Retailers are afraid consumers are not in the buying mood due to the recession and the psychological aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks, said James Lowry, a marketing professor.

"They are scared that merchandise will just sit on the shelves until January and they'll be forced to almost give it away," he said. "Retailers are cutting prices far earlier than usual to get people into the stores. You usually don't see 50 to 70 percent off until just before Christmas."

Sales figures for last weekend, the official start of the holiday shopping season, found consumers were not ready to spend.

Traffic at shopping malls on Friday, Saturday and Sunday fell 7.4 percent from 2000, while the number of people shopping in department stores fell by 11.7 percent, according to Chicago-based RCT Systems, which tracks mall traffic at 200 malls and 800 department stores nationwide for retailers.

Despite the recession, Lowry believes, consumer sales will be slightly better than last year because of deep discounts and a slightly longer holiday shopping season.

Various forecasts for the 32-day season range from a 1 percent decline to a 4 percent growth over last year.

"It all depends on how consumers feel," Lowry said. "If people are optimistic about the situation in Afghanistan and believe the economy will get better early next year, they'll be out shopping."

By Marc Ransford, Communications Manager

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Lowry at jlowry@bsu.edu  or (765) 285-5180.)