happy mummy's day!

Mother's Day stands immune to economic woes

by Melissa Burden | The Flint Journal

Saturday May 10, 2008, 5:51 AM

Ryan Garza | The Flint Journal
Lorie Gavulic puts together a Mother's Day arrangement while helping out with orders at Curtis Flowers in Flint Township on Friday. "Luckily people still love their moms," Gavulic said about the economic hardship people are facing.

GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan -- Don't worry, Mom, it looks like the weak economy hasn't dampened plans to treat you to a nice Mother's Day.

Consumers are expecting to spend about the same as last year on Mother's Day, despite job losses and higher prices at grocery stores and gas pumps.

Mother's Day spending

Here's samples of how much people will spend in certain categories on Mom.

• Special dinner or brunch: about $3 billion.

• Jewelry: $2.7 billion.

• Flowers: $2 billion.

• Gift cards/certificates: $1.6 billion.

• Clothing/accessories: $1.4 billion.

• Consumer electronics: $1.2 billion.

• Personal service gifts: $1.1 billion.

• Housewares/gardening tools: $696 million.

• Greeting cards: $672 million.

• Total: $15.8 billion.

Source: National Retail Federation's 2008 Mother's Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey conducted by BIGresearch.

"When something is important to consumers -- regardless of what's going in the economy -- they're going to dig in their savings if they have to, basically to show Mom how they appreciate her," said Kathy Grannis, a spokesperson for the National Retail Federation.

A National Retail Federation Mother's Day survey conducted by BIGresearch shows consumers will spend an average of $138.63 on Mom this year, down about 50 cents from last year's average.

Charisse Edmonson, 28, of Grand Blanc Township spent about $100 on Mother's Day last year, and this year plans to give her mom a gift and take her to dinner.

"I think I'm going to spend more because I love Mom," said Edmonson, an engineer.

Mother's Day is the most popular day of the year to dine out, and six in 10 Americans who celebrate with a special meal do so in a restaurant, according to the National Restaurant Association.

And some local restaurants and banquet halls expect to be busy and serve the same number of patrons as in year's past, even while the National Retail Federation survey says consumers will spend about $2 less taking mom to eat this year.

Tim Walli -- manager of Walli's East in Burton, which is featuring breakfast and dinner buffets Sunday -- said Mother's Day is its busiest day of the year. They expect to serve about 1,500 people.

Reservations as of Thursday also were on par to match previous Mother's Days at Redwood Lodge in Mundy Township, General Manager said Ruth Waibel, the restaurant's general manager.

And the Genesys Conference & Banquet Center in Grand Blanc Township expects to see 1,000 to 1,200 people, which could be more than last year, because it didn't raise prices and dropped its brunch for seniors by $1.

General Manager Collene Eller said those 60 and over will pay $16.95 to dine this year, a discount of $3 off the adult price.

"We just felt like, with the economy, it was a little bit easier to justify them going out to dinner," Eller said of the seniors' price cut.

Flowers are another popular item for Mom and Curtis Flowers in Flint Township expects sales will be similar to last year, with customers spending an average of $45 to $50 an order, said co-owner Carmen Skidmore.

Higher gas prices have pinched the floral shop and Curtis Flowers within the past few weeks added $2 to its delivery charge for Genesee County orders.

"Nobody's even had a problem with it," Skidmore said.

And some businesses are expecting a leap in Mother's Day related sales.

Gift card sales at The Spa at Gateway Centre in Mundy Township could top a the typical $80,000 total for Mother's Day by 20 percent or more, owner Julie Weber said.

Weber said the spa, which opened three years ago, hasn't noticed any slowdown with gift buying for Mom.

"A lot of people buy for gifts," she said. "Their holidays still come up and they're still going to buy. We've just been thrilled with our growth."

shiyun :)