Ames retail store owners no longer have any reason to complain.

Most retailers reported winter apparel merchandise sales increased after the cold spell hit last month.

This is a dramatic turnaround from late last fall, when Midwest retailers complained the unseasonably warm temperatures were affecting their winter apparel sales. Since there was no cold weather, few people thought about buying winter coats, gloves and hats.

“Just like all the rest of the retailers, we’ve experienced slower sales,” said Julie Petersen, store manager of Younkers in North Grand Mall.

Petersen said the store canceled a lot of the back-up winter merchandise it had ordered because sales started off too slowly.

The main concern of most retailers was the effect the late winter start would have on their total sales of winter apparel merchandise.

Wal-Mart’s corporate office decided to handle the problem by slashing prices in most of its affected Midwest stores, said Ron Nestler, assistant store manager of Wal-Mart, 3015 Grand Ave.

Nestler said the tactic and the past month’s cold weather assisted in getting some of the merchandise sold, but winter merchandise sales for the store continue to be below normal.

“We’ve seemed to just skip fall and jump right to winter,” he said.

Kmart, 1405 Buckeye Ave., also reported winter apparel merchandise sales increased when the temperatures plummeted.

“People are really shopping up this year at great prices,” said Kmart Pantry Manager Tom McIlawan. “Of course, if we had it our way, we’d want to sell some at regular prices.”

Although the Ames Younkers store experienced slow sales at first, Petersen said its winter merchandise sales were still up this year compared to last year.

“We’re almost out of some of the categories,” she said. “The coat department is where it is more evident; we’re almost out of coats.”

Petersen said the store will not be receiving much more new winter merchandise stock, and it will continue to sell the winter merchandise until it is all gone.

For consumers, this may mean less selection as the winter season progresses.

McIlwan said there is still some selection left at his Kmart store.

“There were still great selections [at Kmart] when the winter weather hit,” he said. “Once the snow hits, it really goes fast.”

Unlike Younkers, McIlwan said Kmart may receive more winter apparel items from other stores who cannot sell what they have in stock.

“We’ll keep selling the winter merchandise until everything is gone,” he said.

Stocking caps, ski masks and scarves may be the first items sold out at Wal-Mart, Nestler said. Since the temperatures dropped near zero, he said people have been snapping up anything that keeps their heads warm.

However, most retailers admitted some of the more popular items this winter weren’t apparel merchandise.

McIlwan said Kmart never has a problem selling shovels and de-icing solutions no matter how late Mother Nature starts the winter season.