[Star Traveler]

Ummmm..., I’m sure I’ve been reading on these FReeper threads that this “economic disaster” really isn’t a disaster at all — because they say that the holiday sales have been *great* and people were shopping like crazy...

Why would the article call this a “dismal holiday shopping season” if holiday sales have been so great??

[kaylar]

I wonder if they saw packed malls and ASSumed there were shoppers, without noticing that the amount of bags the mall walkers were carrying were few or none, or at least fewer than previous years?

I can tell you I hit one of the biggest malls in the KC metro area the first weekend in December, and it was NOT packed, but pretty sparsely populated-quite a few empty stores, too. I also was at a huge mall in the Chicago metro area the first weekend of November (possibly too early for Christmas shopping) and it was a Dead Zone. There was hardly anyone else in the mall-seriously.

[Clemenza]

I love your sarcasm. The truth is, folks were looking, but bought less, and what they did buy was heavily discounted. Not much post-Xmas traffic either.

Yes, I did see alot of folks browsing this year, but they weren't going big ticket as in the past.