“Crowds? I see nothing. I’m surprised,” retail worker Jeremy Pritchett told FOX 2. “Normally, it’s wrapped all the way around the building. Today: no one.”
That’s the typical ground report from areas all over the country. No one, literally almost no one, is doing any holiday shopping and the traditional Black Friday rush to get deals and discounts just didn’t happen. Financial media are scratching their puzzlers, perplexed with furrowed brows.
Interestingly, almost every financial media outlet is using the same Retail Federation talking point about anticipating an 8% increase in holiday sales this year. Apparently, pretenses must be maintained. Meanwhile, news crews and camera crews are having a desperate time finding any holiday shopping to use as background footage for the claims that sales are strong.
“Look, over there. There’s a person buying something. Oh, wait, no, that’s just an employee dusting the empty cash register.” At a certain point, one would have to believe reality would run head-first into the mass delusional pretending. Maybe this holiday season will be it, maybe not.
Reuters – […] About 166 million people were planning to shop from Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday through this coming “Cyber Monday,” according to the National Retail Federation, almost 8 million more than last year. But with sporadic rain in some parts of the country, stores were less busy than usual on Black Friday.
“Usually at this time of the year you struggle to find parking. This year, I haven’t had an issue getting a parking spot,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry adviser of the NPD Group Inc.
“It’s a lot of social shopping, everybody is only looking to get what they need. There is no sense of urgency,” Cohen added, based on his store checks in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia.
At the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there were no lines outside stores. A Toys ‘R’ Us employee was handing out flyers with a list of the Black Friday “door buster” promotions. (read more)
It’s almost Kafkaesque to see how the media are continuing to maintain economic pretenses, yet the reality of a completely collapsed consumer economy is physically staring them in the face.
(Bloomberg) – Activity Light at One San Francisco Mall (4:40 p.m.) – At the Stonestown mall in San Francisco, shoppers were few and far between. The Target and Zara stores were mostly empty, and there was no line for the mall’s Santa Claus. Uniqlo and Apple were the busiest locations, but they still weren’t crowded.
[…] Crowds were thin in the late morning at the Stamford Town Center mall. Kay Jeweler, empty. Safavieh, empty. Only a couple of people waited at the checkout line at Forever 21 and just a few were in line for a purchase at Barnes & Noble.
[…] At a Target store on Chicago’s North Side, the parking lot was barely half full at about 9 a.m. local time. Shoppers were greeted with $3 ornaments and discounted Christmas trees when entering, and the store seemed calm and relatively quiet.
[…] The Macy’s in Stamford, Connecticut, was neat and orderly — maybe a little too neat and orderly on a day associated with shopping chaos. The furniture section was nearly deserted, though there were more shoppers looking at shoes. (read more)
https://twitter.com/SteveInmanUIC/status/1596330507390046208
.
“It’s the rain”
What a load of crap
Yeap, it’s the rain, always the rain.
And a load of the other stuff, too.
The dark stores are coming. Everything will be done Online and shipped to your door. Monitoring everything you buy, and freezing your account if you buy too much. Refusing grocery purchases when they link to your medical records and deduce mint tea is far better for you than coffee, or that you purchased 4 new bath towels last year, so you don’t need any new ones this year.
Its coming! I believe Walmart will be the first to roll it out.
I might have posted this couple weeks, if so, it’s worth repeating. I was in the Home Depot Garden Center at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. Not only was there not any shoppers out there at all. There was not a single plant removed from any of the displays. Literally not one. That place used to be hustling on a Saturday. I took some great pictures. It was almost unbelievable. I live in Fort Lauderdale. In the middle of a metropolis of millions of people. Not one single plant sold on a Saturday. Think about it
Starfcker: are you saying you stood there all day and not one plant was taken from that display?
or if you just walked in at 3:30 and saw the display with no noticeable holes …
then
it’s possible some items has indeed sold earlier and someone had refreshed the display at say 3 pm, no?
Your conclusion that “not one single plant sold on a Saturday” doesn’t follow for me from what you described for us.
excellent point. i spent over thirty years in reail management and the motto was: “you can’t sell out of an empty basket”. still makes sense to me.
I considered that. That was on the way in. I was there for about 45 minutes. I walked out the same way. Still not one plant gone. Am I jumping to conclusions? Yes, no question. But it was pretty eye-opening.
As a gardener I know the reason I bought nothing from the fall displays. It’s not just the expense, though that’s certainly a factor – they are practically all annuals that will just need to be thrown into trash piles in a few weeks.
