Exactly, Let’s find some segment where the sales are up, but is that in merchandise count or in dollar value? I would wager they had to keep running the numbers to find that Jewelry and kids clothing, bought at rock bottom profit in dollars and not in margin is supposed to save the day?
The media will never report the real numbers that are going to be that this season was a profit margin loser. I drive by several “Big Box” stores daily and the parking lots have been no better than a regular days capacity which is very low.
My wife went to Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve and no problem parking where she normally would, and that was the same for the entire season. She went to a mall yesterday and again, the same thing. I told her that nobody got any crap they had to take back.
I do remember when one had to play musical parking spaces and even getting close to a mall was an achievement.
I agree; my wife and I were in a mall in northern NJ this past Saturday (for an Apple emergency - no way we would have been there otherwise), and I was pleasantly surprised that the lot really wasn’t any different than other Saturdays (this mall gets a lot of NYC shoppers).
I think another thing that must transform Christmas shopping is gift cards; these are increasingly being given to children as well as adults (because it is so hard to keep track of which books/games/clothing children have or want), and they would all be used afterwards.
A friend asked if I thought less people were decorating their homes for Christmas; I agreed, and pointed out that the increased number of Asians (from the subcontinent) probably played a role in that. Not only are these people not Christian, but they are frugal as well.