Happy Holiday$ Local shoppers help retailers buck national trend
Le Mars, Iowa — Crummy economy? Worse weather?
Local store managers and owners didn’t wince.
Many are reporting Christmas season sales that matched or were close to last year’s good numbers.
That’s not the story across the nation.
Total retail sales, excluding gasoline, dropped about 4 percent in the United States, according to a Holiday report from SpendingPulse, an arm of MasterCard that tracks sales paid for by credit card. That’s a scary drop for retailers when holiday sales typically account for 30 percent to 50 percent of a retailer’s annual total sales, according to an Associated Press report.
But at Radio Shack in Le Mars, Manager Sherri Bauman was busy ordering more 50 inch TVs the day after Christmas — to refill emptied shelves.
“I didn’t expect to be this empty, but I’m glad I am,” Bauman said. “We had an excellent Christmas. I played it safe when I bought for Christmas this year but now I think I should have been bolder.”
SpendingPulse’s report showed that electronics had an “especially difficult” season with a drop of more than 14 percent from last year.
