Snowy, cold winter weather chills sales for retailers

— -- As if the recession and a shortened post-Thanksgiving shopping season weren't bad enough, Mother Nature is dealing retailers another blow. Stormy winter weather affected many store openings late last week and made driving too treacherous for many to venture out for those last few gifts.

While a cold November actually helped retail sales — with all that rushing out for winter wear — this month, the storms are "a downside-only factor" for retailers, says meteorologist and retail consultant Paul Walsh. "It's a blending of atmospheric physics and Murphy's Law," says Walsh, principal of G2 Weather Intelligence. "I don't think the timing could have been worse."

The retail weather report:

•Snow blanketed much of the Northeast on Friday, leading into the last weekend before Christmas. That slowed traffic and sales, but retailers were able to win back some of the business they lost when things cleared a bit on Saturday, says Karen MacDonald of the Taubman shopping mall chain. Many stores around Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., closed early on Friday, making resident Susan Burnett happy she'd already done most of her shopping.

•Bitter cold and snow continued across the North and Northwest. Salem, Ore., for example, had snow each morning for eight days, school was canceled for a week and there were plenty of parking places in front of near-empty stores downtown, resident Mary Snethen says.

"The weather is keeping people home," says Snethen, who makes most gifts and gives cash.

•There is a good chance of snow in the East through the end of December, says Walsh, which could limit any uptick in after-Christmas shopping for sale items and to redeem gift cards.

Snow is often a good thing in retail, just as November's cold weather was, but there have been plentiful examples of how much is too much.

"Retailers always like a little snow to get people in the seasonal spirit," says National Retail Federation spokesman Scott Krugman. "But at the same time, you don't want it so seasonal where they're stuck shoveling their driveways."