Hawaii malls optimistic about holiday sales
Holiday sales have not been officially tallied, but local mall managers are optimistic.
Ala Moana Center is expecting the year 2006 to record a "strong" single-digit increase over 2005 figures, according to Matthew Derby, director of tourism and public relations for owner General Growth Properties Inc.
Holiday sales typically represent up to 25 percent of the center's annual sales volume, and Derby said that proportion is even higher for some of Ala Moana's individual retailers.
"Ala Moana Center had one of its best years ever for Ala Moana Center and General Growth Properties gift card sales this Holiday Season," said Derby, "which has fueled a lot of after-Christmas redemptions and shopping activity that is expected to extend through January."
Nationally, holiday sales were forecast to increase 5 percent in 2006 to $457.4 billion, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Retail Federation. The average shopper was expected to spend close to $800 in the 2006 holiday season, up about 7 percent from 2005.
One factor that could help boost sales this year, according to the federation, is that Christmas fell on a Monday, giving retailers an extra weekend to sell merchandise to holiday procrastinators.
Ala Moana Center, Pearlridge Center and Windward Mall held extended shopping hours this holiday season by opening as early as 6 a.m. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and keeping stores open later.
Fred Paine, general manager of Pearlridge Center, was upbeat.
"Everybody that I spoke to over the last few weeks felt very confident that (sales) would be equal to or exceed last year," Paine said. "But last year was also an exceptional season."
Jewelry stores at Pearlridge sold more big-ticket items last year, he said, but still reported doing well by selling smaller-ticket items this year.
Ron Yoda, general manager of Kahala Mall, said his overall feeling was that traffic ramped up right before Christmas Day, though he had no official numbers yet. The mall granted temporary leases to Brookstone and Santa's Pen, which helped draw additional traffic, along with the partial reopening of the Kahala Mall movie theater.