CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Kanawha County woman has a lot of people to buy gifts for this holiday season.
“I have 16 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren,” Donna Waddell from Charleston told MetroNews on Thanksgiving Day while she stood in line waiting for the opening of JCPenney.
Behind her was Judy Wilkinson, also from Charleston, a newbie to Thanksgiving shopping who was after something for her grandson who’s seven.
“(It’ll be) Clothes, probably, because he’s got enough toys right now,” she said.
Doors opened at JCPenney at 2 p.m. Thursday with other large retailers following later in the day.
Those on hand by that time received a JCPenney coupon good for $10 off, $100 off or $500 off purchases.
Zoey Whitmore from Cabin Creek said her mother forced her to join the line with her and other family members.
“We’ve got to get these free coupons,” she said.
Nearby her mother, Amy Whitmore, had the JCPenney flier advertising the coupons and a list.
“This is what all I came to get,” Amy Whitmore said.
Zoey Whitmore was quick to ask, “Anything in there for me?”
Coupons, limited time pricing and major markdowns were some of the incentives being offered to early shoppers.
“Our retailers, here on the ground, are rolling out really good deals to drive the traffic into the stores,” said Bridget Lambert, president of the West Virginia Retailers Association.
“It seemed to start early this year.”
After Thanksgiving Day, the retail holiday shopping schedule included Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday — all featuring different promotions.
In total, it’s a shorter season.
This year, there are six fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas than in 2018.
Store closures, including shutdowns for Sears and Kmart among others, have limited in-store shopping options in some areas.
JCPenney, for example, is the last of the anchor stores at the Charleston Town Center Mall.
Nationwide, though, Lambert said holiday sales for retailers this season were projected to grow by between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent.
The overall average for the past five years has been 3.7 percent growth.
As for the Mountain State, “The way shopping is going to go in West Virginia this year, I think, will depend on how the economy in different regions is,” Lambert said.
The growth number is far more dramatic for online sales.
This year, online holiday purchases could climb by between 11 and 14 percent, according to Lambert, which translates to an increase of $20 billion dollars nationally from online sales during last year’s holiday season.
“Some of the changes you see right now with some of our retailers is you order your product online and then you can come to the store and pick it up within hours or within 24 hours,” Lambert said.
This holiday season also includes more home delivery options.
“Retailers are responding to consumer demand to deliver to the door while also finding ways to make the shopping experience easier,” Lambert said.
More delivery services open up additional jobs.
“Traditionally, we think of holiday hiring season as the employees that retailers put on during the holiday season and that will continue to occur the way that it has in previous years. Retailers will meet the demands of their store and the customer base they serve,” she said.
“However, we now have a fall over into the delivery companies such as FedEx, UPS or the United States Postal Service and I’m sure there’s others. They’ll be adding tremendous staff to meet the consumer demand for home delivery.”
Along with the shipping of gifts, UPS was expecting to see a record-breaking number of returns this year with the peak for returns coming on Jan. 2, 2020.
“The retail industry is ever-evolving. Customer access to products and availability and convenience seems to be the priority of retailers today. Who knows what the future holds? It’s going to be exciting,” said Lambert.
For Amy Whitmore, though, shopping in stores remains her holiday shopping method of choice.
After JCPenney on Thursday, “We’ve got a whole list of stores we’re going to,” she said.
“We’re going to The Shoe Store, later we’ll be going to Walmart, Sam’s, Michaels, Ulta. We’re probably going to be out until the morning, when the sales start in the morning.”