Expecting High Retail Sales | Video

Sarahbeth Ackerman | 10/3/2012

Economists are predicting excellent holiday sales this year, and with the cold weather, it`s never too soon to start thinking of the holidays. And that includes all the shopping that goes along with it.

"I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we`re really excited for the upcoming season-we`ve missed out on a lot of the nation`s troubles that`s what i feel so it couldn`t be a nicer place in North Dakota," said Lucas Havig, Asst. Store Leader at Scheel`s.

Last year during Thanksgiving and Christmas, shopping malls and businesses were experiencing great sales. This year, the`re expecting more due to the population growth.

"Typically in retail, November, December are kinda slow, other than Black Friday, but we did not see that at all. So we are anticipating being very busy," said Dress Barn Store Leader Amy Goggans.

According to North Dakota`s Tax Commissioner, retail sales grew during the months of April, May and June. And now with the holiday season coming up, they predicted the sales to increase 4.1 percent.

This prediction was said to be a large jump since the recession. Minot businesses are expecting different numbers.

"We haven`t really seen much form the recession we`ve only gained from it really," said Havig.

Minot businesses said that they were going to pass the predicted four percent increase.

"I would definitely say its goes around the 10, even 10 percent. I would be willing to stretch that far depending on the month and the holiday but I definitely think it`s a little low for this area, now if it was a different store somewhere else, that would probably be accurate," said Goggans.

While in other states, an increase of four percent is optimistic, Minot businesses are aiming for higher numbers this season.

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