California Apparel News

November ended with a bang. But it would not have happened without the help of Black Friday, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

The robust Black Friday turnout was the ingredient that gave a boost to the month’s sometimes slow sales. (The day after the Thanksgiving holiday is the traditional kickoff of the holiday retail season, which is typically when many retailers’ bottom lines shift from red to black, earning the day the nickname Black Friday. It fell on Nov. 24 this year.)

Shoppers spent more than $8.96 billion on Black Friday. It was a 6 percent increase from the same day last year, according to the New York–based ICSC. However, the sales increase of the entire month was only 2.1 percent.

Many apparel retailers blamed the month’s slow sales on the weather. Many said it was a challenge to sell Fall fashions when much of the United States was basking in warm weather, which felt more like August than November.

While the weather may have surprised some, familiar patterns emerged with the month’s winners and losers. For the past few months, same-store sales have increased for department stores and luxury retailers. November was no exception.

For example, Federated Department Stores and Nordstrom reported same-store sales increases of 8.5 percent and 5.4 percent respectively. Long-suffering retailers Gap, Hot Topic and Pacific Sunwear all reported declines. But analysts saw some encouraging news in Hot Topic’s results.

Much of the investment community forecast that Hot Topic’s same-store sales would decline 6.7 percent. Instead the retailer reported a decline of a mere 4.3 percent. Liz Pierce, an analyst who works for Newport Beach, Calif.–based Roth Capital Partners, credited the improved performance to a better selection of women’s clothing, which featured a better in-stock position of novelty T-shirts.

Black Friday’s strong sales should pave the way to a decent Christmas retail season in Southern California, according to Jack Kyser, the chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. He forecast the season’s sales would increase 7.3 percent compared to 6.7 percent of the 2005 Christmas retail season.

Now that Black Friday is part of history, retailers will be anticipating the next big shopping day. Unfortunately, they will have to bide their time, said Janet La Fevre, senior marketing director of the Glendale Galleria shopping center in Glendale, Calif.

“The real pick up is the last two weeks before Christmas,” she said. Because Christmas lands on a Monday this year, retailers are waiting for a busy weekend of shopping that will immediately precede the holiday.

—Andrew Asch