" 'Black Friday' tepid; Wal-Mart a winner" -CNN

[blonndee]

You guys who were saying it didn't go as well as "they" hoped, you were right on. Notice the reassuring spin at the end of this selected text:

NEW YORK (AP) -- The official holiday shopping season appears to have gotten off to a lukewarm start, according to results announced Saturday by a national research group that monitors retail sales. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. was one bright spot in the crowd, reporting its sales exceeded expectations.

According to ShopperTrak RCT Corp., which tracks total sales at more than 45,000 retail outlets, the overall sales on Friday were relatively unchanged compared to a year ago, despite heavier discounting and expanded hours that drew a surge of shoppers to stores in the early morning hours.

The Chicago-based research group reported total sales Friday at $8 billion, down 0.9 percent from a year ago.

"Although the Black Friday number is a bit flat, this may be misleading as we're comparing this to a very strong 2004 performance," said Michael P. Niemira, chief economist and director of research for the International Council of Shopping Centers, in a statement.

<SNIP>

more at http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/11/26/holiday.shopping.ap/index.html

[stepnw1f]

1. who gives a shit

Walmart does nothing for society at all. It is in fact a parisite on society.

[DainBramaged]

3. I whole-heartily fucking agree

We lost the manufacturing jobs here because the scum-fucks at Wal-Mart wanted to give US, you and me, US, the cheapest prices on the face of the bloody earth.

And what they gave us was a shit sandwich and destroy OUR family values like a great vacuum cleaner with their steam roller across America mentality.

They'll put a fucking big box store on every corner till we're the third world country making shit for some other emerging economy to buy.

And that's their fucking plan. They think they can take the wealth with them. But in the end, they and I will share the same dirt nap and dollars will mean shit.

[bahrbearian]

5. Yum, shit sandwich,,,hmmmm how much?

I've never eaten at Walmart.

[FloridaPat]

2. I thought 2004 was not a great year. Ran around the parking lots

at the malls today. Lots of empty spaces. And Walmart exceeding expectations - that could mean anything. They had a lousy year last year. I wonder what their real expectation were? Does that also include trampled customers and pepper spray in customers' faces?

[blonndee]

4. Yeah, I think the fact that WM supposedly "exceeded" expectations

might mean that people are doing so poorly that they can only afford WM and nowhere else. This BS "Black Friday" stuff is always a bunch of crazy crowds, but it did seem more violent and ugly this year. I bet a lot of that has to do with people struggling economically.

I find it strange that WM's success this weekend is such a big deal in the news--I wonder if they're pressuring the media or flooding them with releases in part because of their recent bad publicity.

[teryang]

9. "they can only afford WM and nowhere else"

You got it!

[Raine]

6. Yeah really

it's all dependent on their 'expectations' :rofl: maybe their expectations were really really low so it didn't take much to surpass em. ;-)

[DainBramaged]

10. All to save $22 on a laptop, stupid lemmings

What were these people thinking? Did We'reAllFucked Mart think that the publicity of their flock of sheeple crashing counters and fighting over a LAPTOP COMPUTER, which is SURE to get even cheaper next year from it's $400 everyday price would be good publicity?

I bet some poor schmuck at HP gets fired on Monday to satisfy the blood-lust of the Walton's. They'll blame him for not "making" them order more laptops to meet demand.

Just like stealin a pencil from Home Sleezepo.

[Dr Batsen D Belfry]

7. We are off about 40% from last year

good thing is is just for fun money and not a main source of income...

I'll know better when I do the end of year numbers, but I am guessing our average sale is off a few dollars and the total number of orders is off significantly.

I could tell when gas prices started going up our sales started going down.

DBDB

[kineneb]

8. observation of East Bay area

I had to drive down out of my hills to attend a memorial service in Berkeley on Friday. It seemed to me that the discount stores were doing OK, but for everyone else it seemed like just a moderately busy day. I went to Ikea to buy bookcases in the evening, and they were not particularly busy.

No, I was not doing any holiday shopping, unless office supplies and bookcases count. Now happily back in the hills, far from traffic.

(The bookcases are part of the continuing moving project...to get stuff out of the $ storage unit, I need to get the books in the workshop into the house, so I can move more stuff into the workshop...life has been like one of those little square puzzles with one piece missing...I am still trying to get the numbers in order..)

[Erika]

11. Right wingers put out a boycott on Walmart

for saying "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Xmas".

Looks like it didn't work. For the average working class, their disposable income is way down. With gas prices, heating expenses, and increase in health care costs, the money just isn't there.

Look for the high priced stores and goods to do good again as W continues to favor their income level.