Will there be 'holiday green' in merchants' sales?

   Shopper Delcy Fox had a long list and wasn't checking it twice at Crossgates Mall.  After the ice storm, she didn't have time.

  "I couldn't get out of my street, " Fox recounted to CBS 6 News about her weekend." It was covered with debris.  Our whole season is cut short this year."

   Merchants are hoping that pent-up shopping demand will send buyers into the stores as we hit the homeward holiday stretch.

  All was calm when the ice storm hit Friday at Clifton Park Center Mall....but all was not bright, as it is now.  They had to close Friday for lack of power.  And with the mall split between two providers---National Grid and NYSEG---it took half of Saturday to get up and running.

  Jimmy Ricci made coffee the old-fashioned way and sandwiches for workers.  But right in the middle of Christmas rush, it meant lost revenues.

   "I don't know if we'll make up the money lost, " said Ricci, "But you can try real hard."

   Still, the General Manager of the Clifton Park Center is upbeat.  "Sunday was a great rebound day, " says Susan Keegan.  "The merchants doubled sales.  The next 10 days should be incredible."

  We asked the Retail Council of New York State whether they had any estimate on money merchants lost.  "It's safe to say, a lot," says Flach.

   Crossgates Mall was open during the ice storm and management says they were packed.  They say they saw lots of traffic with lots of shopping bags.  And if people weren't shopping, they were eating.

  But the game's not over yet.  The Retail Council of New York State is releasing numbers Wednesday on how Holiday shopping has fared since Black Friday.

  "Fortunately, the biggest weekend is this weekend to come, " says Rebecca Flach of the Retail Council.

   This coming Saturday is traditionally the busiest shopping day.  And with pent-up shopping demand squelched temporarily by last weekend's ice storm, merchants still have a chance.

   "If there's a silver lining for consumers, " says Flach, "There will be a lot of good sales to take advantage of."

   "I'm determined to finish it up by tonight!" says Fox.