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Florida Retailers Expect Slight Increase The Next 2 Months

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The Associated Press

Published: November 9, 2007

TALLAHASSEE - The holiday shopping season may be slower for Florida merchants than in previous years, but retailers are planning to use sales to lure buyers and are still expecting to see a small uptick over last year.

Nationally, the Christmas shopping outlook is pretty bleak, with merchants reporting lower-than-expected October sales. Economists say ongoing troubles in the housing market and high gas prices seem to be crushing consumer confidence and have people scaling back this year.

The Florida Retail Federation said Thursday that it expects retailers to respond to consumer nervousness with deep discounts and forecasted a 3 percent increase over last year.

While any increase would be welcome in a slumping economy, the forecast is for a much smaller increase than last year, when sales went up 6 percent over 2005.

"A 3 percent boost in holiday retail sales is a strong number for Florida, especially when you consider the overall drop in consumer confidence this year and the first housing slump in a decade," said the federation's chief executive, Rick McAllister.

Many stores, particularly large national chains such as Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, hope to jump-start the season by offering big discounts; many started last weekend.

Nationally, economic forecasters expect the slowest holiday retail growth since 2002.

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