Local shoppers stay cautious

Crashing gasoline prices and the potential for another federal economic stimulus package might have helped boost consumer confidence nationwide in November, but it doesn't seem the brighter outlook will goose locals' spending this Christmas.

Interviews with shoppers inside the Meadows mall on Wednesday showed that immediate personal circumstances carry more weight with locals than do vague hints of economic improvement down the road.

Consider Mary Joiner.

Sure, lower fuel prices help her budget, but they can't outweigh the October pink slip Joiner received as a temp worker in the shipping department at slot maker International Game Technology. And as long as the prospect of future federal giveaways remains just a prospect, don't expect Joiner's confidence to improve.

"I'm listening to (President-elect Barack Obama's) plans for the economy. He moves you, and he gives you hope, but I'm one of those people who has to see it to believe it," Joiner said. "Right now, he's talking a good game, but let's play it and see what actually happens."

New numbers reveal a slight uptick in consumer confidence nationally.

The New York-based Conference Board said Monday that its Consumer Confidence Index "improved moderately," rising more than six points from October to November amid lower gasoline costs and talk of Obama's stimulus plan. Analysts said Obama's proposal could cost $500 billion to $700 billion, and Obama has said it would create 2.5 million jobs in the next two years.

Also, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday it would buy $700 billion in securities backed by mortgages, credit card debt and loans for cars, small businesses and college tuition.

But none of that means anything to Joiner. As long as she is out of work, she and her husband, Josh, will scrimp over the holidays. She plans to spend a quarter of the $2,000 she dropped in 2007 on presents for friends and family, including her children, 4-year-old Jacob, 3-year-old Caleb and 6-month-old Cheyenne. She said she was just browsing at the Meadows on Wednesday, and she would buy only if she found a great deal. Her family will rely mostly on layaway at Kmart for Christmas shopping.

Nor will lower energy costs or bailout ballyhoo induce Las Vegans Willie and Ida Haddock to whip out the plastic for Christmas.

Willie Haddock, a minister who is on disability, battled cancer throughout 2008. Between the cost of health care and higher food bills, the Haddocks have no cash left for gifts for their four children and 17 grandchildren. The couple visited the Meadows on Wednesday to get out of the house, but they said they wouldn't do any shopping.

"Our finances are exhausted," Ida Haddock said.

"Unless a blessing comes, we'll have no money for presents," Willie Haddock said.

The Haddocks said they don't believe in spending money they don't have -- they cut up their credit cards and buy with cash only these days -- so they don't buy into the idea of going into hock for presents now based on hazy talk of future economic improvement.

"We will have to wait until things actually get better to start spending again," Willie Haddock said. "You're foolish to spend money today expecting things to get better tomorrow."

Other shoppers at the Meadows said neither the possibility of a healthier economic future nor growing consumer confidence would alter their spending habits through December.

Steve Greer, owner of a local process-serving company, said he and his wife, April, always have maintained slim budgets, never spending more than $200 or $300 a year on Christmas presents for their small family. A brightening economic outlook won't change that.

"I'm cautiously optimistic things will get better, but we're conservative (about spending) anyway," said Greer, who stopped by the mall to replace his 8-year-old jacket, which started dropping buttons recently.

Friends Kathleen Shinn and Gigi Pusateri said the potential for economic recovery won't affect their budgets this holiday season. That is because neither believes the economy will spring back to life anytime soon, no matter how hard the government pushes at it.

"(A stimulus plan) is not current," said Pusateri, a nurse at Southern Hills Hospital & Medical Center in southwest Las Vegas. "If anything, it won't help until 2009 and not even in the first quarter. It's just hype at this point."

Shinn, also a Southern Hills nurse, said an economic turnaround could take Obama's full four-year term, so she wasn't even thinking economic renewal as she shopped.

Instead, personal factors will force modifications in her spending. Shinn recently earned a promotion to manager at Southern Hills, and her seasonal shopping on people at work will double. Spending on family and friends should stay similar to 2007 levels.

Pusateri said she is cutting back this year by about 25 percent, not for consumer-confidence issues, but because her children, 10-year-old son Dominic and 7-year-old daughter Danyel, "don't need all that stuff."

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. The Associated Press contributed to this story.