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Ready, set, shop …

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Tony and Dianne Schifano may be typical of a couple out and about for the start of holiday shopping.

“We just go when we feel like it,” Tony said Wednesday as they strolled from store to store at Tanger Outlets off Racetrack Road in South Strabane Township.

While he and Dianne, who live in Morgantown, W.Va., have two children and in-laws on their gift list, “if we see something we need, we buy it,” he said, adding they may brave the crowds this Thanksgiving weekend to get what they need.

Dianne acknowledged she does some shopping online, “but more in stores.”

It may take a lot more Tonys and Diannes for retailers to receive the kind of holiday gift they’re hoping for this year, and avoid an experience that one consulting firm has compared to the movie “Groundhog Day”: once again seeing revenue that will mirror the kind of average performance from holiday seasons of the recent past.

Dr. Audrey Guskey, associate professor of marketing at Duquesne University and a follower of national and regional retail trends, said she believes the strategy of luring shoppers out on Thanksgiving Day, which began several years ago, is losing its steam.

And one area mall operator is underscoring that changing trend by keeping the main part of the mall closed on the holiday, despite the fact that several of its stores with exterior entrances will be open on Thanksgiving evening.

“Thanksgiving Day shopping has lost its luster because people have so many other opportunities” for doing their holiday shopping, Guskey said, noting the propensity of more Americans to shop online, a trend that increases each year.

“It’s a different world,” she said.

The only world that may be remaining the same, according to one consulting firm, is that retailers may experience déjà vu in regard to smaller increases as the holiday shopping season officially begins this weekend.

Washington, D.C.-based FTI Consulting, which released its 2016 U.S. Holiday Retail Report last week, predicted it will be “Groundhog Day for U.S. retailers,” finding that sales growth “will remain low despite the best efforts of merchants to win over shoppers.”

FTI, which is forecasting a 3.3 percent increase in holiday retail sales to $884.5 billion, said a slight moderation of income growth and household wealth gains heading into the season is the primary reason for modest expectations.

“Bargains will abound, but American consumers continue to exercise restraint compared to more free-spending ways of the past,” said Christa Hart, FTI’s senior managing director in the firm’s retail and consumer products area.

At the same time, U.S. e-commerce sales are predicted to jump 17.2 percent during the holiday season. According to emarketer.com, holiday retail ecommerce sales will rise to $94.71 billion, representing 10.7 percent of total holiday retail sales – the largest portion ever.

And even for those who enjoy getting out and shopping at brick-and-mortar stores during the holiday rush, Guskey said “they only have so much money to spend,” so adding a day of shopping often means that money spent on one trip won’t be spent again.

The “different world” Guskey references in regard to holiday retail shopping is noted in FTI’s report.

While in-store sales growth has gradually trended lower each year since 2012 and recently turned negative, it said, non-store sales, including both online and catalog purchases, have consistently grown by a low double-digit rate and have accelerated since 2015.

In addition to the continuing growth of online shopping, gift-buying has changed in other ways, Guskey added.

“Gift cards are still huge,” she said, as is the propensity of people to buy gifts for themselves. “More than half of us are buying gifts for ourselves,” she said, noting that last year, holiday shoppers spent an average of $140 on themselves.

According to the National Retail Federation, the world’s largest retail trade association, consumers are expected to spend an average of $935 on holiday gifts this year. The NRF is forecasting a 3.6 percent gain to $655.8 billion (NRF excludes sales of autos, gasoline and restaurant meals) for November and December.

Guskey, who noted that as the retail industry’s biggest trade group, the NRF’s projections are optimistic, said she expects the actual growth to be between 2 and 2.5 percent, which has been the average increase in holiday sales over the past decade.

Despite the average projections, NRF estimates 137.4 million consumers will hit the stores Thanksgiving weekend, with Black Friday remaining the busiest shopping day of the weekend.

Washington Crown Center, which went under new management earlier this year, will close its interior stores for Thanksgiving this year, according to spokeswoman Civil Knox.

“Our new owner has said to spend time with family on Thanksgiving,” she said.

However, several mall stores with exterior entrances will have Thanksgiving hours at Washington Crown Center. Gander Mountain will open at 6 p.m.; Bon-Ton, from 5 to 11 p.m.; Ross Dress-For-Less, 6 p.m. to midnight; and Macy’s, which will open at 5 p.m. and remain open until 10 p.m. Friday; Sears will be closed on Thanksgiving but will open at 5 a.m. Friday.

“By 7 a.m. on Black Friday, the mall will be completely open,” Knox said, adding that it will remain open until 10 p.m. It also will offer extended hours (9 a.m. to 10 p.m.) on Saturday.

The 80-store Tanger Outlets on Racetrack Road will hold its annual “Moonlight Madness” promotion beginning at 6 p.m. today, and will remain open to shoppers until 10 p.m. Friday.

Tina Cario, assistant general manager, said shoppers this year will literally find a brighter experience, thanks to a recent exterior lighting upgrade.

“We are 95 percent complete with our LED retrofit across the exterior of the site,” which includes parking lot lighting, said Cario, who said about 1,000 lights were upgraded to the brighter luminescence.

Most of The Shoppes at Quail Acres in North Strabane Township will be closed on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but will reopen on Saturday. However, Palazzo 1837, the restaurant at Quail Acres, will be open for lunch and dinner throughout the Thanksgiving weekend, including Thanksgiving Day.

A partial list of area retailers and their hours for Thanksgiving/Black Friday.

Big Lots: 7 a.m. to midnight Thanksgiving; 6 a.m. Friday;

Harbor Freight Tools: closed Thanksgiving; 7 a.m.to 9 p.m. Friday.

Kmart: 6 a.m. Thanksgiving through Friday.

Kohl’s: 6 p.m. Thanksgiving through Friday.

Macy’s: 5 p.m. Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. Friday.

Michael’s: 6 p.m. to midnight Thanksgiving; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday

Sam’s Club: closed Thanksgiving; 7 a.m. Friday

Sears: closed Thanksgiving; open at 5 a.m. Friday.

Target: 6 p.m. Thanksgiving to 10 p.m. Friday.

Toys ‘R’ Us: 5 p.m. Thanksgiving to 11 p.m. Friday

Walmart: 6 p.m. Thanksgiving through Friday.

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