Retailers Ho Ho Hope For A Strong Holiday Shopping Season
A young girl provides Santa with her gift list while retailers have visions of big holiday bucks dancing in their heads

   Pittsburgers, like shoppers all over the country, had little time to digest their Thanksgiving turkey before making a mad dash to the malls to officially kick off the holiday gift-buying season.

Ross Park Mall was filled with shoppers to begin the holiday buying season (OnTV Photos by Alan Freed)

   Retailers are going into this holiday season with mixed feelings. The economy has been on the rebound, so it's likely that consumers will choose to spend more money than they did during last year's dismal shopping season. On the other hand, a later-than-usual Thanksgiving means that there will be several fewer days of the shopping season.

   The first day of the holiday season brought people to the malls in high volumes, encouraging retailers. Pittsburgh's major malls, including Monroeville, Ross Park, South Hills Village, and Century III, reported that parking lots were consistently filled between 85-95% during the holiday weekend.

   So what are people buying when they get to the stores? Well, when it's available, they're scarfing up Tickle Me Elmo dolls. The popularity of the $29.99 toy has been a big surprise to its supplier, Tyco. The toy company has increased its production to 50,000 dolls per week to try to keep up with the demand. Retailers expect to sell over a million of the dolls before Christmas.

A rare sight during the holiday season: An available parking spot

   The Tickle Me Elmo dolls are a big hit locally, too. In an OnTV interview, a representative of the newly opened Cranberry Township Toys Us store said that it's unlikely the store will have any new shipments of the toy before Christmas. "We sold our last shipment the instant it came in the door." She went on to explain that Nintendo 64 game systems have been a sell-out, too.

   What aren't people buying? You may be surprised to hear that personal computer sales have been disappointing so far. Even though many of the large retailers are offering special promotions, discounts and financing offers, sales of PCs have lagged behind last year's sales. The reasons for the decline? Industry experts point to several factors that have contributed to lower sales numbers. Last year's Window 95 hype helped to stir up new business; this year has nothing revolutionary to offer. Researchers say that 34% of all homes now have a PC, and that number will only increase to 36% in 1997.

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