The party dresses in the window of Hepburns, a women’s apparel store in Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, attract plenty of shoppers, but few buyers. “No one’s received any invitations,” said Mary Ann Hunt, the shop’s owner. “People are coming in and saying, ‘We’re really just looking.'” Last year, when the world was perched at the dawn of a new millennium and social calendars were filled with New Year’s Eve plans, shoppers piled into the stores in the week after Dec. 25 to snatch up everything from evening wear to party decorations. But as the year 2001 approaches, and the question, What are you doing New Year’s? remains unanswered, retailers face their own dilemma over invitations: how to get shoppers back into stores during that last week in December. Most retailers agree that last year’s millennium fever effectively added a week to the holiday season and helped many exceed their sales plans. Now they’ll have to find a way to make December 2000 stack up against those numbers. “We had a tremendous holiday season last year, and the fifth week was a part of that,” said Tony Spring, executive vice president of marketing for Bloomingdale’s. While Bloomingdale’s is still hoping for a bump in sales during the last week of December this year, Spring concedes, “We have planned for less aggressive growth in the business (than last year’s).” Not that retailers have given up on the week-after business. Post-Christmas Day discounts have in recent years brought an increasing number of shoppers into stores after Dec. 25. And this year, because Christmas falls on a Monday, many executives expect more people to stay home from work the last week of December, upping the chances that they will choose to visit the mall. Whether they do, and how much they spend once they get there, however, will mostly depend on merchants’ marketing savvy. A number of different plans are afoot. At Bloomingdale’s, where party-related goods like evening wear, handbags and crystal flutes were among the items most heavily promoted last year, this year’s assortment leans more toward stay-at-homes massage, aromatherapy, wellness-related products and cashmere sweaters. “All are businesses that didn’t get as much attention or energy last year, and offer us an opportunity to do additional business,” Spring said. Other retailers like Robinsons-May hope that emphasizing some of the season’s new-fangled gizmos products like Polaroid i-Zone pocket cameras, robotic pet toys and walkie talkies will help pick up the slack. But while some stores focus on New Age wares, still others are turning to more ancient traditions to keep traffic bustling after Dec. 25. Janine Baker, marketing director at Westfield’s Shoppingtown at Topanga, said “Because of our market, quite a bit of our sales are generated because of Hanukkah.” The Jewish holiday, which this year begins on Dec. 21, is an occasion for eight days of gift giving. When Hanukkah falls early in December, sales are recorded in November tallies, but this year’s later timing promises to extend the December shopping season. “Here in Sherman Oaks, I’ve been building up the Hanukkah merchandise,” said Denise Williams, owner of Lavenders’ Hallmark in Fashion Square. “We find that when the two holidays (Christmas and Hanukkah) are close together, sales increase in the Judaica products.” Williams typically devotes about 12 feet of her store’s floor space to Hanukkah merchandise, but this year she has increased the allotment to nearly 20 feet. “We’ll have balloons, chocolate, dreidels, games and party wear,” said Williams. The Glendale Galleria is hosting a special event around the Hanukkah theme. The shopping center will have a menorah display from Dec. 20 to 30 and, on Dec. 28, the mall will host a party with live entertainment, music and refreshments. To boost traffic further, Glendale Galleria is running an event with Jackpot.com Dec. 28 and 29. The winner of the Website’s million-dollar giveaway will be chosen at the mall. “We have done a few things to keep the energy high during that week,” said Annette Bethers, the mall’s marketing director. David Small, the store manager at J.C. Penney’s Glendale Galleria store, isn’t certain how much the millenium contributed to last year’s sales figures, mostly because the store caters to so large a population of Armenian shoppers who live in the surrounding area. With the Armenian Christmas falling on Jan. 6, Small said that his store usually gets a sales boost after Dec. 25. “Our store does the number-one volume in the Penney company the day after Christmas because most of the Armenians in the area celebrate two Christmases,” Small said. Even those retailers who rely on the Dec. 25 celebration point out that after-Christmas sales have played an increasing role in the season’s sales totals. “Realistically, every year we’ve seen after-Christmas sales do better and better,” said Milinda Martin, director of special events and public relations for Robinsons-May.
