more animals

Supporting the Economy. Or Not?

The ever loyal Hubby and I have been out and about lately negotiating over Christmas presents, window shopping and doing various and sundry errands. What has gotten my attention is the fact that in every single store except Wally World we shoppers have been vastly outnumbered by sales staff. This is despite predictions of lower staff hiring by retail chains in order to help boost the bottom line.

The other puzzler is the supposed 3% jump in retail sales on Black Friday. Hubby and I were out and around the evening of Black Friday, and the parking lot of the shopping center where we went was practically empty. Again, the stores we went into had plenty of staff, but almost no foot traffic. We haven't gone to the regional shopping mecca, locally known as Tysons Corner, & don't plan to anytime soon, but I wonder if the trend held there as well. The older kids, College Student and Anime Queen, wandered around our local mall & saw lots of people, but few of them had shopping bags. Hmm...

Which is it- Americans are finally putting away their credit cards one holiday season, having been temporarily frightened into spending less? Or are we carrying on business as usual, albeit more 'carefully'?





Images found on wikimedia and are of Tysons Corner and Tysons Galleria