Before Thanksgiving weekend — which is typically one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year — economists predicted a slow holiday retail season.
Many retailers near the University, however, are reporting that they fared better this year than they did during last year's Thanksgiving weekend, despite the somber mood that has gripped the nation since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
At Ten Thousand Villages, a store that sells an array of items including jewelry, crafts, toys and winter clothes, sales were up 50 percent on Friday compared to the same Friday last year and up 25 percent on Saturday, according to the store manager Ingrid Heinrichs-Pauls.
Located at the Princeton Shopping Center on North Harrison Street, Ten Thousand Villages was also open for business on Sunday and had another excellent day, capping off an extremely successful weekend, Heinrichs-Pauls said.
"It went very well. We fell in September, but in October we shot way up — and this past weekend was great," she said.
Kristin Dutney, an assistant manager at Ann Taylor on Palmer Square, reported that that the store's sales increased from last year at this time, but growth was not as sharp as she would have liked. "We did better than expected, but not as good as we might have if it wasn't this year — if you know what I mean," Dutney said.
Nevertheless, Princeton area retailers seem to have fared similarly to, if not better than, their national counterparts. According to Monday's New York Times, sales in stores open at least one year rose 2.4 percent on the Friday after Thanksgiving, as compared with the same day in 2000.
In the Times article, the company that provided this data, TeleCheck Services, offered some hope and reassurance to retailers around the country.
"It is not a doomsday start at all," William Ford, a senior economic adviser at TeleCheck Services, told the Times. "It is better than a lot of analysts had expected. Retailers should be pleased."
Kevin Lanahan, the owner of Ricchard's Shoes on Nassau Street, echoed this feeling of cautious optimism. "It was okay, a little better than last year — most retailers you ask in this area will probably say the same thing," he said, attributing his store's success to people coming from outside the Princeton area to shop.
Ten Thousand Villages, on the other hand, hopes to further its success with a series of holiday shopping events that will be held in the coming weeks. The first of these events was held this past Sunday and 15 percent of all sales were donated to local charities and community groups, as they will be at all future events.
"We want people to know that we are a good place during these troubled times," Heinrichs-Pauls said.
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