Bosnians Rally to Reinstate Santa Claus
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Hundreds of Bosnians have protested against a recent ban on Santa Claus in the city’s kindergartens.
The directors of Sarajevo’s day-care centers, kindergartens and preschools banned Santa. They argued that the capital is predominantly Muslim and Santa Claus is not part of the Muslim tradition.
A multi-religious mix of parents, children and others blew whistles on a downtown square on Sunday and requested Santa be restored to the children. Many protesters wore Santa Claus hats.
Santa is known locally as Father Frost and has given out presents to generations of Bosnian children in schools, kindergartens and other institutions. This was done even during communist rule and was always tied to New Year’s celebrations. The demonstrators say that makes it a Bosnian tradition.
41 Million Haven’t Started Shopping Yet
With just over a week to go until Christmas, consumers have completed less than half of their holiday shopping – and millions have not even started yet, according to a report released Tuesday.
According to the National Retail Foundation’s “Holiday Consumer Intentions and Actions” survey, holiday shoppers said they had finished 47% of their gift shopping by the second week of December. That represents a significant drop from the 53% of gift purchases completed at the same time last year.
Only 8% of respondents said their shopping is complete, and more than 41 million people have not even begun their holiday shopping.
The wave of reluctant shoppers comes as retail industry experts say recession and mounting job losses cause households to cut back on gift-shopping this year.
“The consumers have the upper hand this year,” said Pam Goodfellow, senior analyst at BIGresearch, which conducted the survey for the retail group. “They’re becoming better shoppers. Everyone is holding out, expecting great last-minute deals.”
Another factor: This year’s holiday shopping season — which begins on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and extends to Christmas — is five days shorter than it was last year.
Black Friday sales were better than expected this year, and by the end of that weekend first consumers had completed more of their holiday shopping than they had by the end of the same weekend last year.
But now, with a little more than a week before Christmas, shopping has slowed again and slipped behind 2007 levels.
“Since it’s all about budget shopping this year, consumers might not be seeing prices that fit their budgets,” Goodfellow said. “And they’re sticking to those budgets.”
Hitting the discount shops
As more price-conscious consumers trade down in their gift purchases, the survey showed that discount stores are expected to be the most-shopped retail outlets over the next few days.
The NRF report said 43% of shoppers said they plan to visit a discounter while 43% said they would shop at a department stores. However, another 40% (versus 35% last year) of people polled for the survey said they would skip stores entirely and hit the Internet for their holiday shopping.
Goodfellow said she expected that retailers will continue to lower prices despite already deep discounts.
“I think we’ll see them talking about those two or three days before Christmas, and even Dec. 26,” Goodfellow said. “People will be buying more gifts, but they won’t be spending that much more money.”
The survey indicated that most shoppers were buying clothes, followed by books, CDs, DVDs, videos or video games, toys and electronics.
The number of people expected to buy gift cards, which have been the fastest growing category over the holiday shopping months of November and December, is expected to slip to 24% from 30% this time last year.
One reason for the decline in popularity of gift cards is the ongoing weakness in retail sales which has forced many leading national chains such as Circuit City (CCTYQ) and KB Toys into bankruptcy this year. The concern for consumers is whether a retailer that they buy a gift card from this year might still be around in 2009.
Using less plastic
Given the tightness in the credit markets, many more consumers say they are opting to make their gift purchases using cash this year versus credit.
The report said 66.2% of shoppers have primarily used cash, debit cards, or checks so far, up marginally from 64.5% last year.
“Everybody’s more concerned about prices this year,” Goodfellow said. “They’re holding off and holding out, but nobody is going to cancel Christmas.”
Christmas Tree Thefts on the Rise
With the economy tanking, it may not be a surprise that nuisance crimes like petty theft and vandalism are on the rise. But even police departments are scratching their heads over the latest hot loot: Christmas trees.
In recent weeks, police across the country have seen an uptick in the theft of trees from commercial lots. In Baytown, Tex., cops caught a man earlier this month trying to take several holiday trees off a lot. In Portland, Ore., police nabbed a man last week dragging a stolen tree down the street around 3 a.m. Officials in Hillsborough County, Fla., are investigating a Christmas tree crime spree, with more than 20 stolen from one lot owner alone.
In that instance, 14 Fraser firs were swiped in the middle of the night on December 2; another eight were stolen about a week later. Dan Parker, who has owned the site for more than 50 years, says no trees were stolen from his site last year. In fact, the last time Parker had pilferers was when 40 were stolen in 1978 — during a similar economic downturn.
“People shouldn’t be stealing Christmas trees, because Christmas has a real good meaning,” he says. “We don’t need this in this economy right now.” He sells trees for $35 to $300, adding he didn’t raise prices this year because of the weak economic climate. Because of the thefts, he plans to install motion detectors and hire a night watchman to guard his goods for the remaining days – and nights – in his selling season.
In Groton, Conn., the local Lions International club, which sells Christmas trees in the parking lot of the Groton Shoppers Mart shopping center, ordered 400 trees this year instead of the usual 450, anticipating weak demand. It’s also anticipating some sticky fingers: Normally the club factors in that 20 to 25 trees are likely to be stolen each year; this year, they expect that to rise to 50 or 60.
“We’ve always said if somebody has to steal a Christmas tree God bless them,” says Bill Foreman, a Lions club member says. “If someone needs a tree that bad so be it.”
To some degree, law enforcement officials say, Christmas tree thieves come out every year, usually motivated by simple mischief-making. “Each holiday season the Grinches go out in force,” says Hillsborough Sheriff’s Office spokesman J.D. Callaway.
But he and others say this year’s poachers may be products of the sour economy. Sales of fresh Christmas trees have been on an upswing since 2002, with approximately 31 million sold last year for a retail value of $1.3 billion, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. But with little evidence of any black market for Christmas trees, and a six-foot fir costing as much as $200, officials suspect this year’s thieves are likely stealing trees for their own living rooms.
Lush firs aren’t the only Christmas adornments being taken – holiday trim has become hot loot as well. The Garden Patch in Raynham, Mass., a garden center near Boston, lost $1,500 worth of Christmas decorations to thieves on Thanksgiving night. Owner Cathy Berlo says stolen items included table runners, Victorian ornaments and small tabletop arrangements. A few days later, a $120,14-foot fir was snatched.
Some bad Santas are even swiping décor from charities. An artificial tree that had the names of needy children asking for gifts pinned to it was stolen from the lobby of a post office in Sorrento, Fla. And on Thursday, police charged a 40-year-old woman near Grand Rapids, Mich., with larceny for allegedly swiping toys donated to the Salvation Army. According to local reports, when the woman was arraigned and told her bond was $10,000 she asked the judge, “You got $10,000?”
