[Prince]

I've seen several reports that say holiday spending will once again out-perform last year's numbers. (By the way, don't they say that every year? Anyway...)

From personal experience, I will say that this is hands-down the lowest I've spent during the holiday season since I was a poor high school student 12 years ago. I went to the mall last weekend to get a few small things (socks, tie). I also went to Target and Wal-Mart to get some groceries and house supplies. Typically, these places are crazy on the weekends this time of year, but they were surprisingly calm. I called my sister who lives in Seattle and she said she's noticed the same in her local malls and shopping centers. Granted, these aren't scientific studies, but I'm wondering what others are seeing. One could argue that shopping sales are skewed now since more people do their purchases online.

Compared to years past, are your holiday spending habits down this year, and have you noticed quieter crowds in the stores?

[mekrob]

I can't compare to last year since I'm new to the area, but the mall near where I live was pretty damn packed this past weekend, despite the weather. I live in a fairly rich area, the Research Triangle, which has one of the highest number of Ph.D.'s per capita in the US, so there is plenty of wealth here. I wouldn't expect there to be much decrease.

[quote]From personal experience, I will say that this is hands-down the lowest I've spent during the holiday season since I was a poor high school student 12 years ago. /quote]

Geez, I hope it's the same for me. I haven't even started.

[dinopello]

Packed to the gills with people carrying huge loads. I'm not kidding. Went to Home Cheapo to get a new garbage disposal and had to leave cause I couldn't deal. They actually said "Thank you for shopping at Ho Ho Ho-me Depot...".

[I_Like_Plants]

This is a real pudunk town, with some fairly moneyed retirees. So the Safeway is busy, and the Alco - an Alco's a sort of low-budget K-mart for podunk towns. Tons of the locals going in'n'out of Alco when I was there a couple of days ago. Locals tend to be very scruffy and definately not moneyed.

But looks can be decieving, for instance when I go to mcDonald's now it's for the dollar menu items, which I get one of. And water. There may be the same number of people in there, but they may be spending a lot less.

A whole lot of stores are staying open rediculously late in hopes of making more sales, and some of them will be open 24 hours Xmas eve. They're hurtin.

[Denny]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', '
')A whole lot of stores are staying open rediculously late in hopes of making more sales, and some of them will be open 24 hours Xmas eve. They're hurtin.

[I_Like_Plants]

I don't know how that all works - this is a fairly religious, family-oriented place, and I can't see a large percentage of people being willing to work on Xmas Eve - unless they are REALLY broke and REALLY hard up.

There may be a fair proportion who are REALLY broke and REALLY hard up though.....

Not sure.... just not sure.....

I have to get out there and hustle myself, been feeling a bit off the last couple of days but enough of that, I need to start buzzing around local places, drawing faces for what tips I can get. It's the one ace in the hole I have, it's weird, if I tried "busking" with the guitar I'd run into a million folks who think they can play better than me, and CAN too. But get a cartoony nose right and it's fuckin' magic.

[peaker_2005]

I'm in Australia, but anyway... It came up on the news that they expect people to spend LESS this year... At least here in Sydney.

People are hurtin' alright. The shopping centres definitely seem quieter here.

Trading hours here are less "nuts" than last year (where several Westfield centres opened for 24hours+ straight near the deadline).

[bonehead]

The nearest mega-mall to me was crazy last saturday,according to my wife,who went there to get her hair done.She wanted to do some shopping but got too stressed over all the hubbub.Speaking for myself,what little shopping i did was online.I actually factor in distance now when i want to buy something.A symptom of this site i think.

[RedStateGreen]

I haven't been to the malls yet. I went to Wal-Mart a few days ago and there weren't many people there.

I've done almost all of my shopping online this year.

[JJ]

we missed our projections by 10% last week...they have them all ramped up for this week, but its started off slow...

brother-in-law from Pagosa Springs, Co. came down here for vacation (thats a laugh, coming to Burnet, Tx. for a vacation) and said they depend on the snow for the tourists; said things have slowed down there a little...went to Wallyworld to get some crap the other day and there was noone there...

[greenworm]

I'm close to a Walmart and it seems just a little less busy then last year everytime I drive by. What's the deal with Sears? Everytime I've gone in there, I count maybe five people. How do they keep going? That place is always a graveyard.

[uNkNowN ElEmEnt]

I was at Mal-wart today and man, it was completely nuts. The tills had lines of 5 or 6 and there was only one that wasn't operational. It was a complete zoo!

[setag]

I estimate shopping to be just about the same as last year in my area.

[Opies]

West Edmonton Mall is a bloody gong show. If you go in there without a map, a rope, and maybe a gun or two, don't be expecting to come out alive.

[jato]

I went to Fashion Valley in San Diego on Friday. All of the parking spaces were full. People were parking in the dirt (and that was full). A small army of security directed traffic in the parking lot. I drove around for 20 minutes looking for a spot to park. People were all over the place. Most of them were carrying packages.

[Barbara]

Two weeks ago, at the big mall near my house there were sixty thousand people in just one afternoon. They had to close the street to force cars to u-turn.
Unbelievable...

[kadoomsoon]

Memries,
Like the corners of my mind
Shopping mall encrusted memories
Of the way we were

Scattered pictures,
Of the oil we left behind
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were

Can it be that it was all so simple then?
Now that oil has done declined?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me, would we? could we? should we?

Memries, may be beautiful and yet
Prices painful to remember
We simply choose to forget

So its the laughter
We will remember
Whenever we remember...

The way we were...
The way we were...

[WisJim]

I had to go to a couple of local stores and drove by the places that I had expected to be busy, and the lots were half full. The stores that I did go in looked more like a regular evening or afternoon in mid-winter instead of a few days before Christmas. Lots of stuff and sale, and lots of employees standing around trying to look busy. Had to go to a big box home improvement place, too, and I was surprised at the lack of customers.

[Nicholai]

The mall was packed full of lemmings, just like every other Xmas.

This year I spent 40$ on gifts. A box of chocolates for my family.

[Ferretlover]

I live about 20 minutes (when the roads are clear) of the Mall of America-a place I haven't been to all year.
In this town, in past years, it would have been bumper to bumper the week before christmas. But, I would guage the traffic to be normal, non-holiday traffic. There is plenty of parking in all the lots; have noticed that the grocery store traffic is down quite a bit....