Snow is the last thing local retailers want

River City Music shop owner, Jim Hively, left, speaks to Pat Axlund, a customer looking to buy a gift for his grandson on Thursday. (Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

With his store sales down by about 10 percent this year, Vancouver merchant Jim Hively says he is not praying for more snow.

That’s the last thing needed by area retailers with only six shopping days left before Christmas, said Hively, 51, owner of River City Music.

In fact, small independently owned stores such as Hively’s are feeling the pinch of a sharp drop in consumer spending this year, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported Tuesday that this year’s grim holiday sales could force some to shut down permanently.

“More bad weather would be a double whammy” keeping customers from getting out to the stores during an already slow holiday season, Hively said Thursday.

The snow that had fallen earlier Thursday was starting to melt into puddles near the entrance to his store in the Columbia Square retail center at Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard and 136th Avenue.

Hively said he is counting on last-minute shoppers to buy a few more guitars, drum sets and other musical instruments from his store over the next few days. However, he acknowledged that independent retailers are more keenly aware of the tough holiday season.

“I don’t know any (retail) business that isn’t down by between 10 (percent) and 25 percent this year,” Hively said.

Add snowy weather to the damp economic forecast, and “a lot of retailers are going to be hurting,” said Don Lim, owner of Cell Towns, a cell phone store just a few doors away from River City Music.

“The weather is really critical since this is the last weekend before Christmas,” Lim said.

Lim said he opened his business in June and saw store sales increase monthly through the end of September, when worldwide financial markets began to crumble.

“When October started, everything just stopped,” Lim said of store sales. “It’s picking up now, but things are not as good.”

And smaller stores can’t slash merchandise prices to attract last-minute customers, like their larger chain-store counterparts. It’s difficult for small stores to negotiate the lower prices from their merchandise suppliers, according to a Thursday story in the Seattle Times, which pointed out that smaller stores can’t offer the deep discounts and still turn a profit.

“The smaller businesses don’t operate on that model,” Hively said, adding that his store is more insulated by a cash flow from school instrument rentals and music lessons.

Some independent retailers will do fine, but the bulk of them will see a very difficult year, according to the Journal story. The publication reported that analysts expect overall holiday sales to rise by a mere 1.2 percent this year, the worst year-over-year increase since 2001,

Even if shoppers do outspend the bleak predictions, they are expected to gravitate toward large discounters such as Wal-Mart, the Journal said.

Some local retailers say they are trying to compete head-to-head with the chain stores by offering additional customer service and projecting a positive attitude.

“We’re combatting the negativity in peoples minds with extra service, extra discounts and a very cheerful attitude,” said Chaehui Kim, owner of Young Art, a children’s art supply store with locations in downtown Vancouver and at Northeast 162nd Avenue and 18th Street.

Kim said the prevailing mood of national economic uncertainty and fear present the biggest challenge to her small company, not the local weather forecast.

“Focusing on the aspect of quality has helped,” Kim said. “We have not seen our business drop, so we feel very fortunate.”

Cami Joner covers retail. Contact her at 360-735-4532 or cami.joner@columbian.com.