Southwest Denver.

We have grocery store within a somewhat upscale shopping complex and having to stop at the grocery store this morning - the parking lots were insane. I was out shopping on Friday last week and it was crazy then too.

ETA -central NJ about 10 minutes from the PA border/New Hope/Bucks county.

And it's been that way since Thanksgiving.

People seem to be milling about but shlepping less purchases .

Traffic on 1960 has been brutal the last few days ... going anywhere near Willowbrook mall will get you stuck in insane traffic.

All the stores up and down the strip are packed.

I just ran out to a shopping center and it was packed. But, overall, about the same I am can remember.

even a lot of the real life shopping is actually just window shopping.

see it live
try it live
order it cheaper online.

AT&T store was hopping.

Have driven around and it seems less bright this year. Anyone else notice this?

we talked about it on the way home, noticing that there were only a few houses with lights.

Not sure what it is, we stopped doing it because I live on a dead end and no one sees my house anyway. I used to do it when the kids were little...

Funny thing is with the advent of LED's the cost of lighting your house is way cheaper these days... Maybe it's The War On Christmas!

I'm even guilty of it myself. I usually decorate the outside of the house for the holiday, but this year I was just too busy and all I got out is a few lighted candy canes, a couple of wreaths and a blow up Santa. The inside of the house is amazing though!

Maybe everyone else is just too darn busy to get things up like they used to as well?

all the trees with white lights and those giant colored balls didn't do it this year.

Our major Grocery Stores in those two malls always had giant wreaths on either side of the entrance and they was was nothing there this year. A bit creepy I thought because I live in a city that's always done well. I didn't see as much Christmasy stuff in the Drug Stores or in the Grocery Stores that I was used to seeing, either. The kind of stuff that used to be half price after Christmas seemed to not be as popular or abundant as in the past years.

Our state was taken over by a Repub Governor and State Legislature went Republican....so I will blame them for all their budget cutting and tax give aways to the 1% at the expense of the rest of us.

Granted I do most of my shopping weeks before the actual rush, but there's some things I forget, and other last minute items which need to be shopped for later. My USPS is so busy they've added an additional carrier just for packages, which I've really appreciated this year.

Then there's this: FedEx, UPS confront busiest holiday season on record.

It may be a regional thing and where I am the area is just full of procrastinators, though.

so I have been giving him rides. I dread going to the mall...

I will say this though, he worked Black Friday and it was relatively dead.. Not sure if it's because they were all open on Thanksgiving or not but... This week however it's just nuts out there.

Last Saturday afternoon their lines were empty. Ten tellers standing there where I have seen people stacked six deep in the past years. It is supposed to be their busiest day. She said their sales were way down for the entire season.

We noticed the crowds on the Mile were half as heavy as usual.

(I didn't buy a thing. Four of us total spent less than $200. Spent almost half that again on lunch - $16 burger!)

As Yogi would say "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too busy."

and almost couldn't find a space. Mall is packed, too.

However, Sonny Nay shopped a Thanksgiving Day sale and it wasn't busy. A friend who works at Sears said their Black Friday was basically a bust.

But today the mall was completely full. I don't know if there's much being sold, but there are a lot of people out looking.

Have heard from folks in my town that "the malls", meaning in the distant cities, are looking busy but people do not seem to be carrying bags full of stuff.
Wandering and looking more.
Lots of people down here go to a mall for exercise , and early lunch, due to our often inclement weather.

they'll get here by midnight.