Oct 22, 2008 6:12 pm US/Central
Macy's Hopes Windows Will Draw Holiday Shoppers
Retailers Projecting A Dismal Shopping Season
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
-
-
Macy's on State Street is hoping their holiday window displays will lure shoppers.
CBS
Stores are bracing for dismal holiday sales. But as CBS 2's Jim Williams reports, one downtown store is hoping its holiday tradition will draw a crowd.
In a little more than two weeks, the advertisements blocking the windows at Macy's State Street store will come down and the annual holiday displays will go up. Workers are busy now putting together the popular animated windows, which this year will have a Chicago theme.
"As soon as we put up the Christmas decorations and the Great Tree goes in, the energy level in the building is absolutely off the Richter scale," said the store's Visual Director Jon Jones.
That may be, but what will people do once they're inside? The holiday sales forecast for stores like Macy's is grim."
John Melaniphy, III, a retail consultant, said, "Well, I think the consumer is scared," by the economic crisis.
Melaniphy says sales will be up only 1.7 percent from 2007 – the worst holiday season for stores in years.
"The consumer is not shopping at the malls as frequently as they had in the past and they are basically trading down to some of the discounters where they can get the best price," Melaniphy said.
Discounters like Wal-Mart, he says, should be in better shape than stores like Macy's.
No matter where they shop, people downtown Wednesday said they are cutting back this holiday season.
One woman said she's buying half of whatever she bought last year. "So if we did 10 presents for the kids last year we're doing five."
Macy's reminds everyone it's free to look at the holiday displays, but they want us to shop, too.
The window displays will go up Nov. 8.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Celebrity Watcher: Real Or Fake?
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
