What people are giving this year

Alicia Robinson

With the holiday shopping season underway, Newport-Mesa’s retail

stores are seeing firsthand that consumer confidence is on the rise.

Shoppers are looking for a variety of gifts at a wide range of

prices, but retailers said one popular area this year has been luxury

items.

“When there’s troubled times, people like to buy something to make

them feel good,” said Jay Smith, store manager at Dooney & Bourke,

which sells designer handbags and accessories.

Hot items at the South Coast Plaza store are the “Nile,” a leather

bag handcrafted in Italy that comes in a rainbow of colors and costs

$375, and the “It” collection, which includes handbags and matching

accessories created by young fashion design students.

“It’s been a great seasonal gift, especially for the young girls,”

Smith said.

As people prepare for holiday entertaining, they’re looking for

home accessories such as lamps, pillows and textured blankets. At

Between the Sheets in Fashion Island, store manager Nicole Serpico

said she’s already sold out of the down comforters she carried and

customers have been interested in sheet sets with a high thread count

that “feel like silk without being silk.”

GADGETS AND LOOKS

A variety of trendy gift items can be found at Brookstone, which

has remodeled its flagship store at South Coast Plaza. Store manager

George Passmore said the AcoustiClear CD player’s transparent

speakers have drawn customers’ interest. The $195 AM/FM radio and CD

player can sit on a desktop or be mounted on a wall.

“We’ll sell out of this before the holiday,” he predicted.

A stress-relieving cushion that comes in four colors, a lighted

erasable message board and slippers that conform to the wearer’s foot

shape are also flying out of the store, he said.

Denim jeans are as popular as ever at Indigo Palms, a new store at

Fashion Island that carries clothes by Tommy Bahama. Top sellers have

been basic men’s jeans, which cost $78, as well as women’s stretch

jeans and leather jackets, store manager Jennifer Abrum said.

CHILDREN’S PICKS

Popular gifts for children this year include Neo Pets, electronic

pets that children feed and care for. Neo Pets can be had for about

$13 to $15, said Sheri Plaisted, manager of the Imaginarium store at

Fashion Island.

Also sought after are the Hulk and Transformers toys, interactive

learning toys such as the Leap Pad, and board games such as Monopoly

and Candyland, she said.

At Toy Boat in Newport Coast, more classic toys for children of

all ages are the store’s specialty. Sales clerk Julia Conroy said the

Chariot, a three-wheeled scooter with a hand brake, has been a big

seller this year. It comes in several sizes for different age groups

and costs between $100 and $130.

Lego building kits, race track sets made by Darda, and Madam

Alexander dolls are perennial favorites, Conroy said.

CARD CRAZE

There’s even a trend this year in holiday cards. People want to

send something more personal than an e-mail message, so they’re

buying cards that have a place to insert photos, Papyrus store

manager Traci Rhodes said.

“Those are something people buy hundreds of,” she said.

The trendy cards account for about 40% of the boxed cards in the

store.

“It seems that people have been wanting to keep in touch more via

the postal service,” Rhodes said.

Because of troubling world events such as the war in Iraq, people

have been drawing closer.

“It’s like an emotional boom,” she said.

Most retailers said the trend they’re happiest about is that

people seem to be spending more and buying high-ticket items this

year. But not everything is about spending money.

Rhodes said she’s noticed a resurgence in the spirit of giving.

Customers have been asking for gift wrap for items they’ve bought to

donate to charity, she said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].