Steve Wyss, manager of Lawrence’s J.C. Penney Co. Inc. store, can tell when Christmas is just a couple days away. It’s one of the few times of year when there are more men than women in his store at 3311 Iowa.

‘Tis the time for last-minute shopping.

“I’d say there are plenty of last-minute shoppers this year,” Wyss said. “It is a pretty typical thing, especially with the males. Our typical shopper is female by a very large percentage, but for the last couple of days of the season it completely switches.”

Stores along South Iowa Street and in the downtown area reported brisk business Monday. Several shoppers said they were doing more last-minute holiday shopping because there was one fewer week between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

“There wasn’t a whole lot of time this year,” said Jody Anderson, a Lawrence resident who was shopping downtown. “We just got busy with Thanksgiving, and then all of a sudden Christmas was here.”

But neither the shorter season nor a sputtering economy caused Anderson to spend any less on the holidays this year, she said.

“I’m still spending,” Anderson said. “It just goes on the credit card so easily. I’m definitely doing my part to help the economy today.”

Retailers are glad to hear it. Reports were mixed on whether this year’s holiday spending was producing a fat goose or a lump of coal for Lawrence retailers.

“It’s slower than what I want it to be,” said Brett Schubert, store team leader at Lawrence’s SuperTarget, 3201 Iowa. “We’re definitely tracking lower than last year.”

Schubert said he expected the store’s sales to be down 10 percent from last year. Nationally, retailers are expecting sales to decline compared with last year, which was considered an average season. That has some analysts wondering how bad it may get this year.

“The season is reflecting great spending caution and could be the weakest in a dozen years,” said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard’s Retail Trend Report, a national publication.

The Bay Leaf, 725 Mass., keeps busy with last-minute holiday shoppers. Geri Riekhof, store owner, tallies up purchases made Monday by Aaron and Jessica Lessig of Evergreen, Colo.

But Lawrence retailers said they weren’t expecting such a large drop.

“I think it will just be a little bit below normal,” Schubert said. “It doesn’t seem like it is going to be a record-breaking bad year.”

At J.C. Penney, Wyss said the store was projecting a modest increase in sales compared with a year ago. But Wyss said the store had to make an extra effort to attract shoppers.

“Sales and discounts are pretty common things these days, but I’d say this whole year in particular has been highly competitive and highly promotional,” Wyss said.

Some specialty retailers said they thought they had fared better than some of their larger competitors during the slow economy.

“I’d say we’re actually doing better than last year,” said Geri Riekhof, owner of The Bay Leaf, a downtown store at 725 Mass. that specializes in kitchen items. “I was worried about how we’d do, but I think our niche is different enough that we’ve done fine.

“I don’t think we’ve suffered as much as the big-ticket retailers or the stores that sell wearable goods. We kind of have something for everyone and in a lot of lower price ranges, so that helps.”

Those little items were what several shoppers said they were looking for in the final hours of this year’s Christmas season.

“Every year I always remember at the end that I need a stocking stuffer for this person or that person,” Aletha Huston said Monday while downtown. “I always end up spending more at the last minute than I intend to.”