"School's out. All the kids are out. Rain never stops us from shopping -- ever," said shopper April Ziegler.
One JCPenney employee said the weather could be drawing more crowds to the malls rather than the holiday deals.
"When it rains, people come out... a lot more people come out shopping," said Robyn Galichon, the manager of JCPenney at Westfield Parkway.
Outdoor shopping centers did not appear to be hurting either. At the Las Americas Premium Outlets in San Ysidro, a break in the rain was a welcome sight, but shoppers said they were prepared either way.
"It just seems a little more 'Christmasy' than yesterday when I was wearing sandals," said shopper Francis Montano of Lemon Grove.
According to a scientific 10News poll of 423 people, half said the rainy weather hasn't affected their shopping at all, while 37 percent said the weather has had a little effect on their shopping. Only 13 percent said it's affected their shopping significantly. Also, almost half who were surveyed said they won't go out of their way to shop indoors, while 32 percent said they will.
"We just do it anyway. I think any weather makes it more exciting at Christmas," said shopper Camille Witten.
SANDAG, the area's regional planning agency, said there's a bigger reason why more people are shopping this holiday season. Since the beginning of the year, the region added 15,000 jobs while at the same time last year, the region was down by 38,000 jobs.
Retail sales taxes also reflected an improvement. It was down by 18 percent in the last three years. This year, it's up by 4.5 percent.
"Employment is a key indicator for people to get out and begin to shop," said Marney Cox, SANDAG’s chief economist.
SOURCE: 10NEWS.COM San Diego News
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