Taking a slight break from Christmas shopping...

[WCGreen]

I live in an affluent part of the Cleveland area...

Consumerism run rampant, some might say...

Ostentatious to the o...

We went out to pick up a few things and stopped by COSTCO and Best Buy, both before 8:00 on a friday, three days before Christmas...

I've seen busier days, even the Red Robbin and the Applebees has spaces where there really shouldn't have been any on a Friday this close to Christmas...

And the kids are out of school...

They say retail sales are down even though consumer spending supposedly jumped in November...

People buying stuff is suppose to account for 72% of GDP...

Maybe people are using their computers to shop...

I don't know...

It just looks like we may have leveled off in the Orgy of consumerism that is eating away at the core of folks...

Maybe it's just that people have finally said enough and have scaled back...

it's now almost ten and we are heading up to Macy's and Sears to find some clothes for Mrs. WCGreen...

[CyberPieHole]

1. Cleveland has an "affluent" area?

:evilgrin:

:hide:

[WCGreen]

2. Not the city....

The exburbs....

[CyberPieHole]

3. I was j/k, WCGreen...

didn't mean anything by it.:hi:

[WCGreen]

6. I know....

There are only a few nice places to shop in Cleveland proper...

But we supposedly have, in the area, 36 sqft of store, way above the average of, I believe, 24 sqft...

Way too many stores for the people we have living here...

And they keep building more and more...

[Kat45]

4. I've been working at Macy's for the holidays

We've been quite busy, but everyone is buying the items that are on sale, the bigger the discount, the more they are buying. They all come armed with their Macy's coupons and will ask me if they will have a better deal using the 15% off or the $10.00 off coupon. They get upset when the coupon doesn't apply to the particular item they are purchasing. People decide not to purchase the item if the discount doesn't apply. From what I've seen, people are buying but they're looking for the best deal. I was working in accessories the other day, and our best selling item was a scarf made in Italy on sale for 10 bucks.

[WCGreen]

5. I just got back from Macy's..

I asked the clerk in accessories and she said it was steady but nothing spectacular...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. I've been in a couple of malls...

They've got a fair amount of foot traffic, but not as much as in prior years...

People are worried about their jobs and mortgages, I think...

[WCGreen]

8. It doesn't explain the supposed jump in consumer spending...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. Hey, you're the economist...

I can't explain it....

:shrug: