Sacramento retailers are still feeling the bitter sting of the recession this holiday season.

Local merchants selling everything from kids' snowshoes to William Shatner's first album are mostly reporting decreased sales — although some say 2009 holiday sales haven't been as dire as predicted.

"I think the holiday season will be a disappointment to most merchants," said Ed Castro, who owns Ed's Threads at 1125 21st St. "I'm not shooting for the moon, so I'm not going to be disappointed."

With the country's economy in its third year of recession, retailers operating downtown and throughout the central city are struggling the same as retailers elsewhere.

Industry-wide, holiday retail sales are forecast to decrease by one percent to $437 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. While that's an improvement over last year's 3.4-percent decrease in holiday sales during the months of November and December, that number lags behind a 10-year average of 3.39 percent holiday growth.

Many local merchants say they'd be happy just to make the same amount of profit as last year. After all, customers are feeling the sting too, business owners said.

"We're hearing from people now that sales are better than they expected, but as good as they want? Probably not," said Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. "I think we're really seeing people just holding their own."

Susan Larson, who's operated a gift store called Mixed Bag in Midtown for 29 years, said she's "cautiously optimistic" after sales have been a little ahead this holiday. The store, located at 2405 K St., stocked with items Larson described as hard to find online, won't show a profit and go into the black until mid-December, she said.

"I don't expect it to be like it was two or three years ago. But still, I'm looking for the slide to stop," she said. "I'm happy if we show a little progress or just are even."

The hottest item in her store has been a "feel-good, silly item" called a ROFFLE, a plush beast that rolls on the floor laughing. All 24 sold the first day they were in the store.

"What that tells me is people are depressed and they're looking for something that makes them feel good," she said.

While November sales were down four percent for Fleet Feet at 2311 J St., the entire year has brought at least a seven percent increase in sales, said Pat Sweeney, who owns the store and national franchise with wife Jan Sweeney.

Trailmix.net, which started as a local outdoor blog and then online store, had its best online sales ever on Cyber Monday, just after Thanksgiving — which owners Mike and Sara Barlow say was because they opened a brick-and-mortar store selling kids' outdoor gear and educational toys focused on nature just six months ago in Old Sacramento.

The store is stocked with things like wooden toboggons, kids' snowshoes and backpacks, Yosemite scavenger hunt maps and astronomical charts. In-store sales over Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday were the best so far, even better than Gold Rush Days, Mike Barlow said. Still, sales are not going as well as they'd like.

"People have been conservative and we can't blame them for that," he said.

Some business owners declined to discuss sales figures. While a few retailers have had bright spots, others are experiencing sizeable decreases.

"What you read about the economy being down 30 to 40 percent is accurate," said Dal Basi, a manager at R5 Records & Video, which Tower Records founder Russ Solomon opened in his former Tower Records store at 16th Street and Broadway. "Sales are not spectacular, and from talking to other people around town, everybody else is in the same boat."

Macy's, Inc., which operates the flagship store in Westfield Downtown Plaza, reported a 6.3 percent decrease in total sales for November, down from $2.324 billion to $2.177 billion. The company expects December sales to be stronger at more than 850 Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores.

On the other end of the retail spectrum, sales at American Popcorn Company's popcorn wagon in Downtown Plaza are down 10 percent from last year, which was already down 15 percent from the year before, said owner Darlene Myers, who began the business with her late husband 25 years ago.

November and December are normally her two best months, but right now, with all the vacant stores in the plaza and K Street Mall, she said she's just trying to hang on to her business. Myers said she's optimistic sales will still pick up.

"Sometimes that last week right beore Christmas, people say, 'What the heck,' " she said. "Everybody caves in and says, 'We're having Christmas no matter what.' "

People buy more cheese popcorn, buttered popcorn and especially carmel corn during the cold winter months, she added.

"It smells like Christmas," Myers said. "If I have the bodies in the mall, I can sell them. All I need is the foot traffic."

To attract more customers in this tough market, retailers are offering sales, discounts and promotional items. They're also spending more time and money on product displays and lighting, Ault said.

"It's causing retailers to be more creative to get people in the door," he said.

Trent Harger, who opened Artworks 21 in Midtown in 2000, recently put up a huge, heart-shaped arched doorway over a gate to draw people to his store, which sells Mexican folk art, his original photos, books and other colorful, eclectic goods at 1812 J St. People have been getting their photos taken under it. Harger believes they may be posing for Christmas cards.

Fleet Feet drew people on Black Friday with a rare sale on electronics, books and sunglasses — items the store doesn't usually put on sale. Mixed Bag is giving away stuffed Christmas bears and snowmen with purchases at a certain amount.

Trailmix.Net is offering guest lecturers and activities for kids. Children and their parents can sit down in the store's workshop and paint reindeer ornaments or make picture frames using twigs and other natural items, Barlow said.

The store is also offering prizes to anyone — kids or adults — who completes a free Old Sacramento scavenger hunt. Most of the prizes are plastic dinosaurs and wooden chips good for a sarsaparilla at River City Saloon. But a ski lift ticket to Sugar Bowl is also buried inside the treasure chest with the other prizes.

At Ed's Threads, Castro draws people in by providing "very personalized" service when people come to shop at the only store in Sacramento dedicated to men's vintage clothing. While business has been a little down from last year, it's been consistent over the long haul, Castro said.

"I can't really complain when people all around me are failing," he said.

A self-described "clothes horse," Castro spends time working with men who come to buy for themselves and women or men who come to buy gifts — which are sweaters and jackets during the holidays. That service has drawn customers through word-of-mouth for 29 years.

"It's a labor of love," he said. "You don't do this for the money. You do it because you enjoy what you're doing."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.