Last-minute buyers top off strong shopping season

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It's that time of year again for carols, eggnog, holiday cheer — and for some, a frantic dash to the mall.

Last-minute shoppers hit stores on Christmas Eve in a surge that is expected to top off an unexpectedly strong holiday shopping season.

Among them was Len Boswell. At CVS drugstore in Decatur, Ga., on Saturday morning, he picked up candy and a neck pillow for his wife. He had started shopping at 6 a.m. at Starbucks, where he bought a mug. He planned to be finished shopping well before his Christmas Eve dinner at 6 p.m.

"I should have done this a couple of weeks ago," acknowledges Boswell, 68, a director of book publishing at a nonprofit.

Stores are expected to ring up $469.1 billion during the holiday season, and the final week before Christmas can account for up to 20 percent of sales for the season. Retailers tempered their expectations heading into the season because Americans were still worried about the weak economy. But sales have been so brisk during the two-month period that the National Retail Federation, the industry's big trade group, upgraded its sales forecast a full percentage point to 3.8 percent.

"We're seeing good traffic, good sales, not over-the-top sales, but a nice 3 percent to 4 percent increase over last year," said Sherif Mityas, a partner in the retail practice at A.T. Kearney, a management consulting firm. "Even with all the bad news and hesitancy in terms of the economy, consumers are still opening up their wallets more than last year, which is good news."

But at a time when Americans are worried about the weak economy, retailers weren't willing to leave anything to chance on the last day to shop before Christmas.

Macy's and Toys R Us were open for 24 hours in the days leading up to Christmas. At malls, Abercrombie & Fitch offered a blanket 50 percent off on all items while J. Crew and Madewell offered 30 percent off. And promotional e-mails from retailers were up 34 percent from a year ago, according to Responsys, which tracks e-mail activity from more than 100 merchants.

"They're clearly putting best foot forward on promotions right now," said John Morris, analyst at BMO Capital Markets, who estimates sale activity is up about 7 percent compared with last year, taking into account the level of mark downs and the amount of goods marked down."

The sales and incentives — or plain old procrastination— are drawing at least some last-minute shoppers in on the final days.

Last-minute shopper Ryan Eagle, 25, said he would hit South Park Mall in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday morning to shop for presents for his wife. He always shops on Christmas Eve, he said, to get good deals and to people watch. Last year he found $200 boots on sale for $50 at Macy's.

"I'm a last minute person, I enjoy going out and watching everyone run around," he said.

On Saturday morning, at Manhattan Mall in New York, a steady stream of shoppers.

Shamek Shider, 22, was among the shoppers on Christmas Eve morning. He had spent $100 at Macy's on snow suits for his god daughter on Friday, his first time out holiday shopping. He came back on Christmas Eve he was back out again and spent $250 on jewelry and clothing at Macy's and J. C. Penney for his mother, sister and other relatives.