Across The Counter -- At Wallingford Center, They Aim To Please During The Holiday Squeeze

What's a day in the life of a shopping center like? Busy. This time of the year? Real busy, the retailers hope. Real savings, the customers pray. Is there a typical day? We decided to find out, so we chose the Wallingford Center in north Seattle as a small test market, and spent the day.

'Tis the week before Christmas and all through the town, the shoppers are hassled and wearing a frown.

But for those who are there by their profession, the holiday hassles become an obsession.

At Wallingford Center, there are people so pleasant, they can make you forget you hate to buy presents.

Vernon Willis is sweeping the parking lot an hour before most stores open. ``Good morning,'' he says with a nod and a smile as the shopkeepers begin trickling in for another day.

``Busy yesterday, wasn't it?'' asks one woman with a stack of gift boxes. ``But the people were in such good moods.''

``We had quite a crowd,'' Willis agrees. ``It felt pretty good.''

``Here comes another big day, I hope,'' says the woman.

For many people, the holiday season begins sometime around Thanksgiving. For retailers, it begins in midsummer, if not before, when they do their shopping. They study catalogs, go to trade shows and make their most educated guesses before ordering vast quantities of merchandise.

If they shop right, the goods they choose in July will sell well in November and December, providing a profit margin that will carry them through the lean winter months.

``You do a lot of looking at what's available, then you trust your judgment, and maybe you guess a little too,'' says Nabil Bugaighis, co-owner of Zanadia.

``You want to order enough so you don't run out, but not so much that you have too much left over the day after Christmas.''

The woman wanted a particular pottery sculpture, one she'd seen in the window of The Blue Parrot import shop a few months ago.

``I think it was from South America; it was exactly right,'' she said hopefully.

Gemma Borg sighed inwardly but smiled outwardly as she showed the woman a variety of pottery jars and sculpted pieces from Peru, Costa Rica and then Thailand.

``Do any of these look right?'' Borg asked. ``So many of these are one-of-a-kind art pieces. Every shipment we get is different.''

The woman shook her head sadly. ``I don't see it,'' she said. ``Why didn't I buy it before?''

She walked out of the store shaking her head in frustration. Borg watched her go. ``It's hard. We have thousands of items from all over the world. I wish I could have helped her find just the right gift. I hope she comes back. She seemed very nice.''

Beginning late in October, gathering speed through November and then plunging desperately through December is the way the shopkeepers describe ``working retail'' for the holiday season.

``You take a deep breath in mid-November and then you don't seem to have time to catch it again until after the first of January,'' said Susan Godfrey, owner of The Blue Parrot.

``My days start about 8 a.m. when I've got restocking and paperwork and cleaning before the shop opens at 10.''

The Blue Parrot, like the rest of Wallingford Center, stays open until 9 p.m., every day but Sunday, this time of the year.

``I'm lucky to get home before midnight,'' she said. ``The only real time I get to see my daughter, Jamila is when she comes in to work with me. She's 16.''

The center opened six years ago. Some of the shops date to the early days. The newest, Baltic Sea Gallery, opened this month.

The main-floor shops fill the classrooms of the old school, and each opens to the wide hall down the center of the building. The glowing wood floors and tall arched windows are the major reminder of school days, along with Cafe Recess, a cafeteria unlike any that ever fed the schoolchildren.

Hyo Kim and his family bought the deli and espresso bar two years ago and have been building a steady clientele for their salads, pastries and hot drinks ever since.

``People like to come sit, here in the center,'' says Kim. ``Some do their business work at the tables, others just rest for a few minutes. All the business people, we are like a big family because we get to know each other so well. We really support each other, we need each other to survive.''

The hall on the lower level of the center is quieter, but it's permeated by wonderful smells:

The Garden Spot, a garden store and nursery, exudes evergreens, dried flowers and roses.

Spot Bagel Bakery and the Bistro Simpatico waft garlic and onions and yeast through the building.

Healthy Pet shares, well, other smells - the kind that appeal best to pet lovers such as Vicki Poge, a fisheries biologist by education, who started working at the pet store three weeks ago because she wanted to work someplace where she enjoyed herself.

``Uh oh, uh oh,'' squawks Phoebe, the large blue-and-yellow parrot. ``Thank you.''

``Phoebe's for sale, for $2,000,'' Poge said. ``But people seem to be buying pet accessories for Christmas more than pets, at least so far. Maybe that's because they don't want them around to spoil the surprise until the last minute?''

A couple stood near the baby-rat cages, pondering the tiny gray, beige and white rodents.

``She wants a baby rat, that's all she talks about,'' the man said of their 10-year-old daughter. ``If we buy a boy rat, we won't have to worry about babies, will we?''

``What if she comes back and buys a girl rat later?'' laughed the woman. ``We could be in trouble.''

Maggie Hanley was behind The Garden Spot's counter crafting topiary trees out of branches, ribbons, dried flowers and herbs.

``Some people call us a mall, but we're anything but,'' Hanley said. ``I've worked downtown and in big floral shops and in malls.

``Wallingford feels so much more relaxed, so comfortable. Even with the holiday rush, it feels good to me. I hope it does to our customers.''

The day was rushing by now. Up at Zanadia, which Bugaighis and his wife, Heather, named after their twin 8-year-old daughters, Zana and Nadia, the couple were busy unpacking more than a dozen large cardboard boxes, left by United Parcel Service.

Nabil lifted out wooden trays, folding tables and plate holders.

``Good, we needed those,'' said Heather as she quickly priced and arranged the tables near the front hall. ``I was afraid they wouldn't come in time.''

Across the hall at Second Story Books, a woman sank into the overstuffed chair and kicked off her shoes.

``I give up,'' she said. ``I'll buy everybody books. I can't make up my mind about anything.''

But even narrowing her choice to just books, she faced a considerable challenge. Carol Santoro stocks thousands of books.

``Start with the first person on your list. What kind of book would be good for him?'' prompted Santoro. ``A cookbook? A hot new novel? Poetry?

``Some people need lots of help, some people know just what they want,'' Santoro said later. ``Others just want to browse until they find something. We're here to help them, but we try not to intrude.''

Weekdays have a similar pace: starting quietly just before 10 a.m., building to the lunchtime rush from noon to maybe 2 p.m., then dropping into a lull for a few hours before the after-work crowds starts streaming in, keeping the shops busy almost until closing time.

Weekends this time of year are a nonstop whirl of people, packages and a sense of prosperity.

But even in the holiday havoc, ``working Wallingford'' is not the same as working elsewhere, say those who spend their days and nights there.

``Wallingford is really a neighborhood; we're really a service-based neighborhood shopping place,'' said Wendy Ammon, manager of The Garden Spot. ``We get to know so many of our customers, all year round.''

A man, his son and their dog were intent on picking the perfect Christmas tree from the shop's cut-tree lot on the west side of the building.

``That one's it,'' said the boy as he ran his hands down a large noble fir. ``I can just see it in the hallway.''

``It's too big,'' warned his father. ``It will never fit in the car.''

``Don't worry,'' said Ammon. ``We deliver.''

``Trees?'' the man questioned in disbelief. ``That's wonderful.''

``We aim to please,'' said Ammon.