Storm wallops Salt Lake-area retailers

Retail sales Friday in the Salt Lake area were anything but delightful for most merchants — the blinding blizzard kept most after-Christmas shoppers in their homes. The brave few who ventured out were greeted by icy roads, empty parking lots . . . and no lines at checkout registers.

"Normally this is the busiest transaction day of the year," Joe McGrew, general manager at Meier & Frank at the ZCMI Center in downtown Salt Lake City, said Friday afternoon. "By the end of the day, it's going to be awful."

The store opened its doors at 6 a.m., hoping for a rush of after-Christmas shoppers that never really came.

By contrast, the storm was not as severe in Utah County, where the roads were mostly clear and shoppers were out in force.

"Our crowds are probably close to what they were right before Christmas," said Dianne Murphy, assistant to the manager at the University Mall in Orem, which was open until 10 p.m. on Friday. "We have really good traffic today."

But the snowstorm was so bad in downtown Salt Lake City that The Gateway closed six hours early, at 4 p.m., except for some restaurants and the movie complex, due to wintery conditions that created a public safety hazard, said Sherilynn Megill, director of marketing.

Many of those who did make it to area shopping centers were rewarded.

"You don't have to fight the crowds. You have to fight the snowflakes," said Annie Daniels of Sandy, who spent part of her morning Friday at a Fred Meyer located on Salt Lake's east bench. "I have a four-wheel-drive, and I was still sliding around." The snow was so deep that a Coca-Cola truck making deliveries at Fred Meyer got stuck trying to pull into the parking lot.

Mike Lambros, Fred Meyer store director, said only a handful of people had ventured into the store by mid-morning to exchange or return merchandise.

Katrina Jensen, of Olympus Cove, was one of them. She returned a blender and meat smoker Friday morning.

"We were going to go skiing and my baby sitter couldn't get up to our house because she drives a Hyundai. I said, 'Why don't you come tomorrow and I'll go get my errands done?' " Jensen said. "I'm going to Kirkham's and I'm going to Big Lots after this."

Nathan Diviney, manager of Mrs. Cavanaugh's in downtown Salt Lake City, said only three customers had made purchases at his store by early afternoon.

"We are losing money today," Diviney said.

The National Retail Federation estimates that the week after Christmas accounts for 10 percent of total holiday sales.

An employee at Eddie Bauer at the Factory Stores at Park City said the store was "not quite as busy" as a typical post-Christmas rush but that sales were still doing well.

At the Newgate Mall in Ogden, the heavy snow seemed to have little impact.

"It's continuing to snow here but we've had record crowds," said Brent Parkin, mall general manager. "We are completely jam-packed and have crews clearing sidewalks and parking lots, constantly trying to keep everything open. It's amazing how many people are coming out."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com

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