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I was at Valley View Mall yesterday evening, talking with people about how their holiday shopping is going so far, and I ran into several people with interesting stories to share.

One woman told me that she and her family are cutting out all Christmas gifts this year. All of the children in the family are grown, so instead of buying gifts, they each plan to bring food for a family potluck dinner on Christmas Eve.

Another shopper told me that she’s going the practical route with gift-buying. She is purchasing Sheetz gift cards for some family members. Recently several grocery chains and gasoline retailers reported increases in the amount of gift cards that consumers have purchased this holiday season. Perhaps there is a trend in practical gifting this year.

I’m interested in what you may be doing to change up or cut back on your holiday budget this year, if at all.

Last month I wrote a story about how many retailers no longer offer layaway services to customers nowadays. Locally, you’ll only find layaway at a select few stores, such as T.J. Maxx and Kmart.

But there’s a way to use layaway online. It’s at www.elayaway.com. By going to this site, you can purchase items online and pay the bill incrementally. The item is shipped to you once full payment is received.

The site boosts at least 3.5 million products from numerous retailers, though they’re not all well-known national brands. The retailers include Comp USA, Affordable Home Electronics, Dreamtime Tykes and Summit Sports Inc.

Elayaway.com, founded in 2005, also is reporting a 67 percent increase in the number of people who registered for layaway payment on its site during the week of Cyber Monday, compared to the previous week. Cyber Monday is marketed as the Monday after Thanksgiving and a time when online shopping for Christmas purchases usually rises.

Elayway.com is based in Tallahassee, Fla.

Tonight and through the weekend Roanoke area retailers are hoping to benefit from several local events to draw holiday shoppers and pump up December sales totals.

· Dickens of a Christmas begins tonight. This is a holiday festival held in downtown Roanoke on the first three Friday evenings of December. You’ll find entertainment, food and shopping there. Many of the stores in the downtown Market area and elsewhere stay open through the evening to attract shoppers.
And this is a big money maker for them. Several retailers said recently that Dickens of a Christmas draws more business to their store than any other downtown festival throughout the year. On Wednesday, Geoff Jennings, who owns Frank L. Moose Jewelers on First Street in downtown, said he had been busy preparing for tonight’s kick-off. He’s having a sale on some jewelry at his store in honor of the occasion.

· Tonight there is a Village Christmas open house at the stores at West Village, an outdoor retail center on Electric Road in Roanoke County. The retailers here are staying open until 8 p.m. or later to accommodate shoppers, with some serving up refreshments and discounts.

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My first Christmas cards of the season arrived in my mailbox yesterday.
I’ve often wondered if sales of boxes of Christmas cards will lessen over time, as electronic communication continues to take over our lives. Addressing and sending cards via snail mail has the potential to become outdated. The practice started more than 150 years ago, according to American Greetings.

Still, I’m one of the millions of people who send Christmas cards, though I also send e-cards (email greetings) from a variety of retailers, such as Hallmark.

Here are some statistics from American Greetings and the Greeting Card Association about Christmas cards:
--69 percent of consumers plan to send Christmas cards to family and friends this year.
--Two billion holiday cards will be sent this year, making the holidays the top card-sending occasion of the year.
--Dec. 17 is expected to be the busiest mailing day of the year. More than twice as many cards and letters will be processed that day, according to the U.S. Postal Service. Consumers are expected to spend more than $30 on cards and postage this holiday.

I’ve also read a few news stories about how greeting cards with square envelopes are more expensive to mail this year. The cost is 58 cents to mail a square card. These shapes cannot be read by postal machines and therefore, must be processed by hand. That's why the cost has increased.

A story in Saturday’s Roanoke Times discussed the issue of toy recalls and how it is impacting the way people shop for toys this holiday season. However, the recalls may be a reason that business has increased at some Roanoke area toy stores that do not sell the recalled toys.

To the left is a toy that has been selling well this holiday season at Imagination Station, a toy store with Roanoke and Blacksburg locations. This foam puzzle is made by a U.S. company, Lauri Toys. That’s why Imagination Station owner Paula Bolte believes that it is selling better this year than in other years.

