NEW YORK – Shoppers flocked to stores for post-Christmas sales Thursday as merchants sought to clear out leftovers to make room for spring merchandise and recoup some lost sales in a season that is expected to be the weakest in at least three decades.

Still, the question remains: How much can the barrage of discounts boost holiday spending if already-deep discounts before Dec. 25 failed to entice shoppers to buy?

“I’m strictly a sale person. If I buy something today and come back and find it on sale, I’m going to bring it back and buy it at the sale price,” said Leila Cooper, a retired cafeteria manager who had just purchased two sweat shirts at the Oakwood Shopping Center in New Orleans.

In Maine, a snowstorm that left a foot or more in much of the state delayed the arrival of shoppers, but traffic was expected to pick up and remain strong into the weekend, mall managers said.

Thursday started off slowly at the Bangor Mall as the storm moved out of the state, but more customers seeking exchanges, new purchases or just a place to go for the afternoon were expected during the afternoon and evening, a spokeswoman said.

The Maine Mall in South Portland also was preparing for a late-arriving crowd, said manager David Faulkner. He said it would take people time to dig out from the storm and for roads to get cleared, but by afternoon the pace would pick up.

Another factor, Faulkner said, is “people start getting stir crazy” and decide to go out.

At a Wal-Mart in Columbus, Ohio, York and Marla Ingels of New Haven, W.Va., took advantage of deep discounts on artificial Christmas trees and bought two.

“It’s a good time to pick them up when they are 75 percent off,” said York Ingels. “We’re heading to the mall next.”

At another Wal-Mart in North Little Rock, Ark., Chrystal Andrews and her sister Mandy Wells rummaged through the shelves to find a Lego Bionicle toy their younger cousin didn’t have already. They phoned family members to check on the toys that were discounted from $7.88 to $3.

“The older ones are on sale, not the newer ones,” Andrews said.

At a Sears, Roebuck and Co. store in Burlington, N.J., Christine Brown shopped for last-minute gifts for friends.

“I wanted to get something for those people who I had no idea were getting me presents,” Brown said. She planned to buy a few sweaters and nightgowns, which she was pleased to see priced at 50 percent off.

Despite a better-than-expected sales surge following Thanksgiving, customers have been frugal, uninspired by the lack of must-have items and worried about the economy. The compressed season, six days shorter than a year ago, also affected consumers who never quite recovered from the late Thanksgiving and seemed to delay their gift buying even more than usual.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, said in a prerecorded call Thursday that it had reduced its December forecast for sales at stores opened at least a year, known as same-store sales, as the buying acceleration came “too late and too little” to meet its monthly goal.

The discounter now expects that same-store sales will be up 2 percent to 3 percent. It had earlier anticipated that same-store sales would be at the low end of its forecast for a 3 percent to 5 percent gain.

There were some bright spots.

OfficeMax Inc., the nation’s No. 3 office-supply chain behind Office Depot Inc. and Staples Inc., said Thursday that same-store sales were up a robust 10 percent in December, representing the best holiday season in three years.