This proves Mervyn's understands economics, not Christmas.
Mervyn's is a Target subsidiary (at least it was a couple of years ago).
I was in a Target yesterday, and I gotta say I think the banning of the bell-ringers is a mistake from a strict dollars-and-cents point of view. Even absent the effect of any boycott, without the bell ringers, you did not get the feeling that it is Christmastime at Target. I am sure their in-store signage was changed, but who notices something like that. After years of shopping at Target, I stopped noticing their in-store signage years ago.
But here's the thing, I spend money like a drunken sailor at Christmastime, but I'm tighter than a tick the other eleven months of the year. At Target yesterday, I was feeling like it was July, and didn't spend much. Usually, when I walk by those bell ringers on the way in, I'm throwing stuff in the cart as soon as I'm in the door.
But maybe that's just me...