Day-after rush seals strong shopping season

For many in North Idaho, Dec. 26 is usually a day of leftovers, work-free afternoon naps and — for the less festive among us — the ritual of pulling down colored lights and tinseled trees.

For those working retail and the customers they serve, the day after Christmas is an up-at-dawn frenzy, and if Thursday’s foot traffic was any indication, the final numbers on the 2019 holidays promise to ring in a new year with a strong economic forecast.

Dave Rice, manager of the Coeur d’Alene Best Buy, who has been with the company since 2001 and the local branch since 2013, took time from his busy Thursday shift to marvel at the traffic coming in and out of his U.S. 95 store.

“I would say it’s been … gosh … I’d say it’s been as busy as I can remember,” he said. “All day, we’ve seen a really steady crowd. We’ve been really, really busy.”

From a brick-and-mortar perspective, the day after Christmas has trended into the third busiest retail day of each year, eclipsed only by Super Saturday — the Saturday before Christmas, falling this year on Dec. 21 — and Black Friday, the day-after-Thanksgiving kingmaker that arrived on Nov. 29 this year with record sales.

“Busiest,” however, is different than “biggest,” for two reasons. Returns, for one, draw a massive portion of Dec. 26’s retail foot traffic, a number exascerbated in some national box stores by shoppers buying online but then walking into the store to return or exchange. Sara, who said she was prohibited by Target company policy from giving out her last name, said Thursday that her entire day-after-Christmas shift has seen its share of returns but far more new sales.

“It’s been a little bit all over the place,” she said. “We’ve had some very heavy shopping in housewares. And toys, of course: Toy sales have been very heavy. Apparel was hit pretty hard.”

Gerry Buchan, manager at the Coeur d’Alene Clothing Company on Sherman Avenue, said shoppers’ availability to brave the traffic and wander the stores is as responsible for her store’s sales as any promotion.

“It’s usually a mix of exchanges and returns,” Buchan said, “but then also, it’s a busy day, too, because people have it off. Kids are out of school. People are on vacation. They’re enjoying downtown. Sure, we have some good sales: With our Christmas markdown, for example, we have some sweatshirts that usually run for $45 that are down to $18. But just the fact that people are here and have some extra time is what’s driving sales, I think.”

She pointed out an old business tenet that still rings true this time of year: Location, location, location.

“Actually, on my lunch break, I saw a bunch of people just walking around … People here [at The Shops in Coeur d’Alene] actually line up for the Christmas Cruises inside The Shops. So people just walk around and shop while they’re waiting. It’s a great location this time of year.”

Not all stores nationwide can rent out a vacant space at The Shops and take advantage of the Christmas Cruises, though. So what else contributes to their holiday success? As the online shopping trend continues to expand, the fiscal footprint for the day after Christmas typically shrinks: While Dec. 26’s foot traffic remains relatively unchanged, the amount of total dollars spent nationwide dropped Boxing Day out of the top five altogether.

This year, Super Saturday beat Black Friday as the biggest shopping day of the year — in fact, becoming the biggest single shopping day of all time after reporting $34.4 billion in brick-and-mortar and online sales combined, according to the research firm Customer Growth Partners. The record is attributed to both a surging economy and a shortened holiday shopping season, as 2019 offered six fewer shopping days before Christmas this year.

Black Friday’s $31.2 billion came in second, followed by Cyber Monday (the first Monday after Thanksgiving, a haven for online shoppers) and its $19.1 billion.

A late-emerging villain in the war on the holidays, Thanksgiving Day, saw a surge of both online sales and in-store openings this year to plant a new flag in Americans’ shopping habits. Online shoppers spent $4.2 billion that day online, according to Adobe Analytics, while in-store purchases that day rose 4.3 percent from Thanksgiving Day last year.

Locally, retailers are reporting that Idahoans shopped hard this holiday season. Numbers from both the National Retail Federation and Proper Insights and Analytics show that Idahoans spent roughly the national average in shopping, travel and food over the holidays — approximately $1,041 per person, 26th in the country — despite the sixth-least real personal income per capita ($42,895) and the 22nd lowest dollar valuation in the country (93 cents per dollar).

Idahoans are also shopping smarter, as shown both by a smaller percentage of returns and a healthy post-Christmas, in-store use of a popular present: the oft-maligned-but-holiday-saving gift card.

“Gift cards have been really big so far today,” Rice said. “People are coming into the store to buy what they want and bring it home that day, so there’s that immediacy, that ‘right now’ satisfaction. Don’t get me wrong: The online presence is definitely booming; that’s very important for Best Buy. But we’re also doing very well this year with our foot traffic.”

“We’re seeing a lot of gift cards,” Sara agreed. “People get those gift cards, and they come right in as soon as they can.”

Still, all three retail pros agreed that returns are a necessary evil in their business, one they were happy to see decline.

“Sure, there’s been a lot of returns,” Rice said before resuming his Thursday shift at Best Buy. “There always are. But pleasantly, it’s been a little less than last year. Returns the last few years have been down. We don’t get nearly as many returns as we did, say, 10 years ago. Our people are really good about getting the customer what they need and not selling them something they don’t. It makes for a good customer service experience, but it has the added benefit of making our job a lot easier the day after Christmas.”