The president of the North Dakota Retail Association says he expects a good Christmas shopping season.
Mike Rud said national projections indicate a 3 ½ percent increase in consumer spending over last Christmas. Rud said he hopes North Dakota will see similar, if not better, growth.
"With the results from the election, I think it gives the folks in North Dakota a little more hope, in terms of regulatory certainty in the energy sector," Rud said. "That should lift the optimism a little bit."
Rud also said record crop yields will also help farmers' bottom lines.
"The prices weren't the greatest," Rud said. "But I think the yields lifted the spirits of the folks."
Rud says the hope is to get a little snow on the ground, to get people in the mood to shop for Christmas gifts.
In what some see as a reversal of a trend, many shopping malls say they will not be open Thanksgiving Day.
They’re advertising that they want employees to be home with family.
How will that affect the Christmas shopping season?
"You know, you get more of a rush at one time," Rud said. "No doubt about that."
Rud said he knows a few of the "big box" retailers will be open Thanksgiving evening.
"The effect of all that remains to be seen," Rud said.
Nationwide, consumers are expected to spend $660 billion this season.
