Shoppers flock to the malls for post-Christmas bargains

Christmas is over, the family's leaving soon and now it's time to relax. Right? Wrong. At least for the throngs of people who headed to LA's malls today to take advantage of post-Christmas deals. The Beverly Center, Westfield Century City mall and the Third Street Promenade were all packed as shoppers, not yet satiated by pre-holiday sprees, continued to shop.

Todd Neuman, a risk management executive, was buying a few things at the 40% off sale at Restoration Hardware at the Beverly Center. He's spending this year despite layoffs looming at his company.

"It's the spirit of giving," he said.

Retailers were trying hard to get others in the spirit of giving to make up for a lackluster holiday season. In the Beverly Center, clothing store Kenneth Cole had window signs advertising 70% off sales, Traffic boasted of 30-60% off sales and shoe store Aldo advertised 70% off. A worker in the Hugo Boss clothing store knelt at the glass window, sticking a red "Sale" banner to the window.

The sales worked their magic on shoppers such as Lily Poncedeleon, who had visited the Beverly Center to return an Apple gift certificate she'd given her son for Christmas. The Apple computer store wasn't open when she arrived, so she wandered into Macy's department store, which opened at 6 a.m., and bought some jeans.

"Things are hard, with food prices going up," she said. "But I guess I can afford jeans for myself."

Others, such as Sovad Hammaoui, who was pushing a baby carriage on the Santa Monica Promenade, were not as impressed with the discounts being offered.

"To be honest," she said, "there are sales all the time."

-- Alana Semuels

Photo: Shoppers on the Third Street Promenade taking advantage of post-Christmas sales. Credit: Christina House / For the Times

Comments

[Terri]

I feel like I am being hoaxed into spending my money by the media and retailers. These so called "great deals" retailers are giving out is a BIG laugh. With the economy in such a slump, you would think the sales discounts would be great to get the consumers to spend ... but the sales are no better than what they were when the economy was in a better state. I'm an admitted shopaholic and frequent the mall and my favorite retail chains several times a week and I have not seen anything different from what I've seen in the past. I have not seen the huge discounts retailers are supposedly offering due to the recession. People are not spending because of the poor economy ... but it's also because of the sales discounts that the media has hyped is none existent. It's not only me that sees this, but my friends and family have also noticed this none existent big sales. I over heard many other shoppers make the same complaint. We read in the papers that retailers are offering huge sales, so we all make a mad dash there only to be disappointed by the same ole' sales discounts. Many people have been effected by the downward slide in the economy, so every bit of a discount helps ... but retailers are falling short by not truly offering great sales discounts that the media is reporting. Trust me, I know a good sale when I see one and this is NOT one of them.

[Ron Hardyman]

I have no sympathy for the whining retailers this year. Maybe if they didn't mark their crap up so much, sometimes upwards of 400%, they wouldn't have to "slash" their prices to what they should have been in the first place, giving us the illusion that we're getting a deal.