Stores try to create late holiday shopping surge with big discounts, more inventory

New York ? You won’t find uncommonly deep discounts, but you won’t have to worry about finding something to buy, either. For the first time in three years, the Christmas season is looking brighter for stores and shoppers alike.

With plenty of dollars remaining to be spent, stores are trying to attract late shoppers with measured discounts and other gimmicks, including pulling all-nighters and pushing more last-minute gifts.

Consumers are more primed to spend than they have been in several years. Projections for holiday spending are starting to approach pre-recession levels. The National Retail Federation and research firm ShopperTrak both raised their holiday forecasts this week.

Shoppers spent more than expected in November, helped by early discounts. And even though they’ve backed off more in early December than stores had hoped, analysts and retailers aren’t worried.

That’s because a burst of spending happens in the 10 days before Christmas, a period that accounted for 34 percent of holiday sales last year, up from 31 percent in 2006, according to ShopperTrak.

Store inventories are not as depleted as last year, when merchants scared about having too many leftovers began the season with skimpy offerings. That made it hard for shoppers to buy even a strand of lights in early December.

A few hot sellers are hard to find, according to Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman at Taubman Centers. And those seeking some of the hot toys like Mattel Inc.’s Monster High dolls will have a hard time, though Toys R Us says it will keep getting daily shipments of the season’s hot toys.

“We are in very good stock position,” said Kathleen Waugh, a Toys R Us spokeswoman. “We picked the right toys. We’ll be ready around the clock.”

The National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, raised its holiday forecast to 3.3 percent from its original projection that sales would climb 2.3 percent. That would put holiday sales at $451.5 billion, close to the holiday 2007 levels of $452.8 billion and well above 2006’s $444.7 billion.