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# Local retailers report ‘OK’ sales over weekend
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/local-retailers-report-ok-sales-over-weekend/
- Published: 2001-11-26T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-22T22:28:36.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Business, Promenade, #archive-import

*Department stores quiet*

The biggest shopping weekend of the year attracted an average crowd along the Third Street Promenade the past few days.

Store managers weren’t surprised at the turnout since the holiday shopping season is expected to be slow. Most local retailers say business was steady over the holiday weekend, but it could have been better. Torrential rains Saturday may have kept many shoppers at home.

And if wasn’t the weather, perhaps it was the lack of deals in many of the Promenade shops that kept people away. Several stores, including the chain retailers, weren’t offering many sales.

Pottery Barn sales representative Ivory Gutierrez said there has been a lot of traffic in her store, but you wouldn’t know it from the sales receipts.

“Friday was a lot slower than expected,” she said. “Mostly on Friday they were looking, not buying.”

National news reports confirmed the trend. Retailers in many cities reported crowds massing before stores opened, intent on picking up whatever sale items they could find.

Santa Monica’s Brookstone outlet had a steady flow of traffic of people who were buying.

“People are buying because they already had an idea of what they wanted,” said the store manager, who added that no major deals are being offered yet.

But smaller, specialty shops appeared to fare better than their corporate competitors.

“If you came here on Friday, it was jammed in here,” said Puzzle Zoo store manager Linda Tsukamoto. “We are on target and thankful for it.”

On Sunday afternoon, the Promenade was buzzing with activity but the only area hop-ping at Santa Monica Place was the food court. Even Santa Claus felt lonely — the line waiting to see him usually is dozens deep — but on Sunday, there was no line at all.

One shopper, who declined to give his name, finished his holiday shopping in Santa Monica at Robinsons May even though he lives in Culver City. He spent Friday in the malls near his neighborhood and came to the Westside on Sunday to spread his money around.

“It seems busy, especially in electronics,” he said, adding that the economic slowdown isn’t deterring him from spending about the same as he did last year.

The department stores were relatively quiet Sunday, but sales representatives say Friday was a big day in sales. Many shoppers were attracted to Robinsons May because of holiday coupons they found in area newspapers and magazines.

At Culture Planet in Santa Monica Place, business was so-so, according sales representative Janette Neiblas. She said she was surprised to learn that the weekend after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

“This is the biggest shopping weekend? So we did bad,” she said while looking over the weekend’s cash register receipts. “On Saturday, they did OK, not really good, but for a Friday in this store, it was acceptable.”

> “This is the biggest shopping weekend? So we did bad.” — — JANETTE NEIBLAS Culture Planet sales representative

Bill Chrisley, a sales representative at the Discovery Channel store on the Promenade, said business has been steady and people are willing to spend their money, despite reports that Sept. 11 and a slowing economy are keeping people on tighter budgets this holiday season.

“I think it was temporary,” he said of the gloom and doom economic scenario being played out in the media.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 26, 2001.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112601.pdf?ref=smdp.com)