Rough Shopping Draft

It was 1 p.m. at the local Target retail store in Oshkosh. A steady flow of people walked in and out of the building. Lines are ten deep, and it hasn’t even hit the crazy part of the day. All signs that sales are up and local citizens are going about holiday shopping as usual.
Through all of the negatives that have been discussed about the U.S. economy recently, sales and shoppers attitudes haven’t been affected, for the most part. “I know the economy isn’t in the best of shape right now,” Samantha Podd, who traveled from over an hour away in Franklin, Wis., to shop in Oshkosh, said. “I haven’t been slowed down one bit. If anything I am spending more money this year than I have in the past.”
This year’s hot items are electronics. According to a recent report, retail technology sales have increased over 12 percent to more than $2 billion dollars compared to last year. Of the hottest items sold on Black Friday were flat panel television sets. LCD televisions showed almost 300 percent gross improvement from last year’s numbers on the craziest shopping day of the year.
Along with the increased sales of flat panel televisions, other electronics sales have increased as well. Digital cameras, gaming systems, cell phones and mp3 players have been among the top selling items this holiday season.
“iPods are really hot right now,” Ryan Sanders said. “It seems like we have been selling a lot more than we have in past years.”
The Staples store on South Koeller Avenue had an extraordinary day of sales on Black Friday. Last year Staples hauled in around $65,000 in revenue on Black Friday, and set their goal for $67,000 this year. By 2 p.m. their goal for sales had already been met.
“I went into work and I asked my boss if we were busy,” Staples sales associate Nathan Bartel said. “He said ‘yes’ and that we had already sold what we were aiming for and the rest of the money we brought in that day would be icing on the cake.” By the end of the day Staples had brought in over $77,000 in retail sales for the day, surpassing their goal by $10,000.
Although stores that deal largely with electronics are faring extremely well this holiday season some stores’ sales are down. The Polo Ralph Lauren Factory Store at Prime Outlets in Oshkosh that couldn’t surge past a crazy Black Friday with lots of traffic was one of those businesses.
“Our sales are down a little bit from last year,” Manager Melissa (she wouldn’t tell me her last name, what do I do?) said. “I think it is because of location in the mall and the lack of traffic we get as opposed to our lower sales being the economy’s fault.”
Some businesses sales are down from last year, but as a whole it seems sales are up around the Oshkosh area. With two weeks left until Christmas, this holiday season is shaping up to be a very good one for consumers and businesses alike.
As Podd said, “One thing is for sure, I am not going to change my spending habits this year. It is Christmas time and bring on the holiday cheer.”