Retailers' season not over

The holiday shopping season is anything but over on Dec.

24 as northern Nevada retailers prepare themselves for continued frenzy until year-end.

"It's becoming a very important week for us," says Tony Vail, manager of Meadowood Mall in Reno.

"People don't have Christmas through their systems yet."

Fueling the extended holiday boom, retailers say, are these factors:

* A desire to turn holiday exchanges and refunds into something positive.

"Retailers are trying not to lose any of the dollars they just gained at Christmas," says Robert Eckert, manager of the TJ Maxx n' More store at Reno's Firecreek Crossing.

That means employees are trained to look for opportunities to create additional sales when customers exchange a holiday gift or, at the bare minimum, keep the dollars from a refund in the store and price-cutting draws shoppers in.

* Sharp growth in the number of gift certificates sold as holiday presents.

Cynthia Moore, the marketing director at Meadowood Mall, says the mall this year has seen double-digit growth in the sale of mall-wide gift certificates, and retailers across the nation say sales of gift certificates have been strong this year.

The upshot? Consumers have a card that's as good as cash burning a hole in their pocket after the holidays are over.

* A growing tradition in some families to scout the post-holiday sales, and not just for the holiday items that traditionally are discounted deeply starting on Dec.

26.

"It's just like the day after Thanksgiving," says Amy Hill, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart in northern Nevada.

"There's a whole world out there that enjoys shopping on Dec.

26 and on from there."

In fact, Hill says,Wal-Mart stores see an after-glow of holiday sales well into January.

The trend grows stronger each year.

For many retailers, that means they've begun to keep staff near holiday levels for several weeks after Christmas.

* An increasing number of people who take vacation at the holidays, a trend that will be particularly noticeable with this year's mid-week holidays.

Moore says shopping is close to the top of the list of leisure activities for most Americans, and time off translates into retail sales.

Other retailers, however, keep a close eye on uncontrollable factors such as the weather as they prepare for the post-holiday period.

Take, for instance, the REI store in Reno, which specializes in gear for outdoor adventures such as skiing.

There, Manager Dean DiGidio says, "A good snowfall makes more difference than anything we can do internally."