If the ceremonial start of the Christmas shopping season yesterday is any indication, merchants have real reasons to smile this year.
Shoppers braved crowded stores and malls, packed parking lots, even a downpour just before major stores opened early for early-bird sales yesterday, Friday, Nov. 28, in order to catch the first sales of the Christmas shopping season.
Besides being greeted just before opening with a Hawaiian blessing of a passing shower, early shoppers at Wal-Mart got into the store and described the scene with words like “chaos,” “stampede,” and “wall-to-wall” masses of humanity, all for those special sales items.
On the other side of Lihu‘e, Kmart General Manager Jarrett Chytka estimated that upwards of 100 people waited patiently before doors were opened at 6 a.m. there.
He is hopeful the level of shopping activity occurring at Kmart yesterday continues throughout the holiday buying season.
The store plans to widen aisles which yesterday were packed with sales merchandise to make the shopping experience even better, he said.
The Kaua‘i Kmart was one of several Kmart locations in Hawai‘i spared from closing when the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection. Several under-performing Mainland stores were closed, he said.
Now, the company has emerged from bankruptcy, the under-performing stores are gone, and the company is on a path toward profitability, Chytka said.
At Kukui Grove Center, a new-store opening (actually, a returning store under new ownership and management) added to the excitement of the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year.
Wade Lord, center general manager, said he walked past the new Morning Glory location three times yesterday, and found it too crowded to enter.
“Boy, it’s been wonderful. It’s extremely busy,” he said of the entire mall.
“Tenants are happy. I certainly am pleased with the turnout,” Lord said.
While there is traditionally a slowdown in sales activity in Hawai‘i and on Kaua‘i after the day-after-Thanksgiving rush, Lord said the ceremonial first day of Christmas shopping sets the tone for how the season’s sales will be.
“Tenants are expecting a good Christmas,” said Lord.
After yesterday, the two weekends immediately before Christmas are the busiest, Lord has learned from experience.
The new Cold Stone Creamery location in the mall has been doing brisk business, and Lord and others are looking forward to the mid-December opening of new stores like Underwater Girls (a swimsuit store), Starbucks and Jamba Juice.
Mainland sources indicated day-after-Thanksgiving sales up 10 percent compared to the same day last year. Traditionally, on Kaua‘i, the Saturday immediately before Christmas (Saturday, Dec. 20) is the single-busiest shopping day of the year.
Associate Editor Paul C. Curtis may be reached at pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
