Page 12 University Daily Kansan, December 7, 1982
Stores light up to bring shoppers
By United Press International
Even if the economy should make this the drearest Christmas since the Great Depression, Edward Fitzpatrick is in a good mood, Ebullent, even.
Fitzpatrick is vice president of Niederladen Display, a Chicago company that makes Christmas decorations for big department stores in the United States and Germany.
"The lights will be even brighter than ever because stores want to build morale and get people into the stores to shop and stay." You don't have to go more this year and it should go up earlier.
"We just did a tremendous job for Feley's department store in Houston," he said, describing a theme that combined 350 gold pins stars, red velvet pins with gold-
braided centers, sugar-dusted holly leaves, brass trumpets and 7,000 yards of ribbon. In addition, we used about 60,000 walnuts."
Kansas City has been light up buildings in its business center for $3 Christmas; Catherine Rickbone, public relations of the Plaza Merchants Association, said.
Nor does Chicago intend to economize on public manifestations of the holiday spirit. The State Street Mall's 100,000 white lights blinked on the day after Thanksgiving. Another 200,000 tiny white bulbs, replaced for yet another year at a cost of $75,000, line the city's Magnificent Mile plus North Michigan Avenue.
In Pittsburgh, Frank Spagnolo, visual manager of Horne's department store, said, "we're not buying as much as we used to" in the way of holiday decoration.
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