Local retailers are gearing up for the busiest time of the year with optimism, despite difficult economic times.

The Christmas season is key for most retailers. The day after Thanksgiving is nicknamed "Black Friday" because it puts some retailers in the black. That is to say, it's when they start earning a profit for the year.

"You hope for the best time of year in the last quarter," said Leslie Keys Cassady, owner of Audie Mescal clothing store in Tuscumbia. "November and December are important for retailers."

She said the Christmas-shopping season seems to lengthen every year.

"People are buying and decorating earlier and earlier, even before Halloween," Cassady said. "They kind of skip Thanksgiving, which is sad but true."

She said sales seem to be on par with previous years as the season begins.

"Even last Christmas, when November and December were so bleak, we never saw a downturn in anything," Cassady said.

Pam Davis, owner of Emma's Gifts on U.S. 72 in Rogersville, expects a good Christmas-shopping season based on what she's already seen.

"We're doing pretty well," Davis said. "We're getting a lot of pre-orders now."

Davis, who has run the store for seven years, said business is steady this year and she sees no indication of that changing during the busy holiday season.

Brenda Johnson, manager of Peebles Department Store in Russellville, said the majority of sales at her store are during the Christmas season.

"It's one of our main drivers," Johnson said. "We live for Black Friday. We count on those days. That's why we have our door busters - to draw our customers in."

She sees signs of a healthy shopping season.

"We think we're going to do really good things this year because we've got new products and have changed our distribution center for products targeted to different age groups," Johnson said.

Janet Cherry, a buyer for the Village Shoppe in Muscle Shoals, already sees signs of a good season.

"A lot of people have bought early this year, which has surprised us," Cherry said. "We just feel like it's been a good fall season for us thus far.

"We've had an excellent two years and very good traffic. Overall, our sales are meeting last year's figures and above, so we feel good about it."

Nationally, a Gallup Poll taken this month indicates the average American will spend $638 on Christmas shopping. That is up from $616 in 2008, which was a bleak shopping year that saw a 3.4 percent drop in holiday retail spending from the previous year.

The poll indicates 57 percent of Americans will spend the same amount on gifts as they did last season, while 34 percent say they will spend less than in 2008.

The 2008 Gallup survey indicated 46 percent planned to spend less than in 2007.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@TimesDaily.com.