Post-Holiday Shoppers Buy and Buy

Eager to spend holiday cash, exchange gifts and hunt for the best bargains of the season, day-after-Christmas shoppers thronged to Ventura County malls Thursday.

From Ventura to Thousand Oaks, parking lots were full, lines were long and discount bins were ravaged as shoppers took part in what is for many an annual tradition.

“Oh, we do this every year,” said 27-year-old Rosary Villegas of Pasadena, visiting the Camarillo Premium Outlets with her mother, Felice. “No more gifts to buy, so now I get to shop for me.”

The strong turnout was good news for area retailers.

Although mall managers said Christmas sales were better locally than the meager 1% nationwide increase from 2001, they did not completely escape the overall sluggishness.

“It was probably not an excellent season, but it was a good season,” said Cris Bremner, marketing manager at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks.

“Of course, retailers would like to see increases greater than they are seeing,” she said. “But compared to the rest of the country, they are doing very well.”

Final sales figures won’t be available until mid-January, Bremner said.

During the after-Christmas rush, she said, it’s likely that deep discounts and good weather will combine to boost sales even more.

“It’s no longer all about returns,” she said. “There is a lot of spending that goes on this week.”

At Pacific View Mall in Ventura, most retailers got their Christmas wish -- an increase in sales over last year that is expected to exceed 13%, said marketing manager Alice Love.

Part of the reason for the spike is that this is the first year that the mall has been completely leased since its remodeling and 1999 reopening.

Individual stores also did well, Love said. The JCPenney at Pacific View had the highest Christmas sales in the region, she said.

“I just think we’re in a different environment in Ventura,” she said. “I don’t think the recession has hit as hard.”

There was little evidence of a gloomy economy at the outlet mall in Camarillo.

Tammy Maxwell said she was at the outlets from opening to closing on Christmas Eve doing last-minute shopping. She drove from her Los Angeles home Thursday morning to hunt for even better bargains, but said most stores’ discounts -- ranging from 25% to 60% -- appeared to be the same as before the holiday.

“They probably think they can fool people,” she said, “but they’re not going to fool me.”

Still, it didn’t stop consumers from buying, even if it meant standing in lines that snaked through the length of some stores.

Seasonal items -- usually marked down by at least 50% -- were a big draw.

Marja Graab, 69, of Camarillo, said she never misses the chance to buy cheap Christmas cards, which she plans to use next year.

At the Gap outlet, Oxnard resident Mary Price held a pile of merchandise near the end of a line of about 70 people.

She was unfazed, and even smiling.

“I think this is pretty typical,” she said. “This is what you’re going to get if you venture out on the day after Christmas.”