Maine retailers say the 1990 back-to-school shopping season probably won’t set any records, but given the slow nature of the economy, they’re generally happy with their sales volumes.

The back-to-school season comes in second to Christmas as the busiest shopping season of the year. For many retailers, a good back-to-school season is a necessary part of a successful year.

Stan Israel, an owner at Epstein’s in Brewer, says that back-to-school shoppers sometimes crowd his store more than Christmas shoppers. He explains by saying that summertime back-to-school shoppers shop as families. At Christmas, parents shop without the children.

One family on the hunt for school clothes Wednesday was the Kingsburys from Skowhegan. Sally Kingsbury and her 9-year-old daughter, Tasha, were at the Bangor Mall and expected to buy shirts and pants. Tasha had come with $115 to spend.

Tasha Kingsbury will be one of about 220,000 students attending elementary and high schools in Maine this fall. If they each spent $115, retailers would ring up sales totaling $25.3 million. If all the students purchased a $20 pair of jeans, the total bill would be $4.4 million. It’s a lot of money, and retailers spend a lot of effort to lure the shoppers.

Israel says that the warm weather is keeping people away from the stores. “We could use some cold, wet weather to get people shopping,” he said. Because of the slow economy, Israel had expected a very slow season at his Epstein’s stores. Business has exceeded expectations, but he doesn’t expect to break any records.

At Miller’s Discount Store in Brewer, the manager, Charlie Rogers, says that his sales volume is up from last year’s total. The big sellers are oversized blazers for girls and “winter shorts,” which are made of wool or corduroy.

Another retailer reporting a good year is Danny Baron, manager of the J.J. Newbury Co. store in Ellsworth. “Everything has been selling great,” Baron said. He attributes his “extraordinary” year to the closing of the Zayre store in Ellsworth.

Unlike Baron, Richard Gobbo, manager of the J.C. Penney Co. store in Caribou, reports a slow back-to-school season. Like Israel, Baron thinks the good weather has kept people away from stores. But he also thinks that a lot of his potential customers are connected with Loring Air Force Base and that worries about the situation in the Persian Gulf are keeping them out of stores.

Jeans are big sellers at the Hit or Miss shop in the Bangor Mall. Manager Julie Scribner says that back-to-school shopping picked up in mid-August and that sales have been “wonderful.”

At the Marianne shop, also in the Bangor Mall, assistant manager Kelly Giles says business has picked up during August, “but it’s not a great year, compared with last year.”

Michael Parker, manager of Kinney Shoes in Bangor, said, “We’re having an excellent season. The gloom and doom you’re reading about isn’t happening here.”