dry Goods, which owns Lord & Taylor and Caldor stores, profits increased 74%, to $14.3 million.

Just about the only way the Grinch could steal this holly-jolly Christmas would be for stores to run out of merchandise. Having been stuck with unsold goods last year, many retailers ordered too cautiously for this season. Still, a few empty shelves will be more appealing to shopkeepers than empty aisles. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.