Holiday shopping hits the skids

Source: CNN

After getting off to a fast start last month, holiday sales at some of the nation's largest retailers have slowed to an excruciatingly slow pace and mall traffic has dropped dramatically.

The results, coming two weeks before Christmas, jeopardize an already weak holiday sales period.

Chain-store sales rose a mere 0.2 percent for the week ended Dec. 8, following a disappointing 2 percent sales decline in the prior week, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Council of Shopping Centers.

"Consumers continue to be slow in finishing their holiday shopping," said Michael Niemira, the council's chief economist. "As such, we will be watching the next few weeks to determine how successful this holiday shopping season will be for retailers."



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/11/news/economy/mall_traffic/index.htm?cnn=yes

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Gas near or over $3 a gallon, grocery prices rising, heating costs up, wages not - and they think we're slow in finishing our holiday shopping for their Chineses crap - hah, some of us might be done!

Especially Sunday.

It was like Black Friday.

last Friday afternoon to pick up a $4.00 scrip. The place is usually packed with payday food shoppers. Not only were the food shoppers missing, I saw very few carts with anything in them but food or cleaning supplies. I overheard clerks all over the store and the word they were all using was "slow."

Maybe online purchases of gift certificates will be the rage this year, putting off shopping until the after Xmas sales. Maybe people are stuck among higher gas, heat, insurance, taxes, and other bills and just buying token gifts this year. Maybe they'll decide at the last minute this is the last "good" Xmas and charge that plastic up to the hilt on the last shopping weekend.

I expect a lot of stores to close in January.

I was running like my pants were on fire.

because mine is inner city and one of the three poorest areas of town.

sits in between Hilltop and more affluent neighborhoods.

Honey!! We're in a recession...really...shhh! but Bushie ain't saying so...

mall and from Black Friday onward, it used to be impossible to get to the access streets to my house without having to sit through 3 or 4 traffic light changes. This year? There are actually parking spaces available and that's after they added like a gazillian upscale stores to the mall. Not that I do a lot of shopping but the few stores I've walked into have been dead.

to children who are placed on the giving tree by our church - mostly local children who get help from the Salvation Army.

they won't let me wear my peace sign tee-shirt.

I can't even get down the main road near my home, the stores are jammed. I think they say the same crap about the movies, "no-one's going", it's reverse psychology.

I went to a local mall last week (Thursday morning) to finish my shopping, & there were plenty of people there. And my local Target was doing a pretty brisk business, too.

I shop online as much as possible, but there are always things I need to actually go to the store for, though I hate shopping at this time of year. I hate wasting gas & time when I can shop at the comfort of my keyboard!

Certainly nowhere NEAR what was happening last Christmas. Lots of milling around, but when you get past the check out lines -- only seeing necessities or small items. And the stores around here are still offering the earlybird bullshit - stand in line for 3 hours, just to get $50 off a laptop. People may be going for those, but daytime shopping? Nope. And slow at night too.

Have you been paying attention to any of the financial woes the people in this country are having? Have you heard about the housing crisis? :eyes:

to a very popular shopping mall. Parked very close to my favorite entrance, went to one department store and bought a cart full of items, finishing a major bulk of the shopping (at least the mail-away), without having to stand line more than a minute or two. I was shocked. Pleased, but shocked.

Even managed to snag a Wii for my daughter who is disabled, unable to work or go to school, so this will be a delight for her.

I hope she has a wonderful time enjoying her new Wii system! :hug:

are ending up online.

I have no doubt that people are hurting and counting on selling Wiis to pay for their Christmas gifts if not their bills too. :wow:


p.s. Hope your daughter likes the Wii! I managed to snag one too-to give my kid-in a lottery line of 100 people early one Sunday morning. Talk about insane! :argh:

Put it in one of those nifty 5-gal. red plastic containers with a green bow. $22.95, including the can. I'm sure it would stimulate conversation, at least.

It was dead. In fact, maybe deader than dead. The stores were ridiculously understaffed, but that didn't really matter as there might have been maybe fifty people in any store at times. I noticed a lot of China-made crap still sitting on the shelves, but people still seem to be buying Fisher-Price and Mattel. Why someone would still buy from a company that's been caught five times in the last year poisoning children is beyond me.


I did, however, do my part to remind people in the toy department to wash their children's hands after they play with the toys...

Finished shopping for this year. Spent less than $100, which is much less than last year. My wife and I got new cell phones for Christmas, which were free after the rebates. Got a few things for Gtrkid and that's it.

I have to find a 3rd job to cover the $100 a month increase in my health insurance that kicks in at the first of the year. Either that or file bankruptcy.

