CITY FOCUS:

National projections of a slowdown in shopping may not have hit Huntington Beach very hard yet, according to some who watch the city’s sales.

Headlines across the country have been filled with stories of sales being down, but while hard numbers haven’t been released yet, anecdotal news has been positive.

Economic Development Director Stanley Smalewitz said that even slow sales tend not to affect his job of attracting new businesses to the city.

“We haven’t seen any major change in plans or expansion from retailers,” Smalewitz said.

As for the latest numbers he’s seen — projections before the holidays — the situation didn’t seem dire.

“At the end of every quarter, we get together with our sales tax and property tax projections,” he said. “In the last one there was nothing dramatic.”

That’s what City Treasurer Shari Friedenrich told the City Council at its last meeting in December as well.

The Bella Terra mall was packed throughout the season with holiday shoppers.

Smalewitz agreed, calling business at the mall brisk.

“I was there pretty much every day in the season, and it was jammed,” he said. “There’s nothing too negative we’re hearing about. There’s nobody who’s called me and said, ‘We’re changing our future business plans.’”

If anything, hearing about how businesses are doing won’t happen until the more difficult months roll around, Smalewitz said.

“We’ll see what happens during the retail dog days of February,” he said.