The government statistics don't tell the
whole story, only major department
stores were asked about Christmas sales,
whom the government failed to survey were
the most trendsetting merchants of all
the small stores.
I was pleased, very pleased.
Cheryl Anderson's frame shop racked up a
27 percent increase over last year's
Christmas. But that's not all profit
because while sales were up, so
were her expenses.
I haven't seen my balance sheet yet.
Mike Anderson has seen his
wife. Christmas sales were red hot.
It wasn't enough to pull his fireplace
shop out of red ink.
We were down. We were down.
And I just figured it out a while ago, 21
percent.
Jim McCauley's dress shop had a good
Christmas, a 21 percent increase over
last year's sales, but his expenses
were up 16 percent.
That's it is tough to compete with the
department stores.
Our unscientific survey showed most
small stores did experience sales
increases similar to their department
store competitors.
But because of those ever increasing
expenses, many small merchants
are trying to find a way to cut costs
next Christmas to stay in competition.
Mike Snyder, Channel 5 Action News,
Fort Worth.