Let them factor thet into their holiday shpopping figures :(

Instead of raising our property taxes, they appraised our house at twice the amount as last year, so we have higher property taxes, our health insurance premiums rose drastically, gas is way higher, everything is way higher except our salaries. No cost of living raise this year again either. With many people in the same situation and so many unemployed, I'm surprised that anyone's surprised Xmas shopping is slower. I bet a lot of the early shopping surge was due to the good after-Thanksgiving sales, people just trying to make their money go further. I know I'm watching for good sales, ordering from eBay, using discount coupons, etc.

All my shopping is finished and I didn't set one foot in a store. I did go to target but I bought laundry detergeant & toothpaste.

a couple of days ago and you could have bowled in the halls.

I think it a series of reasons, most of which have been covered here, but one that hasn't: namely that retailers, over the years, have trained their customers that if they wait long enough, the prices will keep going down down down. With Christmas falling on a Tuesday, i am sure that there will be bargains galore on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday (21, 22, and 23 of December) before Christmas and the feasting will begin by the bargain hunters (and unless sales were staggering, the price cuts will be even deeper the day after Christmas)

and traffic was normal weekday traffic.

BTW, I wasn't there to shop, so I guess I am part of the problem. I was visiting a friend that works at a store that is going out of business. He's the Apple Rep at a CompUSA. He said he will be OK, he will move to another store that sells Macs.

there fewer people shopping than I expected, but I saw relatively few people actually carrying bags. The only store that was doing a brisk business was H&M which seemed to be much cheaper than Macy's and Bloomingdales.

Our family plans on spending a lot less -- not so much for lack of money. Instead we all seem to agree that we really don't need more stuff.

Not giftcards.

Money.

Gold presidential dollars.

Jeffersons only.

For a buck, I'm not sure of that. Either way, it'll remind people of what real Presidents were like.

I've got some one-ounce bars of silver that I've had forever making up a few gifts this year.

I'm unemployed and our household budget is really tight. But looking around my house, I saw lots of "stuff" I just don't need that others would probably like. For instance, I have a DVD of a movie I know my son would love but he hasn't seen yet. Gift #1! Found a Diana Krall CD I bought for one song. I put that song in my iTunes and voila! my mother's gift was found. The only present I bought was a used book for my sweetheart (since he owns all the stuff in our home along with me, it was hard for me to think of anything to recycle for him). The only person I'm stumped about is my step-father--but then, I'm always stumped about what to give him. Maybe I'll bake him some cookies...

They ARE finished:rofl:

Christmas bullet as you stroll the food court!

Hasn't there been 3 or 4 MALL shootings in the past week or two?

Let's see;

Holidays
Skittish economy
holiday induced depression
shootings

and the malls are quiet

hmmmmm, sounds about right to me

That speaks volumes to me.

I spent a grand total of about $300 for my wife and 2 kids. Total credit card debt on a $5,000 credit limit, as of this post : $347.

For me, it was alot of factors. For one, just not into the holiday spirit... I never am because "HOLIDAY SPIRIT" as defined here in America, is being a shopping drone, listening to re-mix versions of classic holiday tunes on the radio done by shitty artists, giving money/donated gifts to people on welfare who don't want to even TRY looking for a job, so they can what?? Enjoy the holiday spirit too? Give me a fricken break.

I hear it all the damn time.... OH THE POOR CHILDREN WON'T HAVE A DECENT CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR... WHHHAAA.

WHO CARES !! I grew up poor as hell, sure there were quite a few Christmas' where any gifts we got were cheap, and a couple where we had no gifts, but through it all, the most important thing, is we had each other. We'd have a nice Christmas dinner, and some quality family time.

I intend to carry on with that tradition of Christmas as a poor family with my own kids, even though my income is well over $64k a year, and my house payment is only $550 a month.

I refuse to have my children think, or expect, that Christmas is all about giving gifts, and pagan Christmas trees, or even JESUS for that matter (I am a Deist).

Christmas & Easter are corporate holidays... give me Thanksgiving or 4th of July any time.

The other factor, IMHO, the American dollar is going to collapse, I'm not going to throw my money around like that, I'd rather invest it in the foriegn markets.

Ranting about "people on welfare who don't want to even TRY looking for a job" is not what we do here.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

And people like you make me ashamed to admit it, sometimes.

we don't all walk lockstep here in du-land.

i hate to admit it, but i happen to agree with many of his points. my particular living experience has changed my opinions on a lot of things. life tends to do that.

by the way, welcome to du, EClark5483.

you better put on your asbestos panties/jockstrap if you plan on continuing to speak your mind.

people here hate it when the great bleeding heart liberal line is not toe'd.

