Many merchants remain optimistic
Not even the rain could keep shoppers away this weekend.
Merchants along the Third Street Promenade reported an active weekend after shoppers scoured the outdoor mall for bargains, despite the gloomy weather on Friday — the busiest shopping day of the year.
Many business owners said this year it seems holiday shoppers are looking for inexpensive and more practicable items.
Puzzle Zoo Manager Linda Tsukamoto said the toy store has been doing a brisk amount of business over the past several days. Employees on Monday evening were restocking shelves after shoppers cleaned them out earlier in the day.
“We’re keeping busy trying to keep our shelves full,” she said.
Tsukamoto said the store tends to sell its bigger ticket items during the holidays. That has proven true this year as well.
363,“This is the time when typically our bigger items sell,” she said. “We’re seeing less of the $5 to $10 purchases we usually see and more of the $100 purchases we see during Christmastime.”
At Clothes Minded, a new shop on the 1400 block of the Promenade where nothing costs more than $15, business has been booming. Managers of the store, which sells name brands at a very low cost, said the economy could be boosting their sales.
“In this economic climate people want to spend less,” said Robert Finkelstein, the store’s director of operations. “People are looking for a good deal, but then they’re always looking for a good deal.”
“We’re keeping busying trying to keep our shelves full.” — — LINDA TSUKAMOTO Manager of Puzzle Zoo
Finkelstein said while the store has been in business for little more than two weeks, the location already has proved profitable.
“We’ve far-exceeded our expectations here,” he said. “This has been phenomenal as far as I’m concerned.
563,“I think we’ve found a grand-slam location.”
At Midnight Special, a bookstore on the 1300 block of the Promenade, business has been slightly better than last year. Margie Ghiz, the store’s owner, said sales have improved 1 to 2 percent over last year.
The bookstore announced in July that it would move off the Promenade by March because the store couldn’t afford to pay the location’s sky-rocketing rents. No new location has been finalized, Ghiz said.
“But it’s been a very good year,” she said. “Ever since we announced we’re moving people have been coming in from all over the Los Angeles region.”
At The Jewel Shop, which is near the intersection of the Promenade and Santa Monica Boulevard, owner Tony Ayoub said his more expensive items aren’t moving as quickly as he would like.
“They are buying smaller items, nothing on a big scale,” he said. “But that’s been true since 9-11. Hopefully, we’ll do more business in smaller items.”
Still, Ayoub said jewelry purchases are typically made in the last few weeks of the holiday season, and this year could potentially be very good.
“I’m focusing on what’s most popular and keeping prices affordable — that helps,” he said. “These days, the price goes before the item.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 3, 2002. Read the original PDF.