Doom from the [Insert Evil Giant Retailer] trenches

[Randwulf]

My son works at the largest [Insert Evil Giant Retailer] superstore in our area. Its in the largest metropolis in the northern half of our state.

He told me yesterday that sales for Dec were -65%.

Credit card purchases are 2% of normal. Almost all sales are cash.

On the bright side, Toy department sales are up 700% (Of course.)

I had thought that our part of the country had avoided the worst of the depression. We never had the real estate bubble and don't have any large manufacturing (Except GM) that are closing.

Guess not. 

[teotwawkian]

You ain't seen nothing yet. The tidal wave is getting bigger and bigger. Commercial Real Estate defaults are climbing exponentially on top of accelerating residential defaults. Access to credit (i.e. borrowing from banks, credit cards) is about to be turned off like a rusty old faucet.

[hillwalker]

My son works at the largest [Insert Evil Giant Retailer] superstore in our area. Its in the largest metropolis in the northern half of our state.

He told me yesterday that sales for Dec were -65%.

Credit card purchases are 2% of normal. Almost all sales are cash.

On the bright side, Toy department sales are up 700% (Of course.)

I had thought that our part of the country had avoided the worst of the depression. We never had the real estate bubble and don't have any large manufacturing (Except GM) that are closing.

Guess not. 

I don't understand.

Dec sales are down -65%? Well, last I checked, it's only the 8th of december, got a few more days to go yet.

Down -65% compared to what? last december? last december 8th? I don't get it.

Also how is toy sales up 700%? This means for every toy they sold in december last year, they sold 7 toys this
year? And it's only the 8th?

I just don't get it.

[Hobo Vigor]

The local Wally has many stacks of specials left over from Black Friday.

[mtlouie]

Credit card sales are TWO PERCENT of normal??!!  If that is an actual statistic, that's all we need to know about this economy.  This economy was TOTALLY built on credit card sales.  TOTALLY.

This entire economy is about nothing but credit, and the biggest bulk of the illusionary support comes from retail credit.  F.U.C.K.E.D. 

[perdition79]

My son works at the largest [Insert Evil Giant Retailer] superstore in our area. Its in the largest metropolis in the northern half of our state.

He told me yesterday that sales for Dec were -65%.

Credit card purchases are 2% of normal. Almost all sales are cash.

On the bright side, Toy department sales are up 700% (Of course.)

I've been saying it all year to my family and friends: this Christmas will be for the kids, and it will be the last one they get to enjoy. Everyone is under orders not to get me a thing for the holidays, even a card. When the "Well what do you need?" comes out, the response is "buy a bag of socks and a bag of underwear for your kids and don't worry about me". I got most of my family thinking this way, and none of the adults are doing secret Santa this year.

My indicator this year isn't sales figures, it's empty parking lots. Thanksgiving weekend at the nearby mall looked like an average Wednesday morning. I purposely re-routed around the area, expecting traffic but saw none. I usually cut behind the loading docks of shopping centers to avoid the streets, and the nearby Target usually has four shipping containers behind the store, full of excess inventory. This year, none. Regular deliveries are still once every three days, and they actually cut a few Bosnian girls loose after the "big weekend".

This ship is sinking fast.

[booklvr777]

Anecdotal evidence from my neck of the woods, southern MD; been out shopping/doing errands a few times since Black Friday and stores are not the least bit crowded.  Particularly, the grocery stores have been all but empty--the butcher even remarked how slow it has been since Thanksgiving--there was a crowd at Toys R Us on Black Friday, but we went this weekend and they were slow, slow, slow.  We bought gifts for the grandkids only and are trying to make it a nice Christmas for them because I'm not sure we'll have any type of "normal" holidays again.  There won't be as many gifts as usual this year, but we put up the tree and we'll have some little treats and a nice Christmas dinner, but this year is very much scaled back at our house and it looks like it is most places around.
OH, and another thing I noticed as we were out and about on Sunday, hardly anyone has their Christmas lights up.  There are several areas in the nearby town where all the shopping is (the little town we live in doesn't even have a grocery store anymore!) where people used to decorate insanely (those McMansion type of housing developments) and I didn't see one single house lit up in those areas where last year it was a winter wonderland extravaganza. 

[Bill Hicks]

My anecdote doesn't involve shopping but travelling.  My in-laws live in New York State not far from NYC, which reqiuires the wife and I to drive up the I-95 corridor from Virginia.  For Thanksgiving, we try to make it slightly less painful by leaving early Thanksgiving morning rather than Wednesday afternoon/evening.  Even so there are usually numerous delays, especially at the toll booths.

This year it was smooth sailing...70 all the way with no backups whatsoever. 

[pamela]

My son works at the largest [Insert Evil Giant Retailer] superstore in our area. Its in the largest metropolis in the northern half of our state.

He told me yesterday that sales for Dec were -65%.

Credit card purchases are 2% of normal. Almost all sales are cash.

On the bright side, Toy department sales are up 700% (Of course.)

I've been saying it all year to my family and friends: this Christmas will be for the kids, and it will be the last one they get to enjoy. Everyone is under orders not to get me a thing for the holidays, even a card. When the "Well what do you need?" comes out, the response is "buy a bag of socks and a bag of underwear for your kids and don't worry about me". I got most of my family thinking this way, and none of the adults are doing secret Santa this year.

My indicator this year isn't sales figures, it's empty parking lots. Thanksgiving weekend at the nearby mall looked like an average Wednesday morning. I purposely re-routed around the area, expecting traffic but saw none. I usually cut behind the loading docks of shopping centers to avoid the streets, and the nearby Target usually has four shipping containers behind the store, full of excess inventory. This year, none. Regular deliveries are still once every three days, and they actually cut a few Bosnian girls loose after the "big weekend".

This ship is sinking fast.

same here!  My husband bought a shotgun and that's our Christmas for us. I've told my girls to not get us anything! To save that money as cash and put it up somewhere. That would give me more peace of mind than any trinket they could possibly get me.
My grandson we're giving money to too.