:hi:

:eyes:

:eyes: Talk about hitting on ALL the stereotypes!

I'm sorry I didn't hear your message too well, the sound of the door slamming is still ringing in my ears.

:eyes: I wonder if the poster has ever been on welfare? I have and it wasn't fun or profitable. In fact, I was required to "work" while receiving my $185/mo benefits. Job training programs, that is and I was grateful for it. Also food stamps were purchased at the Post Office. I think I paid $15 for $60 worth of food stamps for a month. And that was just for food items. No toiletries or other such "essentials". My rent on a rundown trailer with utilities included, was $87/mo. I was living the high life for sure. :silly:

If you knew ANYTHING about welfare, you'd know that working at a job is REQUIRED to receive it. Try finding out what the laws are, and what people's lives are really like, before making such uneducated comments.

Also, you might want to stop and consider that there, but for the grace of God.... You could very easily become injured or sick, your overpaid $64K/yr. salary would go right out the window, and your savings would be devoured pretty quickly. And take it from one who's been there...you will NOT get on disability any time soon, so you'll be stuck having to go on welfare and get food stamps. And every 6 months, you'll have to get a note from your doctor stating that you're still disabled, or else you'll have to get out and get a job.

Then you'd be one of those people that you're bashing.

Walk a mile in a man's shoes before you judge him.

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We need jerks in the party as much as they need us.

Don't be so judgmental.

Do I need this:

:sarcasm:

Yes I DO know what it is like being on welfare, I grew up many years on welfare, and have had the pleasure of even doing some dumpster diving for a meal on several occasions because my mom didn't have the money to feed all 6 of us kids, and the only real meals we got were from going to school, then of course there were the times we had no money to wash our clothes but had to go to school, the ridicule was horrendous. And again, there is a difference between those who need assistance, and those who are abusing the system.

Here's a PERFECT example... my POS brother in law, who is married to my wife's sister... He has a CDL, and has driven truck for MANY MANY companies... He works just long enough to qualify for unemployment benefits (about 6 months in Nebraska), then wouldn't you know it... finds a reason to quit his job... thus FORCING themselves on welfare.

How in the hell do you do a job that you are getting paid over $1,000 a week to just sit on your duff and drive, then quit for no reason at all?

So yeah, of course this year, AS USUAL, he quit his job 2 months before Christmas and is probably now sitting on his ass at home playing on his Playstation as I type this.

They have 3 kids, each one was paid for by our tax dollars because he quit his jobs a couple months before his wife gave birth..... for what reason?? Because having kids costs too much.. and he didn't wanna pay the extra money out of his check for insurance... actually, he doesn't like to pay ANYTHING.. He is up to his ass in debt, and it is his own fault for BLOWING his paychecks on BS and not paying his bills.... Should I feel sorry for him or people like him?? HELL NO !!

Should I feel sorry for his kids because he is a POS bum?? HELL NO..

It's a damn pattern, one lazy welfare case bum leads to lazy welfare case children.

Hell I know a family with 5... yes 5 generations of welfare.

Yes people are required to work to continue receiving benefits... those who make that effort to get off welfare get my respect, because yes... I do know what it is like... however... there are others who do not, and will not EVER have my sympathy.
.
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so whipped out the plastic. yet rank on those who are scraping by without the luxury of plastic money. cute.

:puke:

(unfortunately, global climate change might make these nice warm hats obsolete in a few more years)

Gave the kids money, although less this year. I work part time in an inner city store which seems of late to be highly hispanic in trade. Almost every (hispanic)customer has at least one voucher, if not 2-3 from various agencies for free items. I saw one for $250. I guess the amount is determined by family size. I wonder if these agencies check to see if others have already contributed to a family before handing out these vouchers. BTW:those who are using these vouchers are regular shoppers who seem to have money most other times, and included in some of the voucher purchases is lingerie, not toys or clothing.

Probably Cadillacs too, dontcha' think?

one of my jobs was to process those. Most of them came from things like National Child Benefit or the city's dependent child program. Usually, they were meant to pay for things like clothing, food, cribs, mattresses, etc.

I saw a lot of people that I really felt for, who were using the entire $50 (tiny, compared to some) just to buy food for the kids. Some people tried to squeeze every drop by going for the off-season very-reduced clothing bin. Many bought lunches for school. I hated having to be an arbiter of what could be bought, but I got shit if something went through that shouldn't have, and we got a strict list of what to allow under each category.

