PANAMA CITY - James Harless and Kim Temple said Christmas this year, their fourth together, would be a little different than years past.

Strolling through the Panama City Mall on Sunday afternoon, the local couple said they would be buying a couple of fewer gifts compared to previous years.
   
"This year, it will be just the kids getting presents," Temple, 28, said.
   
Temple said she usually buys presents for her extended family - brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews - as well as her stepchildren, but this year has been difficult.
   
"It was kind of a tough year," Temple said. "I was out of work for six months."
   
Temple said she was relieved when she landed her new job a few weeks ago, but she still would be forced to watch her spending more closely this holiday season.
   
Temple is not alone.
   
Miriama Devine usually does quite a bit of holiday shopping. This year, as she strolled the quiet sidewalks of Destin Commons on a weekday morning, she explained that instead of buying a $20 gift for every family member, the family would be purchasing $10 gifts for one another.
   
"What's really important is spending time with family and friends, not material things," said Devine, a stay-at-home mother of three from Crestview.
   
That's close to $800 that will not be spent in stores.
   
Stories such as these make retailers a bit queasy. The last six weeks of the year usually can be counted on to bring in about 40 percent of the annual retail sales, according to the National Retail Federation. But all economic indicators are pointing to a lean holiday season in the stores.
   
"The 2008 holiday season will be one of the worst for retailers in decades," predicted Barton Weltz, executive director of the David F. Miller Center for Retailing Education and Research at the University of Florida.
   
He based his statement on a telephone survey polling 500 Florida residents, who told surveyors they were planning to cut holiday spending drastically.
   
Tony Werden, vice president of sales at Sunglass World in the Panama City Mall, said his store is prepared for a slow cycle.
   
"December is usually our biggest month, even bigger than March is with Spring Break," Werden said. "We are not expecting as much this year."
   
Werden, who has been with Sunglass World for 14 years, said the store has prepared for the downturn and developed strategies to lessen the brunt.
   
"We are emphasizing lower price points," Werden said. "We've also focused a lot on layaways to take some of the sting out of the price."
   
Werden said he does not expect sales to drop drastically because their product is more insulated from economic variations than some.
   
"Sunglasses are kind of necessary down here," Werden said. "Some of the other stores, jewelry stores and the like, you can see they are kind of on pins and needles right now."
   
At Destin Commons, Scott Sexton, owner of Learning Express, said he already has seen some troubling signs. His biggest season is June and July, but November and December are a close second for revenue.
   
Though customers still are coming into his toy store, there are fewer than in previous years and they are spending more carefully.
   
"I just pray that the economy picks up," said Sexton, who plans to be open on Thanksgiving Day for the first time to pick up extra business. "It's definitely dead for November."
   
Lorraine Robison of Fort Walton Beach said she loves to shop, in general, and especially at Christmastime.
   
But this year, she said, she is not buying anything frivolous and she is shopping carefully for the key items on her loved ones' lists. And she is not going out on Black Friday, a time when it is easy to get carried away, she said.
   
"You get caught up," Robinson said. "They're having all these crazy sales and giveaways."
   
She and her husband both work, but their retirement income has been affected by the volatile stock market of recent months.
   
"We're really kind of hanging on," she said. "We're sticking more to a budget and really evaluating wants and needs."