“Music, video games, jewelry are hot items this season”

Music, video games, jewelry are hot items this season

Posted: 26 Nov 2010 02:15 AM PST

BLUEFIELD — When Santa is making his list and checking it twice, he will find items such as electronics, jewelry, music, and video games are among the most popular Christmas requests this year.

John Cardona, assistant manager of K-Mart in Bluefield, is anticipating items such as MP3 players, new Wii or Xbox games, and the Xbox Kinect to be the big sellers at his store this year.

"These items are hot sellers and other hard to find items will be here as well," Cardona said. "I think electronics and jewelry will be big this year. Both are already selling very well. Televisions have come down in price and people use them for so many things now. Our HD TV's are big right now and all of them will be on sale on Black Friday."

Steve Warf, store manager of J.C. Penney at the Mercer Mall, said items ranging from old standbys such as clothing and luggage to new technological items will be big hits for holiday shoppers.

"Our big items will be small appliances, boots, and certain digital toys, such as key chains, digital cameras, and digital binoculars," Warf said. "Items such as luggage, women's clothing, and jewelry are always big as well. These are wanted items and we have them at great prices."

Wyatt Lilly, owner of Cheap Thrills Records in Princeton, said his store will be selling music released during the holiday season.

"There's a bunch of newer releases and a lot of new rap and country coming out, including Kayne West and Kid Rock's new albums," Lilly said. "We have a lot of variety to pick from."

Video games are another item Lilly said his store usually sells a lot of during the holidays.

"We also sell a lot of video games and game systems," Lilly said. "Wii, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 games will be big this year. The Xbox Kinect is going to be a big deal. Its sort of similar to the Wii controller but uses different technology and detects body movement."

Darlene Bowers, owner of Leslie Anne's Bluefield, Va., said jewelry and specialty holiday items will also be her biggest sellers this year.

"With us, it will be the Brighton jewelry because we're the only store that carries it," Bowers said. "It's very big right now, especially their charm bracelets. A lot of things we carry are one-of-a-kind. We also have Christmas t-shirts and Christmas sweatshirts on sale."

Howard Hill, owner of H&S Sporting Goods in Princeton, said guns and hunting paraphernalia are his biggest holiday sellers.

"The biggest ticket items we sale are guns, gun safes, and hunting clothes. We sell a lot of bows and arrows to kids during Christmas as well," Hill said. "Probably the guns are the biggest items we sell, especially used guns and deer rifles. Hunting families are mainly the ones who buy those."

Elizabeth Osborne, owner and manager of Elizabeth's Boutique in Princeton, said jewelry and specialty clothing will count among her biggest Christmas items.

"I think our collegiate items and jewelry will be big," Osborne said. "Jewelry is something you can always get someone. A woman can never have too much of it. I think people will buy things that people can use or need. I think a lot of gift certificates will be bought this year. The Nairobi shoes for toddlers and infants have been bit this year and our West Virginia items are doing well too."

Whether purchasing traditional gifts or new hot holiday items, most stores are expecting large crowds to kick off the holiday shopping season early on Black Friday.

— Contact Kate Coil at

kcoil@bdtonline.com

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