Finding the Cloud Amongst The Silver Lining

[Kathianne]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081130/..._shopping#full


All sales up from last year, which were up strongly from the year before:

Holiday season off to a modest start

By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO, AP Retail Writer
11 mins ago
NEW YORK – Deep discounts on everything from sweaters to TVs drove shoppers out of hibernation for the Thanksgiving weekend, but the buying was tempered and sales for the traditional start of the holiday season appear at best in line with stores' low expectations.

The sales receipts, however, came at the expense of profits, and merchants are facing a big challenge exciting financially strapped shoppers for the rest of the season that's expected to be the weakest in decades.

The nation's retailers — who since mid-September have suffered from the most dramatic falloff in spending in decades amid a ballooning financial crisis — opened their stores as early as midnight on Thursday, holding their breath wondering if shoppers would show up for the pre-dawn specials. But while the crowds did come out, analysts say they were thinner than last year, and according to some accounts, business fell off sharply for the remainder of the weekend.

Shoppers were also focused on bargains and smaller-ticket, practical items like blenders and video games, as they worry about layoffs, tightening credit and shrinking retirement funds.

Even online spending, once a bright spot in retailing, has been hit hard by economic woes in recent months. ComScore, an Internet research company, reported Sunday that online spending was up a modest 2 percent for the combined Thanksgiving Day and Friday, compared with the year-ago period.
"I've cut my budget in half. I usually have a spending limit of $50 per person, but this year, it's $25," said Laura Bentley, of Miami, who was at the local Dolphin Mall on Saturday, her first day of holiday shopping....

[Sitarro]

It's amazing. These same people who have been serving up story after story of economic doom, are surprised that America isn't rushing out to break sales records that were built by people spending beyond their means for the last number of years. And we are suppose to trust them with reporting of the news?

[Binky]

When hours have been drastically cut at work places, making for smaller paychecks, and possibly layoffs, common sense dictates that the sales are going to be much lower than normal. This is not going to be one of their "record breaking" sales periods. No money means no spending. And no spending means very low sales. Duh!

[avatar4321]

Honestly, Im not sure people have enough sense to stop shopping...