That you saw people going through a fast food drive through in Escalades and Lexuses (Lexii?) is one indication. They’re cutting back. The local “McCafe” in my suburban/exurban area of the county is booming, the busiest place for miles around, on a Saturday night. It’s surrounded by newish, $500K+ houses, in a state where that’s still a whole lot of house. The better places are extremely easy to get into, and are beginning to look a little empty, when they should be busy. This downscaling will continue.
Wal-Mart and Target will do OK as a whole, people in general will still have to buy basic things, and will scrape and save if they have to, for the occasional “splurge.” It’s just the price of that splurge that will diminish, and continue to do so. It’s the Macys and the Nordstroms that you need to worry about. The Macys nearest me, an unusual, freestanding one, has shortened its hours and does not even leave the exterior lights on at night anymore.
One example of extremes due to the depression would be Asheville, NC. That town was going through boom times right up to the late twenties, with lavish summer homes and stunning buildings going up left and right in the downtown area. Art Deco galore, beautifully restored by now. But, the reason that it was still there, unmolested all these years, is that Asheville collapsed, with many of these palatial buildings boarded up or taken over by the federal government. The Grove Arcade, for one, was home to an agency dealing with climatological data, right up until fairly recently. Look for situations such as this in other, former boomtowns.
But, you’ve got to remember that, as dire as unemployment was during the Great Depression, 75% of the people continued to be employed. Some even prospered. If we are to experience such a deep downturn again, this will likely still be the case.
They just built a brand new Micky Ds here on Wade Hampton, Greenville, SC. It looks like a shrine to fast food.
At that time they didn't count farm and ranch people that were forced to try to find a job due to the drought. Also older teens were not counted and many had to work to help out the family or leave home so the rest of the family could eat.
I once worked for a man that had a job in construction during the depression. He said every day around 50 men would gather outside the fence where they were working. The men knew there were no openings, they were gathering there so they would be there for a job if someone got fired or hurt. The man told me you have no idea how hard you will work and what a good job you will do if you know there are people waiting for your job.
I just heard or read in the last few days that McDonald’s had a profitable quarter. Their final numbers aren’t up on Yahoo Finance, though. I just looked. Numbers this year didn’t look bad, all things considering.