For many, the appearance of “Big Santa” atop Ala Moana Center in Honolulu signals the start of the holiday retail season, along with the joy of buying and giving.

Shopping malls already have decorated for the holidays and lined up Santas for family photos in anticipation of the usual burst of spending on Black Friday, which traditionally takes place the day after Thanksgiving but now starts as much as a month earlier.

But expectations for this year’s holiday bonanza are tempered by uncertainty over inflation, the Trump administration’s fluctuating tariff policies, job cuts and especially the federal workers who are missing their paychecks due to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.

For Hawaii retailers, the timing could not have been worse.

“We’re always hopeful and

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