Mega-Monday shoppers seek 'deal of deals'

Long Island retail stores were busy Monday as shoppers returned unwanted gifts and took advantage of deep post-Christmas discounts.

Retailers were calling it Mega-Monday, and retail experts predicted that when the receipts nationwide were totaled, it would be one of the busiest days of the year -- for purchases, not just returns.

ShopperTrak, a Chicago company that measures retail receipts and foot traffic, forecast that it would be the year's third busiest in foot traffic after Black Friday and Dec. 17 -- the last Saturday before Christmas weekend. Helping store traffic, experts said, was that many workers had the day off Monday because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year.

Retail analyst Howard Davidowitz of Howard Davidowitz & Associates Inc. in Manhattan said bargains on many items, such as holiday decorations and cards, are superior to those on Black Friday, driving much of the Mega-Monday spending that he said will make it the fourth-best day for store receipts.

"The deal of deals is now," he said. "It's a huge day."

At Roosevelt Field mall in Garden City, most of the 11,000 parking spaces were full about 1 p.m. Lawyer Jessica Borbon, 43, of Costa Rica, was there with her husband and their two sons, buying mostly clothing, which she said is expensive at home.

"We've been to eight stores," she said. "This is a shopping marathon." The family was in New York on a layover, en route to Scotland for vacation.

Matt Sollin, 18, of Rockville Centre, was at Roosevelt Field with Katie O'Brien, 17, of Oyster Bay, both students. He bought Nike sneakers for $120 and a hunting jacket at 50 percent off, for $35.

"It's not as crowded as I thought it would be," Sollin said. "The weeks leading up to Christmas were a lot worse."

Holger Lang, of Queens, a food service director for a nursing home, had purchased socks for his wife at J.C. Penney and was waiting near an escalator while his two teenage daughters shopped for clothes.

"I call it doing the time," said Lang, 46. Less than thrilled to be there, he noted the still-growing crowd at 1 p.m. "I wouldn't want to be coming in here now," he said. "I'm glad I'm close to leaving."

With Black Friday's strong start -- and despite the brief lull that followed -- the National Retail Federation significantly upped its forecast for spending this season, to $469.1 billion, or an increase of 3.8 percent over last year. In October, the Washington-based trade group was predicting a rise of only 2.8 percent.

Davidowitz said this season has been mixed for retailers, with sales of toys and electronics disappointing, mostly because of a dearth of gotta-have new products.