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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Holiday Shoppers Are Clothes-Minded Electronics Sales Slow As Women’s Fashions Soar

Margaret Webb Pressler The Washi

Don you now your gay apparel and don’t forget to grab your hats and rich suede gloves and downy cashmere scarfs and anything at all with a designer label. Holiday shopping circa 1996 is about clothes, clothes, luxurious clothes. And merchants say it’s about time.

In nationwide surveys and at area malls, consumers are putting apparel, jewelry and accessories back at the top of their gift lists, especially items made of soft, plush fabrics such as fleece, chenille and velour. For the past three years, apparel sales have unraveled like an old Christmas sweater, but this time retailers say they are feeling the ho-ho-ho in their holiday clothing sales.

Women’s fashion, for instance, is doing “much better,” according to spokeswoman Nancy Chistolini of Hecht’s department store in Washington, D.C. “It’s more interesting looking and it’s certainly been helped by” collections from a number of popular designers.

Just 12 months ago, if shoppers weren’t hunting for homey, comforting presents such as books, candles and massagers, they were spending on computers and electronics. In fact, in the first five years of this decade, sales at appliance, electronics and computer stores in November and December were climbing by an average of 10 percent after adjusting for inflation, according to the Commerce Department, while apparel sales inched ahead only 0.4 percent, on average.

In a twinkling, clothes have become king.

“That’s true, unfortunately,” said Brad Anderson, president of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., which is based in Minneapolis. Anderson said computers “aren’t doing particularly well,” and sales of consumer electronics such as TVs, VCRs and stereos “are also not terribly vibrant.” Smaller items though, such as CDs, some personal electronics and computer software, are selling better at the chain’s 272 stores.

It’s Anderson’s theory that people have bought so many high-tech products in past years that the market has hit a temporary saturation point. And other than the Nintendo-64 system, which is selling well everywhere, there’s not much that’s new, he said.

A National Retail Federation survey of 1,000 consumers shows the shopping shift: While 22 percent of the consumers said they would buy electronics and only 6 percent mentioned computers, 59 percent planned to buy women’s clothes this year as gifts.

New citrus and jewel-tone colors on winter clothes and brown as an alternative to black, along with the soft, rich fabrics, are stimulating shoppers, retailers said.

“Women’s ready-to-wear is suddenly more attractive,” said Bob Mettler, president of merchandising for Sears, Roebuck and Co.

“This Christmas is going to be all about status and luxury goods at Saks Fifth Avenue,” said Lori Rhodes, a spokeswoman for that New York-based department store chain. Cashmere sweaters and robes, for example, have been big sellers.

Even at discount stores such as Target, shoppers are buying dressier, more elegant clothes and home-decor items. Susan Eich, a spokeswoman for Dayton Hudson Corp., Target Stores’ parent company, called the theme for this Christmas “anti-casual. It’s almost the idea that things may have gone too far in the other direction and now I’m willing spend more,” she said.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Margaret Webb Pressler The Washington Post