With a new president comes presents

Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT-MESA -- Retailers are breathing a sigh of relief that the

closest presidential election in more than a century is over.

The race seemed to keep Newport Beach and Costa Mesa residents glued

to their television sets instead of cramming their bags with holiday

gifts, but now they appear to be off their couches and trying to catch

up.

Officials for the area’s two major shopping centers said Wednesday

that business was booming as usual during the week before Christmas.

“Our traffic numbers are very strong,” said Debra Gunn Downing, South

Coast Plaza’s executive director of marketing. “It’s pretty much

comparable to last year, and we’re seeing steadily increasing numbers as

we’re going toward Christmas.”

Sales figures for the shopping center will be available next month,

but Downing said her assessment was based on the number of people

visiting the mall.

At Newport Beach’s Fashion Island, merchants had expected a slower

start, said Rick Evans, the president of the Irvine Co.’s retail

division, which oversees Fashion Island.

With an additional shopping weekend before Christmas Day, and Hanukkah

starting comparatively late as well, the soft beginning was nothing to be

nervous about, he said.

“Retailers feel that we got a ‘shot in the arm’ with the announcement

that we finally have a president,” said Evans, adding that many business

owners had seen customers holding out on buying bigger gifts until the

end of the election.

Chamber of commerce officials in both cities said that while sales

might not be setting new records, things still looked pretty good.

“The economy did not go down early enough to hurt anyone,” said Ed

Fawcett, the chief executive for Costa Mesa’s chamber of commerce. “For

the most part, it’s a healthy Christmas sale season.”

Fawcett’s counterpart in Newport Beach agreed.

“I hear things are going swimmingly well,” said Richard Luehrs, the

president and chief executive at the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of

Commerce. “Maybe [sales] are not meeting the projections, but they are

certainly over last year’s.”

Shoppers on 17th Street in Newport Beach said concerns about the

economy made them think a little longer before buying gifts.

“I shop around,” said Lea Tamblyn, a stay-at-home mom from Costa Mesa

who was checking out toys with her 2-year-old daughter, Paige. “I don’t

always buy it in the first place I see.”

The late arrival of gifts bought over the Internet last year had

brought her back to stores, Tamblyn added. But because she’d received

shopping coupons as compensation for the glitches, she’d ordered some

gifts online again.

“It was cheaper than anywhere else,” she said, adding that there was a

good chance Santa would bring Paige the Barbie bug car she was hoping

for.

“Oh yeah, she’s been a good girl,” Tamblyn said.

On Balboa Island, one of the city’s more famous shop owners said he’d

seen people come a little earlier than usual.

Former Mayor John Noyes said he returned to work at his jewelry store

the same night his successor had been sworn into office.

“I think a lot of people saw losses in stock,” Noyes said. “But I

don’t think they’re hit financially.”

Looking through a rack of paintings outside a store on Marine Avenue,

Newport Beach resident Judy Hollingsworth said this year things were more

low-key for other reasons.

Christmas “will mean more,” said Hollingsworth, who was wearing a neck

brace from an accident and surgery earlier this year.

“I’m so grateful to have survived the past year,” the social worker

said, adding that she’d be back at work in February.

Short on funds because of her illness, Hollingsworth said she didn’t

plan to spend much money this year.

But she couldn’t pass up a T-shirt with the phrase “Women want me,

fish fear me” for her boyfriend, a fishing enthusiast.

“You have to celebrate,” she said. “You have to be festive.”