CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
Retailers
are hoping that post-Christmas sales can save the worst holiday shopping season
in four years. And they might help.
On December 26th, we found Northlake Mall
very busy. Shoppers told us it was the deals that lured them out.
But
the first holiday spending reports are not. One says sales inched up just seven
tenths of a percent – that is far below the three or four percentage point
improvement economists predicted, given months of consistent gains in other
categories like housing and unemployment.
Virginia
Kacer manages a women's boutique. "We
are running fifty percent off our entire collection," she says.
And
while her customers don't drop phrases like fiscal cliff, she see signs they're
starting to feel a little uncertain again.
"In a
non-verbal kind of a way," Kacer says. "Maybe they're not spending as much as
they would have, or they're picking and choosing sometimes a little bit."
Kacer
says recent sales at her store were promising, and consumer sentiment had been
steadily improving for months, according to surveys. But then in D.C - where
lawmakers are supposed to be talking fiscal cliff fixes – negotiations broke
down.
Now, the threat of widespread tax
hikes hangs over us all. And while
lawmakers should strike some kind of deal at some point,
"We need a plan,"
Kacer says. "We need a plan. People just need to know what's happening. I think
the fear of the unknown is what upsets people. They're not sure what's going to
happen. So whatever they decide, a decision needs to be made."
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.
