This year, the troubled economy has shoppers looking for value when doing their holiday shopping and they’re doing things a little differently to find it. Despite the economy, consumers still want to celebrate this holiday season, but are cautious about spending. Deals are bringing people into the stores.

People are finding value in electronics. Target Store Manager Jerimy Krepps said bargain priced televisions are flying off the shelves this year.

“The biggest thing that we’re seeing this year is actually the LCD TVs,” Krepps said. “If you look across the board, not just us but even our competition, TV prices now have become pretty affordable.”

Those lower prices are bringing budget-conscious shoppers into the stores. The game systems like Wii and Xbox 360s are still hot items, but the televisions are the hit of the season.

Steve Ellison, store manager at Sears in Carrollton, believes the transition from analog to digital on June 12 may also be spurring people to upgrade their televisions.

“We’re selling more larger TVs than the smaller ones,” Ellison said. “Everybody is buying 40-inch and up. We’ve sold a lot over 50 inches.”

After purchasing that new large-screen television, people are heading to the furniture stores. Those larger-screen HDTVs require wider openings than many of the old entertainment centers offer. So, the popular items at the furniture stores are television stands according to CJ’s Furniture and the Furniture House in Carrollton.

“This year has been very, very slow,” said Jeff Marlow, owner of CJ’s Furniture. “Now people are buying TV stands this year. A lot of people getting new TVs.”

People are buying smaller or single items, such as recliners and jewelry armoires, but much of the normal business of children’s furniture, curio cabinets and vanity sets have dropped considerably this year. His day-after Thanksgiving sales were less than half the 2008 sales.

“Last year was pretty good for me,” Marlow said. “I don’t think people have money. ... It all revolves around the recession.”

Other businesses are also seeing customers cut back. Mitch Mobley, owner of The Mobley Company Jewelers Inc. in Villa Rica, has seen a huge increase in custom pieces at his store that he believes is an effort by his customers to economize.

“People would bring in their gold and we make something new out of it,” Mobley said. “For the people that, you know, don’t have a lot of extra money, they can bring in either a bag full of scrap gold or whatever and trade for something new, or we’ll actually make something new for them.”

Those orders are up about 75 percent over a normal year, he said.

His customers are still buying the traditional gifts – diamond stud earrings, three-stone rings, tennis bracelets – but the store is taking in a lot more gold this year, because the price of gold is so high this year.

“The gold they have is worth a lot,” Mobley said. “The market’s at an all-time high. I think that has a lot to do with it, and the economy, just everything.”

Lowe’s is seeing the typical items selling big this year – appliances, tools, Christmas items – as people prepare for the holidays and the visitors who will be coming for the holidays.

“There’s a lot of remodel work getting done,” said Jonathan Cannon, zone manager at Lowe’s in Carrollton. “People trying to dress the house up for the holidays.”

Sears also sold a lot of appliances, especially at its after-Thanksgiving sale, which offered some washer-dryer sets and refrigerators for half the normal price.

Some of those purchases will find their way under the tree. Tools are a traditional Christmas gift in many families and some of those appliances may be purchased for gifts.

“I talked to a gentleman just yesterday who ordered a refrigerator for his mother,” Cannon said “You do see appliances being given as gifts. You see a lot of tools being given as gifts.”