San Clemente Outlets Celebrate The Season Amid Coronavirus

SAN CLEMENTE, CA — The Outlets at San Clemente launched their holiday cheer with a larger than life Christmas tree and holiday lights over Black Friday Weekend. Still, the stores were devoid of early morning shoppers while many chose to stay home or shop online at the start of the holiday season.

According to Raymond Sfeir, director of the A. Gary Anderson Center for Economic Research at Chapman University, shoppers are less likely to venture out to brick-and-mortar stores in 2020.

This year is a tale of the haves and have nots, according to Sfier.

"The ones who are unemployed and really hurt are the ones who are getting minimum wage," Sfeir said. "Those who work in restaurants or cafes or hotels. These are at the bottom scale of the salaries. These are the people who have been hurt and have relied on unemployment and (a stimulus) check from the government. There's one chunk of people doing fine and another portion not doing very well."

But the people who still hung on to their jobs and are coping well in the economy outnumber the needier people, Sfeir said.

"That's why you see consumption going up," he said. "I would not be surprised if things will be 8 or 9% more than last year" for the holiday season, Sfeir said. "That's because of pent-up demand." He predicts a good season for sales in November and December.

Retail sales nationally are 21.6% higher than 2019, Sfeir said.
"That's a solid increase given what happened in April and May," Sfeir said.

As for actually venturing into the stores? Due to the rise in coronavirus and holiday spikes in hospitalizations, some people will be scared away from mall shopping, he says.

"I don't think the malls will do very well this year," Sfeir predicted.

Orange County will be particularly hard hit this year because of the shutdowns of Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm, Sfeir said.

"Orange County is not going to do as well as the rest of the state partly because of Disney," Sfeir said. "They play a very big role as employer in the county and its impact on tourism in general and everything related to that Anaheim will certainly be hit much more than the rest of the county because of those who go to Disneyland stay in hotels in Anaheim and surrounding cities and they ear there and shop there and go to the gas stations there, etc.

"So being closed -- that will hurt Orange County's economy a lot... Luckily, it is a rich county and people will spend a lot of money, but we can't discount the importance of Disney and Knott's Berry Farm and the impact on the local economy."

Despite the new restrictions on capacity in stores, the District at Tustin Legacy will still offer a festive destination for Orange County residents.

"In fact, most of our tenants started Black Friday earlier this month because of social distancing" requirements, said Shannon Campbell, a spokeswoman for the shopping center.

"Target has been offering deals all month long to avoid the crowds. I'm sure we'll see a lot of people come out on Black Friday because it's drilled into us, but I don't think the deals will be any different on Black Friday."

Starting Monday, the District will began its "Festival of Trees," with nonprofit organizations decorating Christmas trees in various themes.

The attraction, which will run weekly through Dec. 19, will generate revenue for the nonprofit organizations.

"It's a socially distanced ticketed event" for no charge, Campbell said.

Shoppers will be able to take pictures in front of the trees with their kids and enjoy the holiday music, but Santa Claus won't be making any personal appearances this year.

Instead, the District will offer "virtual Santa photos online," with shoppers uploading pictures and having the kids photoshopped into an image with Santa Claus.
All the District's restaurants are prepared to have outdoor dining, too, Campbell said.

As for other malls and outlets, such as the Outlets at San Clemente, Stier says national retailers may have sales more than 30% over last year, due to people switching to ordering online, Sfeir said. "This will be at the expense of stores and malls."

Will you go to the stores in 2020? Let us know about your holiday shopping plans in comments.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.