Kandee Kaupalolo, 14, left, and Liana Ka‘aihue, 14, check prices at an after-Christmas sale at Macy’s Ala Moana. Macy’s said it had a couple hundred people waiting to get into the store early this morning. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Parking was plentiful at the Royal Kunia Wal-Mart and there were no lines in front of Sears Ala Moana Center when doors opened at 7 a.m. Still Macy's said it had a couple hundred people waiting to get into its Ala Moana store early this morning and were hopeful this after-Christmas season would be at least as good as last year.

The week after Christmas typically accounts for more than 10 percent of annual sales for retailers, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Customers nationwide have been frugal, uninspired by the lack of must-have items and worried about the economy. The compressed season, six days shorter than a year ago, also affected consumers, who never quite recovered from the late Thanksgiving and seemed to delay their gift buying even more than usual.

Today Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, reduced its December forecast for sales at stores open at least a year. The discounter now expects that sales will be up 2 percent to 3 percent. It had earlier anticipated a 3 percent to 5 percent gain.

Christmas sales at all major retailers are expected to rise only 1.5 percent from a year earlier, the smallest gain since 1970, said Bank of Tokyo economist Michael Niemira.

In Kunia, the Wal-Mart store manager was hopeful that things would improve as the day progressed.

"People usually get up later over here and get in a little later in the day," said Walter Lott, the store's general manager.

Wal-Mart was discounting items up to 50 percent, including some toys and Christmas-themed goods. The hottest sellers were storage containers, video games and movies.

"Generally we sell a lot of games and a lot of memory cards for games and DVDs, because many people get games and DVD players for Christmas," Lott said.

For Macy's at Ala Moana the day after Christmas is the biggest of the post-holiday season, said Deena Nichols, director of stores for Macy's Hawai'i region. She estimated that 200 people had lined up outside the store before it opened at 7 a.m. looking to take advantage of discounts of 60 percent or more. Christmas lights, wrapping paper and decorations were among the most-discounted and fastest-selling items.

Compared to traffic on the same day last year "I think it's probably pretty standard," Nichols said.

At Sears Ala Moana, store manager Gill Berger said the lack of lines at 7 a.m. was not unusual because it was a work day.

"I'd say things are going well at this point," he said. "I think people will really start coming in Saturday."

Apparel and jewelry were among the items on people's lists.

"Sometimes the ladies have a mind to spend some of the Christmas money they received," Berger said.