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Sales at Tom England's toy store in downtown Frederick are "way up" because to hear him put it, "people are tired of the same old thing."

England, owner of Dancing Bear Toys and Gifts on North Market Street, expects that trend to continue as the holiday shopping season approaches. England's store sells toys that do not require batteries and among his more popular sellers are science kits and puppets as well as the various games the store offers.

But the upcoming holiday shopping season is bringing more predictions than answers for other downtown business owners, according to Kara Norman, executive director of Downtown Frederick Partnership.

"They don't know what to expect or what's going to happen," Norman said, adding that downtown merchants have also been asking what impact changes in the economy will have on holiday shopping.

The Frederick County Chamber of Commerce promotes shopping locally year-round. However, it is especially important to shop locally during the holidays, president and CEO M. Richard Adams said in an e-mail.

Adams mentioned several measures taken by the chamber to encourage local residents to buy from its member businesses, including advertising via radio, print and online as well as offering a business directory and discount coupons on the chamber's Web site.

"There are many reasons to shop locally – there are environmental benefits as well as the good feeling that comes from establishing a relationship with others in your community," Adams said in the e-mail.

Chamber member businesses also provide over 30,000 local jobs, which makes the chamber "more than enthusiastic about sending customers their way," Adams said.

State outlook more hopeful

With the national economy growing and stock market gains in the third quarter, the outlook for retailers in the state during the key holiday season is improved over last year, according to a survey released Monday by the Maryland Retailers Association.

The organization is forecasting a 1 to 1.5 percent gain in holiday sales this year over last year. Maryland retailers saw a 5 percent decline last year as the economy nosedived, and there was a smaller drop in 2007, said Tom Saquella, MRA president.

Holiday sales are those occurring in November and December, the two months when retailers typically make about 20 percent of their revenue for the year.

"The worst is over, and things are starting to turn," Saquella said. "But retailers still face a long road to recovery."

Preparations in "full swing"

Preparations for the holiday shopping season are "already in full swing" at the Best Buy in Frederick, said sales operator Scott McKinney. The store plans to open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and the widely considered start of the holiday shopping season.

As part of its service during the holiday season Best Buy is planning to offer better phone service to customers, McKinney said, adding that "we do our best to reply to every customer."

McKinney expects the more popular sellers this holiday season to include video game systems like the Nintendo Wii, due to the system's drop in price, he said. Netbooks should also be a popular seller, he added. Netbooks are compact, streamlined mobile devices designed to provide access to the Internet, according to the Best Buy web site.

Retail sales by department stores nationwide totaled $28.2 billion in December of last year, according to information from the U.S. Census Bureau. That figure was up 40 percent from the previous month and retailers who experienced the biggest increase in sales between November and December of 2008 were jewelry stores with 125 percent, book stores with 95 percent and sporting goods stores with 62 percent, according to bureau information.

McCutcheon's Apple Products Inc., a Frederick business that offers locally-made products like fruit butters, preserves and various jams and jellies, operates a shop in the Francis Scott Key Mall only during the holiday season, said mall marketing director Christina Steinbrenner.

McCutcheon's is "very popular" with mall shoppers during the holiday season, she said.

The mall's biggest promotion is Black Friday and the mall is scheduled to open at 5 a.m. that day, Steinbrenner said. Among the promotions the mall is using to entice shoppers is a "holiday sweepstakes" where shoppers can redeem their receipts for a chance to win $25,000.

The mall has seen a "little bit of an uptick" in sales this year and Steinbrenner hopes that will continue through the holiday season.

"Our main focus is convenience and value," Steinbrenner said, adding that the mall has redesigned its web site with a variety of features to help local shoppers during the holiday season.