People are afraid of buying toys that are made in China because of the recalls. But consumer groups warn not to shy away from everything that is Chinese made. After all, it’s not specifically the country that is to blame. Boycotting toys from a certain country may not be the answer to finding safer toys.

Here’s a helpful Web site by the Toy Industry Association that explains this and answers many other questions--www.toyinfo.org.

Also, you can sign up to receive email alerts of recalled toys from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission at www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.

If you have any tips for toy buying this season, share them with us.

The weekend starts today. Below are two shopping events happening locally.

--Some retailers at the Grandin Village in Roanoke are springing for a holiday open house today. From 6 to 9 p.m., Village Flowers, New to Me, Too Many Books and Vida Bela will be open longer and each is offering special sales.

--If you’re an elementary or high school teacher, you can save 20 percent on books and gifts and 10 percent on DVDs and CDs for three hours on Saturday. Barnes & Noble at Valley View Mall is hosting an educator discount event from 9 a.m. to noon. It’s for those who teach Pre-K through 12th grades. And you have to present your educator discount card to be eligible for the savings.

Happy shopping and saving!

Are gift cards on your wish list this year? You’ve probably noticed more creative marketing for these cards lately.

It’s because gift card sales continue to rise. From 2005 to 2006, the amount of money spent on gift cards during the holidays jumped about 255 percent, from $18.48 billion in 2005 to $24.81 billion in 2006, according to the National Retail Federation. Also, the average amount spent per gift card was about $39 in 2006, an increase from $33 in 2005.

Some people don’t think gift cards are personal. Think again. This year some retailers are offering new ways to personalize these plastic cards.

At Borders, customers can add photos and personal messages to its cards. The cost is an additional $4.95.

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My story in today’s newspaper gives more detail about John Norman Clothiers' closing in late December.

The 75-year-old men's and women’s apparel store joins at least two other Roanoke Valley retailers that are planning large closing sales through the holidays.

John Norman’s store-wide sale will begin on Thursday. Other retailers with closing sales are the Orvis outlet in Salem and Bombay Co. at Valley View Mall in Roanoke.

Retailers are expecting that these discounts will draw more shoppers during the holidays than at any other time of the year. Holding sales during this important season for retail helps stores move out inventory quicker as they near closing time.

How many times while shopping have you tried to find a certain item, but you didn’t know where it was?

In time for the holiday season, Roanoke's Valley View Mall now is offering shoppers the chance to search for a particular item by using their cell phones. By texting “VLV” to 632729 (nearby), you can receive instructions via cell phone of how to search for specific items and sales information at the mall stores.

This new service, also available at River Ridge Mall in Lynchburg, is offered by NearbyNow, a company that provides Internet and mobile search technology.

Valley View has an extensive product search function on its Web site, but mobile searching gives you the opportunity to find items while you’re out and about and not near a computer.

This move is in line with efforts by other retailers lately to communicate with customers via mobile phones. J.C. Penney gave customers who signed up a wake-up call on Black Friday. Nordstrom and Wal-Mart are sending off text messages about sales and other discounts.
Some of these services are holiday exclusive.

I haven’t signed up for these mobile offerings, but I plan to test some of them out. If you’ve tried them, let me know what you think.

It’s back to the daily grind after last week's turkey, early morning shopping and traveling.

Today is the day that online retailers may receive an early Christmas present. Retail experts market the Monday after Thanksgiving as Cyber Monday, a 24-hour period that is one of the busiest for holiday-related online sales.

I received some statistics about online shopping today in my inbox from Yahoo! Shopping.

Here’s some of the info:

• Compared to the holiday shopping season of 2006, page view traffic is up 37% for the 2007 Holiday season (to date)

• Top 10 products from the weekend, based on Yahoo’s poll:
1. Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee
2. Nintendo Wii
3. Apple iPhone 8GB
4. Sharp Aquos LC-46D62U
5. Nintendo DS Lite Onyx
6. Kenneth Cole Reaction black wool melton trench coat
7. Toshiba Satellite A135-S4527
8. Apple iPod nano 8GB (3G) - Black
9. Microsoft Zune Brown
10. Xbox 360

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