By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Stores are holding big sales to lure shoppers this season.
Above, browsers and buyers cruised Sears at
Ala Moana yesterday.

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It’s a buyer’s market
this holiday season

The shopping centers
are full of 'sale' signs
to attract customers

By Susan Kreifels
Star-Bulletin

Christmas shoppers are finding a buyer's market in stores here this holiday season, with plenty of bargains as retailers compete for their dollars.

But even with "Holiday Sale" signs decorating Ala Moana Center yesterday, people appeared to be looking more than buying, with lines at the registers short.

"There are so many sales now, it tends to confuse them," said Stanley Nako, operations manager at Ala Moana's Sears Roebuck and Co.

"I saw people walking but not many packages in hand. They're trying to make a decision. It's a buyer's market. It makes us (retailers) nervous."

During one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year -- the one before Christmas -- shoppers marveled that there were so many sales and still empty parking stalls.

Crowds were not as big as they had expected or retailers had hoped. Although Sears had a good day Saturday, yesterday was slower than expected, and generally Christmas sales are down this year, Nako said.

Derek Miyasato, co-manager of the Foot Locker at Ala Moana, gave similar assessments of Christmas business. "It's the economy," Miyasato said. "There are a lot more sales going on than in the past. It's a good time for customers."

Scenes like yesterday are bad news at the end of a bad business year in Hawaii. And with Asia's economy in turmoil, economists predict 1998 won't be any better.

While some people said they put off shopping till the last minute because they were short on time, others said they were bargain-hunting in a tight economy.

"Times are tough," said shopper Doreen Thornton, 45, of Waipahu.

Angie Cordeiro, 41, of Salt Lake, said she should have waited to Christmas shop instead of doing it earlier in the year. "With all these sales, I might as well have waited instead of finding storage space at home," Cordeiro said.

Cordeiro said she has found shopping less crowded everywhere this year.

Shoppers living on the mainland, where the economy is generally steaming along, said they found Hawaii malls a pleasant surprise because they weren't so crowded.

"This is nothing," Lily Aseo said about crowds at Ala Moana. Aseo, who lives in Fremont, Calif., is visiting her family in Pearl City. "It's worse in California."

Some retailers said business was better this year. Raymond Le, general manager of Toys N Joys in Kaimuki, said business was up 10 percent over last year. The store has advertised heavily this year.

Nako said competition among retailers is strong. And a look at the discount signs lining the mall -- some as high as 75 percent off on merchandise -- backs that up.

Still, some shoppers said they were out yesterday, not for bargains, but for an age-old reason. "I'm a procrastinator," said Tupu Tufele, 27, of Honolulu. "I just hate the malls, I hate the crowds, I hate the lines."