NEW YORK — Alarmed by the financial meltdown, stores nationwide are slapping sale signs on items as diverse as fall sweaters and furniture, frantically trying to attract shoppers who are cutting back.
Some analysts were expecting the weakest sales growth for the holiday season in 24 years. With a teetering economy and uncertainty roiling the banking system, analysts figure Americans will make their lists and check them three or four times.
“I haven’t seen this kind of fright since 9/11,” said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the retail leasing sales division for real-estate firm Prudential Douglas Elliman.
She said stores are “all arming themselves for what is probably the most difficult season across the board.”
At malls and shopping districts and on the Web, the discounts are growing desperate. “Up to 60 percent off,” say signs at AnnTaylor Loft stores, “50 percent off” at Old Navy. Restoration Hardware e-mailed $100 gift vouchers to customers Thursday for purchases of $400 or more.
Holiday items are starting to flow into stores — and they’re expected to be marked down immediately, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for NPD Group Inc.
Wal-Mart is opening its Christmas shops a week earlier than last year. The retailer is also cutting prices on 10 popular toys to $10 each.
But it might take more than sale signs and promotions to attract shoppers, who have been dealing for months with high gas and food prices, weaker job and housing markets and tighter credit.
Many economists predict that spending could deteriorate as the problems on Wall Street cascade through the economy, with layoffs expected to rise and frozen credit markets meaning shoppers are having a harder time getting loans and credit lines.
