NEW YORK (AP)
-- Shoes are coming out of the closet and landing under the Christmas
tree. They're a top seller this holiday season - a big feat considering
they don't usually make peoples' gift lists.
Laranda
Williams, 39, used to buy clothing, tools and electronics as presents
for her family. This year, though, she looked at their feet and got
inspired. She bought some Vans sneakers for one of her sons, two pairs
of stilettos for a girlfriend of another son, and Nike running shoes for
her husband.
"Electronics and clothing get
redundant," said Williams, who lives in Clarksville, Tenn. "But shoes
are just the wow. I know they're going to use it, and I know they're
going to love it."
The shoe-gifting fetish is
part of a larger trend of shoppers buying loved ones holiday presents
that they not only like, but can use. It's this habit of practicality
that Americans have been clinging to throughout the economic downturn.
This
holiday season, it's meant that mom might not buy Molly an extravagant
evening gown she'll maybe wear once. But she may splurge on $600 Jimmy
Choo pumps if her daughter needs work shoes or $150 Nike sneakers if
she's an avid runner.
"It's about practicality
and splurging at the same time," said Marshal Cohen, chief research
analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm. "There's a sense of, `I
know what you need but you haven't gotten it for yourself.'"
As
a result, footwear was the fifth most popular gift on shoppers' lists
on the day after Thanksgiving known as Black Friday, the biggest
shopping day of the year, below clothing, electronics, toys, and movies,
according to NPD. A year ago, shoes didn't even make it into the top 10
gifts for the season.
Overall, sales of
athletic shoes rose 3.4 percent to $3 billion for the three months
ending in November, and sales of women's fashion footwear grew 3.2
percent to $6.12 billion.
Chelsey Gates,
manager of Chuckies New York, a designer shoe store on the Manhattan
borough of New York City, said she's seen more men buying shoes for
their wives or girlfriends. One of the most popular gifts: a Chelsea
Paris gold trim ankle-high boots for $695.
"Men come in with cards with perfect instructions: style numbers, sizes and prices," she said.
The
trend comes as stores have been trying to find ways to boost sales of
shoes, which can carry profit margins of up to 50 percent.
As
part of Macy's overhaul of its New York flagship store, the department
store combined three different shoe departments and expanded the size by
ten percent. The new shoe department now boasts 250,000 pairs of shoes,
including everything from $99 Nine West leopard print platform pumps to
$400 multi-colored pumps from Donald Pliner.
"Women love shoes. This is a category that they care about," said Muriel Gonzalez, an executive vice president at Macy's.
This
fall, Saks Fifth Avenue also enlarged its shoe departments in about a
dozen of its other stores across the country. The move continues the
luxury retailer's efforts in its flagship store in New York City, which
it first expanded in 2007 to include more shoes, better service and more
stock room capability.
The New York City shoe
department, which got a second remake this fall, now takes over the
entire 8th floor, which previously also housed a gift area. The shoe
department is 40 percent larger and includes the first Louis Vuitton
shoe shop within a department store.
The
company says that its New York flagship shoe floor is the second most
productive in terms of sales per square foot, behind the main floor,
which sells cosmetics.
In the past few weeks,
Elizabeth Kanfer, Saks' senior fashion and co-brand director for women's
accessories said the retailer has noticed boyfriends or husbands
walking in with their significant others and buying a pair of shoes that
cost at least $595. She declined to offer sales figures.
"There
has been a resurgence of footwear easily in the last six years," Kanfer
said. "You can easily upgrade your wardrobe with a pair of shoes."
Even
small retailers are trying to cash on the trend toward more shoe
buying. Fleet Feet Sports-Chicago, a two-store chain of running and
fitness apparel, launched its first-ever gift registry this year that
allows people to record their preferred brand, style, color, size, width
and model of shoe from hundreds of options.
Catherine
Moloznik, Fleet Feet's product manager said so far in December, shoe
sales are up about 20 percent compared with a year ago, in part because
of the registry.
"Shoes have turned the corner
in the gift category," said Robert Burke, a New York-based fashion
consultant. "They've become the new handbag."
Owen
Badillo, 35, never bought shoes as gifts for others in the past, but
this season he bought two pairs of $30 Asics running shoes for his
28-year-old sister, the mother of two small children and a runner.
Badillo
said he's more confident in his gift this year than last year when he
ran around trying to pick up clothes for his sister, not really knowing
"what she wanted." This year, he said it was clear what she needed.
"Her
shoes are all torn up. So I am focusing on what she really needs," said
Badillo, who lives in Oklahoma City and works at an oil and gas
company.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