But there were always about a third who tried to use the larger vouchers to (for example) attempt free DVD players and TVs, and who would scream and yell at us when we said we weren't empowered to do that unless the approving agency explicitly listed that as an option. The number of forgeries we saw (and verified by calling in), the number of people who tried to use vouchers written for "crib and baby food" for Doritos and Pepsi, or who tried to use it to buy things that were blatantly contrary to the written purpose of the voucher was phenomenal. It's interesting how those who tried to abuse the system always got the largest vouchers.


It's just frustrating to bust your ass for a low-wage job and to have people demand free shit from you, when you know for a fact they're ripping you off. I've got nothing but sympathy for those who really need it, it must be humiliating.

who do not have the money to buy their products, why in the hell should we be supporting these multi million corporations, make your own gifts, bake, make something, why do we have to have that Americans will buy anything mentality. Those days are over.

are doing very well. The "hot" cars that are selling are the H3 and the Pontiac Solstice (waiting list for that one). So far, the store hurting the most is Target. From those stats, the well off are buying....the poorest will barely buy anything and the ever fading middle class is going to Walmart.
That being said...This is the first year I am not in the mood for any of it. The tree is up and I haven't bought one single gift yet. Zero motivation to do so. Seven years of this bullshit and it has taken all my "feel goods" away. :(

I figured it would be a good time to go and I was right.

There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, but the mall and the stores were practically empty.

Insurance doesn't cover routine visits.

I hope your spouse will get a clean bill of health from the doctor.

"I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that."

We're looking at a pretty low-key holiday. We'll have to spend some bucks to visit the relatives in NC.

Me, my daughter, my son's girlfriend, all done. We all quickly picked items, bought them and that's it. No frills this year.

Get a clue pundit. Consumers aren't slow, they are done.

buy yourself a tank of gas and put a ribbon on the filler!

If we dont stop this now they will be advertising Xmas on July 4th.

I've already told my significant others that, unless they're buying me sweaters or clothing, I really don't need anything else. I'm efficient with my electronics and I don't like to waste. I'm perfectly content with what I have now and I have a frugal lifestyle. Thank god I have become used to that lifestyle...because life seems like it will get harder in the coming years.

:spray::rofl:

}(

Jews and those who shop for them are finished, hence the drop-off :-)

and couldn't be happier with our decision, less stress, no f*ing money anyway, but what is the point of getting allot of junk nobody wants.

With Gas and Food going up gift giving becomes a thing of the past.

what they don't say, is what part of the economy. Liars and thieves. Now America will know that conservatism today is nothing more than an over- bloated myth, so were their charges against liberals.

While my wife and I have no debts (we do everything in cash), and are currently healthy (crappy medical insurance), the missus and I decided that christmas wasn't about buying crap. We decided to save our money for the recession.

We have people in the state (WA) that have lost homes in the last week, and rather than buying crap, the wife and I decided to show christmas spirit by giving to the 30,000 or so that are newly homeless on the coast. Food and clothing is desperately needed.

Maybe when we have kids we will buy crap, but until then, we can ponder the meaning of Yule, christmas, and the difference between the two.

its not about crap gifts, lead poisoned toys, it is supposed to be about humanity for god sakes.

We quit the gift giving 10 years ago and couldnt be happier with the holiday.

All should try it.

and I got the impression people are really angry
I was at Target and the checker and I got talking about kids toys

She made a excellent point the toys this year are so cheaply and poorly made and she said toxic

Its sickening

I mean we are suppose to go buy toxic toys for our kids

and the government should have protected our children

but didn't
Got to say Mattel did pull its crap off the shelves

but like she said
We all know there is more toxic crap out there

Its terrible and she was really ticked about it
and as a result we won't be buying that crap

I'm giving money

I did go to a sale at Penney's and I was shocked at how few people were there I had no wait on a Sunday night ... I know its bad and there was LOTS of merchandise left

Penneys is your middle incomers and they are hurting so bad

but I bake every year. Mostly breads but everyone seems to appreciate having them around for munchies during the busy holidays. This year I got probably a hundred or more persimmons FREE (76 cents each at the store) so persimmon bread and persimmon cookies will be part of the fare this year. I bought myself, my husband and my best friend tickets to go see Rene Fleming in concert next Monday. Other than that, we'll be volunteering at the Poverello House (an organization that serves hot food and sack lunches to the poor) again this year Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

And I hadn't been looking forward to a repeat of my winter holiday evening commute--traffic would slow to a crawl as I approached the local shopping mall. But since this Thanksgiving, I've been whizzing past the mall as I have since July. And it's a high-end mall--Nordstrom, Nieman And Marcus, AND Bloomingdale's, dahling!

:headbang:
rocknation