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KANSAS CITY, MO -
Christmas may not be so merry for some retailers in the Midwest. If you normally wait until the last minute to buy gifts, or save up until Black Friday to get the best deals, you may want rethink your holiday shopping strategy.
Most of those markdowns actually won't happen in 2009. Retailers have less inventory and won't keep a lot in stock, which means some of the more popular items will sell out fast and may not be replenished.
Retailers are doing this because they expect a one percent drop in sales in 2009. That's better than last year, but around the holidays, sales are usually up about six percent.
So if you see something you like, get it now or you may miss out.
"My advice to shoppers, if you see a good special, I would take it early rather than waiting to think that it's going to be at a lower price later on, because chances are it's not going to be there," said David Brennan, University of St. Thomas professor.
A recent survey by Walmart shows more than 50 percent of mothers plan to have all of their Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. That means some of the more popular toys may be hard to come by in the next few weeks.
Twilight merchandise is a big seller this year, as are board games and Zhu Zhu pets--the battery-powered hamsters that can drive around in cars or on the hamster wheel. Many websites have already sold out of them.
For adults and kids electronics will be a hot item too, especially since most retailers have knocked down prices hundreds of dollars on things like televisions and cameras.
Most of those markdowns actually won't happen in 2009. Retailers have less inventory and won't keep a lot in stock, which means some of the more popular items will sell out fast and may not be replenished.
Retailers are doing this because they expect a one percent drop in sales in 2009. That's better than last year, but around the holidays, sales are usually up about six percent.
So if you see something you like, get it now or you may miss out.
"My advice to shoppers, if you see a good special, I would take it early rather than waiting to think that it's going to be at a lower price later on, because chances are it's not going to be there," said David Brennan, University of St. Thomas professor.
A recent survey by Walmart shows more than 50 percent of mothers plan to have all of their Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving. That means some of the more popular toys may be hard to come by in the next few weeks.
Twilight merchandise is a big seller this year, as are board games and Zhu Zhu pets--the battery-powered hamsters that can drive around in cars or on the hamster wheel. Many websites have already sold out of them.
For adults and kids electronics will be a hot item too, especially since most retailers have knocked down prices hundreds of dollars on things like televisions and cameras.
