Fayetteville retailers don't expect uncertainty to faze shoppers

Source: The Fayetteville Observer, N.迷你倉C.Nov. 17--Lee Chavez, who retired in December from a civil service job on Fort Bragg, is thinking "less rather than more" come Christmas.She's moving.For 32 years, Chavez worked in information security on post. But she and her 21-year-old granddaughter, Nissa, will soon be leaving Fayetteville for Albuquerque, N.M., where the plan is to have a tree in place for the holiday season.The move, she said, has been expensive."I told Nissa, 'We'll just buy for the little ones and forget the sisters,' " Chavez said Wednesday as they shopped at 2nd and Charles, a used and bargain-priced bookstore on Skibo Road.Also weighing on her mind are the possibilities of a federal government shutdown and credit default, coupled with a still-subpar economy, that could have an impact on her finances."That worries me," she said. "That would affect my income completely. I think I retired in the nick of time with the furloughs and all. If the government goes down, it would affect my retirement checks."While the federal government reopened Oct. 17 -- and a threatened default on its debt was averted just weeks ahead of the holiday shopping season -- Congress passed only temporary fixes. Without a budget deal by Jan. 15, another shutdown is a possibility. Congress also must raise the government's debt ceiling by Feb. 7 to avoid a stock market-jarring default.But some retailers and customers didn't seem to think that uncertainty will stop people from spending during the busiest shopping stretch of the year.Traditionally, Black Friday is the start of a Thanksgiving-to-Christmas retail sprint. But more retailers -- including Kmart, Target and Toys 'R' Us -- have announced that they will open on Thanksgiving, giving shoppers an even earlier jump on holiday sales.Steven Hill, a sales floor manager at Best Buy, said he's not overly concerned about customers shopping with a foot on the brake pedal. The electronics retail store on Skibo Road in Fayetteville entered its holiday shopping season mode as of military payday in late October, he said."We're basically in it now. We're going. You can tell they're coming in for the holidays," Hill said. "We're thinking the holidays will be huge."Shawn White, 41, who works as a military contractor on Fort Bragg, said a suspect economic climate and threat of a shutdown and default in early 2014 will n儲存t alter his shopping plans."I'm conservative by nature," he said. "I don't tend to do much extravagant buying."From White's perspective, those worries won't deter most shoppers, either."I know the economy's bad," he said, "but if you look at the stores on Black Friday, you wouldn't know it by the number of people shopping."On a national scale, slight sales gains are anticipated over the holiday season. The National Retail Federation expects sales in November and December to top the same period a year ago by about 3.9 percent, which it described as a marginal increase."Our forecast is a realistic look at where we are right now in this economy -- balancing continued uncertainty in Washington and an economy that has been teetering on incremental growth for years," Matthew Shay, the federation's president and CEO, said in a holiday forecast posted on its website."Overall, retailers are optimistic for the 2013 holiday season," Shay said, "hoping political debates over government spending and the debt ceiling do not erase any economic progress we've already made."Michael Fleishman, president and part-owner of Tiny Town on Fort Bragg Road, said a good retailer should always anticipate a successful holiday shopping season. His family's children's store, now in its 62nd year, has been preparing for the holidays over the past couple of months.Fleishman maintains a positive outlook on the season, which is an integral part of most retailers' business year."I think people are worried about a lot of things," he said. "But I think they've been worried for a lot of years. I think every Christmas has its own personality. The economy's not going to stop Christmas."Joe Sugar's menswear shop in St. Pauls, now in its 97th year, has survived two world wars, the Great Depression and the Great Recession.Owner Joe Sugar said he anticipates a better year than a year ago, which he described as "moderate.""It's interesting," he said. "I didn't feel a pinch from the last (government shutdown) we had. But I think it's going to kind of sink into the public's mind to tighten up, if (another one) occurs."Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or 486-3529.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at .fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Servicesmini storage