Dec 11, 2009

Holiday Shopping Notebook: post-Thanksgiving lullBy APGoogle.com

New York — Retailers are pushing come-ons from expanded hours and deals to musical performances, in hopes of bringing back frugal shoppers in the sales lull that typically follows the Thanksgiving weekend bargain blitz.

Stores are determined to prevent a repeat of last year, when it was unusually quiet after a solid start to the season. Shoppers didn’t return to stores until the final days before Christmas, making it the weakest holiday season in four decades.

Toys R Us introduced a December catalog with 40 pages of deals good through Saturday on hundreds of the season’s most popular toys. The prices also are being promoted on TV.

“We are much more aggressive” than last year, Toys R Us spokeswoman Kathleen Waugh said.

Mall operator Westfield Shopping Centers is offering deals and entertainment from free gift wrapping to choir performances at its 55 malls on weekends through Dec. 20.

Mall of America, the nation’s largest shopping center, is giving shoppers two $70 tickets for unlimited rides at the mall’s Nickelodeon Universe in exchange for proof of every $250 they spend at the mall. Mall of America also is holding more performances and celebrity events, including a recent appearance by Sarah Palin, than last year. Brick-and-mortar stores appear to be muddling through.

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