Despite recent hits to the county economy in the form of layoffs and plant closures and cutbacks, area retailers enjoyed an increase in seasonal sales volume.

Wednesday, December 29, 1999

Despite recent hits to the county economy in the form of layoffs and plant closures and cutbacks, area retailers enjoyed an increase in seasonal sales volume.

Although nearly 1,000 area residents lost their jobs this year with Cabletron Systems Inc.’s closure, Ashland Inc.’s corporate office relocation from Ashland, Ky., to Covington, Ky., cutbacks at AlliedSignal and the most recent announcement that Intermet-Ironton Iron will close the Ironton foundry in February 2000, retailers say the impact will likely affect spring and summer sales more than it did Christmas sales.

Discount specialty department stores in Lawrence County, such as Ames and Wal-Mart, are no exception. Both stores report a noticeable increase over last year’s sales.

"I believe that the majority of the Christmas shopping was finished before the (Ironton Iron) shutdown was announced," Ironton Ames manager Paul Goebel said. "We’re far more likely to see any type of impact from that with the spring merchandise sales."

At Wal-Mart in Burlington, seasonal sales volumes were consistently higher than during the 1998 Christmas shopping season, said store co-manager Mike Chapman.

"We’ve seen an increase in all three areas," Chapman said. "There has been an increase in the number of customers coming into the store, the number of items the customers are purchasing and the overall sales."

From the official start of the Christmas shopping rush on the day after Thanksgiving to the beginning of bargain hunting sales the day after Christmas, customer count and sales have been steady. The store tracks and records the three areas of sales factors, all of which affect one another, he added.

"When you have more people who are buying larger numbers of items, it naturally increases the overall sales," he said. "We have definitely seen more traffic coming into the store this year."

The final numbers aren’t yet tallied at county stores, but the post-holiday sales also are expected to yield high returns, he added.

"With the day after Christmas being a Sunday, most people were not working, so we anticipated larger numbers of people out to exchange items or to take advantage of the end-of-season sales," he said. "The people in the stores now are looking for bargains or need to find merchandise to replace items they want to return, so we are expecting steady traffic throughout the post-holiday season."

With less than a year until the next holiday, it isn’t too late for shoppers to begin stocking up for next Christmas, either, Goebel added.

"The seasonal items will remain on clearance," he said. "The Trim-A-Home sections with holiday decorations, ornaments, lights and other merchandise is 50 percent off. This sale actually started just before Christmas."

Despite bleak projections for spring merchandise, the shelves must be cleared to make room for the new stock –  which means bargains on winter items.

"Our sweaters, fleece and thermal items will continue to be reduced until the clearance merchandise is gone," Goebel said. "Now is a good time to find bargains and there are always shoppers out searching for them."