Retailers’ Early Holiday Present

The holiday shopping season got off to a strong start over the weekend as consumers handed the nation’s retailers an early Christmas gift.

The National Retail Federation, the industry’s main trade group, said Sunday that 133 million people hit the stores, plunking down $22.8 billion. That was more than 10% of the $220 billion that merchants hope to rake in by the end of December.

But the biggest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said sales fell below expectations, in part because it didn’t discount as deeply this year as its rivals did. “We took a more balanced approach this year toward the day after Thanksgiving,� the company said in a recorded statement.

As a result, Wal-Mart said, sales at stores open at least a year would rise 0.7% in November -- well below its previous forecast of 2% to 4% -- based on disappointing business during the seven days ended Friday.

“Wal-Mart had a tough week,� said Robert Buchanan, a retail analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. “But generally speaking, business was good� for merchants.

The retail federation said its weekend survey of 4,600 shoppers was its first effort to assess the three shopping days after Thanksgiving, and so it was unable to compare the results with those of previous years. Other industry experts said consumers’ spending stamina over the weekend, particularly on Friday, appeared to handily beat last year’s.

“There could not have been a better start� to the holiday shopping period, said Richard Giss, a partner at Deloitte & Touche in Los Angeles, whose team monitors traffic at several Southern California malls, including two of the biggest: Glendale Galleria and South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

Friday was “certainly within recent memory the busiest day since the early 1990s,� Giss said, adding that the lively pace continued through the rest of the weekend.

Around Southern California, he said, the scene was “what mall-based retailers like to see -- shoppers circling the parking lot looking for a space.�

Nationwide, sales rose an estimated 11% to $8 billion on Friday, according to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago firm that monitors more than 30,000 retail locations. Dubbed “Black Friday� by retailers because it was the day the numbers in their ledgers typically changed from red to black, the day after Thanksgiving is usually the second- or third-busiest sales day. In 2003 it was the top sales day, and merchants are optimistic that the trend will continue this year.

Indications are that it will. Visa International, which issues the most widely carried credit card, reported that spending Friday with its cards rose to $4.1 billion, a 15.5% increase over the day after Thanksgiving last year. The number of transactions in which Visa cards were used rose 17% to 64.5 million. Rival MasterCard Inc., the second-biggest credit card company, said the number of retail transactions involving its cards rose 9.3% to 64.2 million for Friday and Saturday.

This time of year, most merchants are “doing great,� Buchanan said. “There’s always a lot of people shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.� He forecasts that retailers’ same-store sales for the entire holiday season will rise 2% to 3% this year.

The industry is careful not to hang too much importance on post-Turkey Day shopping patterns, noting that as of Sunday, the average person had completed 36.8% of his or her holiday shopping.

“Retailers know that the holiday season is not a sprint -- it’s a marathon,� said Tracy Mullin, president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation. “Black Friday weekend is just the beginning of a monthlong race to the finish line.�

Just ask Cherl Graves. The Palmdale resident started her Christmas gift quest Sunday morning, driving 60 miles from her home to the open-air Paseo Colorado shopping center in Pasadena.

“I like the stores here,� said Graves, 40, ticking off her favorites -- Coach, BCBG and Macy’s. The international freight forwarding manager said she planned to spend upward of $1,000 stretched out over several shopping trips in search of the perfect presents.

“I’m hoping to miss the crowds,� Graves said.

On Thursday, a clearer picture of retailers’ post-Thanksgiving performance will emerge when companies report their same-store sales for November. Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are considered the best indicator of a retailer’s financial health.