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Morning News

Retailers Hoping for Last-Minute Shopping Boost Despite Market Downturns

Aired December 21, 2000 - 9:02 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: From Wall Street to Main Street, anxiety is in the air. The Dow yesterday tumbled big time: 265 points. And the Nasdaq is at its lowest level since March of last year.

Some of the biggest technology stocks -- to give you an idea here -- how hard they're been hit hard. Let's look at Yahoo!: down 90 percent from its 52-week high of $250 dollars a share. Amazon is down 87 percent. Dell and Cisco also down dramatically.

That is on Wall street; on Main Street, where shoppers make up a critical part of the economic engine, people are cautious and retailers are nervous.

As CNN's Greg Lefevre reports, merchants are still trying to generate that last-minute boost in holiday shopping.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GREG LEFEVRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): America's shopping malls -- 8,000 of them -- say business so far this holiday season is down eight percent from last year. Retailers are pulling out the discount stops.

Example: Trousers at JC Penny were tagged at $42; I bought for $15. Penny's wouldn't discuss its pricing, but insiders say so deep a discount wipes away most, if not all, the profit.

ANDREA BRENTHAM, APPAREL MANUFACTURER: Many retailers will buy merchandise specifically at an off price to give a value or to offer a discount to the customer for the Christmas holiday to generate volume.

SUE WOODS, APPAREL MANUFACTURER: And then as the Christmas season evolves, there's a lot of things that can happen a that make a retailer maybe panic, because it is a very short selling window.

LEFEVRE: One sign of nervous retailers: They're buying 21 percent more newspaper ads than last year. Mall jewelry sales are off 22 percent. This year's half-off sales start before Christmas.

Good timing for these newlyweds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifty percent off, which puts it just within my range.

LEFEVRE: Not all is gloom: Some specialty chains are doing nicely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have definitely been within the goal that we targeted for this year, and we can't keep the shelves filled fast enough.

LEFEVRE: The sale signs seem to be working.

JOHN KONARSKI, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF SHOPPING CENTERS: We're not going to know until all is said and done -- is are these promotions planned, or are they unplanned? If they're unplanned, that's going to eat into retail profits.

LEFEVRE: Traffic is growing and this year's shopping season is two days longer than last year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thirty-five percent -- that's over a third -- of all holiday purchases are being done this week, so we have a huge potential here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guarantee you it will explode!

LEFEVRE: It's a tradition in retail: There's always hope.

Greg Lefevre, CNN, San Bruno, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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