An Iowa State University economist says Iowa retailers should see increased sales during this holiday week. Ron Prescott is a retail and small business specialist in the I.S.U. department of economics.
“Because of the placement of 4th of July, I think all retailers are going to be seeing greater activity for all those items that are typically used for the 4th of July just because there’s probably more Americans celebrating the 4th of July this week than we’ve ever seen before,” he says, “and what that translate to is probably there’s going to be more food consumed this week, there’s going to be more beverages consumed this week, there’s more patriotic items being purchased this week.”
Prescott points to a National Retail Federation survey which found nearly 68 percent of all Americans plan to host or attend a cook-out, barbecue or picnic to celebrate Independence Day. Because the 4th falls on a Wednesday, Independence Day celebrations are happening all week long.
“A lot of the communities are extending out the holiday season and some of them are celebrating on Saturday,” he says. “Some are actually starting tonight.” Prescott says one-third of the hot dogs consumed in America this week “originated” in Iowa.