Slow economy brings out bargain seekers.

• Author: King, Heather L.
• Position: Business Trends Retail

ONE SENTIMENT SEEMS to ring true with Utah retailers: Sales have been better than expected over the past year. Although third quarter results have not yet been released, retailers are saying that back-to-school shopping was a modest success. And that's good news, as most stores count on that time, in addition to holiday shopping, to boost their year-end numbers.

According to Natalie Watson, market manager at Factory Stores @ Park City shoppers are faced with tight budgets, but that fact is not keeping them out of stores. "If you were to compare this year to last year, our traffic was up significantly. However, sales are flat, which is telling us that more people are here, but they're not necessarily spending as much."

Watson says that's because consumers' spending habits have changed. "During back-to-school, we noticed that people were heading more toward the clearance and sale items as opposed to regular-priced merchandise. I think that trend will continue for the holidays, but fortunately, our retailers are aware of that, and they are doing whatever they can to stay competitive with pricing," she says. 'They are having sales consistently, and they're really watching spending patterns."

At The Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City, project manager Jake Boyer explains that "people are getting used to going to Gateway and learning to use the parking structure, so we are seeing an increase in sales across the board."

With sales currently above $300 per square foot, The Gateway has already met and exceeded its sales-per-square-foot goal for the first year, suggesting a successful future for the project. In addition to the movie theaters and restaurants, certain stores are acting as a great draw to the complex. Just in time for the holidays, Virgin Mega-store will open on November 5, which leads Boyer to predict, "The holiday season will be equal or better than what we saw during back-to-school."

Jim Babb, national spokesman for Circuit City electronics, expects holiday shoppers to continue to show great interest in home entertainment products--mainly DVD movies and players and also digital and high-definition television products. "Video games are always traditional favorites for the holidays," he says, 'and digital imaging (digital cameras and camcorders) is also pretty strong."

As far as trends for the coming year, Babb explains, "Products continue to get more affordable and therefore become more attractive, so we will continue to see folks...