It’s one of the ultimate impulse purchases. People who are having trouble affording food know better.
And of course I am speaking from New England where we have a winter, and it’s pretty much too late to plant anything lasting now even if one can find a perennial on sale (I’ve seen them too…)
Plants are very expensive now , like everything else .
I was shocked by the prices at our local Home Depot .
fertilizer and time are both up so ofc the cost of plants is too
When my mom was alive, I would buy her plants from HD because they came with a one year warranty. Tending to her plants brought my mom joy. I am not sure they come with that warranty anymore, but it was one reason I purchased them from HD at the time.
In Dallas I had a few projects going and was in & out almost everyday over the last few weeks.
They were clearing out Lowes too – moved in Trsiler loads of Christmas stuff & getting ready to sell Christmas fresh trees
Lowes by us has crappy garden department any way, was able to p/u some poorly watered crotons for 50&75%off.
Store was all out busy with contractors everyday.
Lowes in my area actually has, sometimes, what I call their “hospital ward” – half-off plants that don’t look so good any more.
I troll those for long-lasting perennials and it’s sometimes surprising how well they do over the years later on, such as a normally expensive peony for $6, that sort of thing. A fun gamble.
I rarely indulge anymore, however, because my yard is full and I’m transitioning over to more food plants. Now my favorite thing is creating more flowering plants for myself or friends by harvesting “volunteers” that appear on their own.
Worst comes to worst I may start potting and selling iris for cash. 🤣
We just came off a pretty active real estate market where a significant amount of people decided cities weren’t for them. Having just bought their houses and in a high inflation era – the home improvement is going to have to wait!
Grapevine Mills Mall in suburban DFW was jam packed yesterday, full parking lot. But as I went inside I noticed the demographics of who was shopping. Almost all the black Friday shoppers I saw were Hispanic. I didn’t see many whites at all.
So Browns have taken over Black Friday? That’s just racist!
We Crackers are waiting for White Friday to do our shopping. ; )
again gov debit cards to illegals but not legal taxpayers
I ventured out Thursday to get a copy of the Baltimore Democrat Party Daily Newsletter (Baltimore Sun) for Black Friday ads.
Instead of fifty inserts there were about ten. I didn’t bother paying $5.50 for that.
Retailers know this year is a loser.
On Friday I went to Home Depot around 9. They usually have some good stuff that they don’t normally sell.
Absolutely nothing unusual.
Retailers know Joe Biden is a loser.
“ Baltimore Democrat Party Daily Newsletter”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That’s the unvarnished truth! I detest that deceitful rag.
I can’t take the credit. Sean Casey, Morning talk host on WCBM coined the term
I used to listen to the late Tom Marr who had a mid-morning show at WCBM.
But isn’t that the plan? Cut consumer spending to lower the demand for anything so that solar and wind can support the society?
End goal is we’re stuck in the Metaverse. There’s a reason Zuckerberg won’t let up despite crashing stocks. He knows something.
…so that solar and wind can support the society…
Just one little problem there, as I’m sure you know!
They can’t. Ever. Even with a far smaller society after most have been outright murdered.
Polaris Mall near Columbus was pretty busy, but more like it would be on a normal Friday with nice weather.
Buckeye store was busy, but checkout lines weren’t long for a Black Friday. And it was the game that did that.
Inside it did seem like most of the “shoppers” were just out hanging with their friends and looking around.
There were lots of people with bags, just not at Black Friday levels.
The parking lot was busy but nowhere near “full” like you would expect. No riding around and around for an empty spot.
not only that but…..mgoblue.
Gateway Pundit has just reported 9.12 BILLION dollars were spent on online shopping on Friday.
In a country of 330 million that’s a mere $28 per person. With inflation around 15-20% yoy, that’s $22 per person in 2020 numbers.
The numbers sound big until you do some math.
Maybe it’d be more meaningful to compare to the last ten years spending stats for the same day. Let’s see what pre-COVID Black Fridays looked like.
Exactly, GB.
330 million did not shop online.
Exactly right.
It will be interesting to see what was purchased. Is everyone getting pajamas, socks, and underwear for Christmas? That is what our poor family always got.
This year, as horrid as it has been for so many, I suspect there will be those very grateful for such essentials.
I have a picture which I keep on my phone of a little boy during the Depression. He is sitting on the rickety steps of an even ricketier house. His clothes are so tattered, and his shoes have soles just hanging on.
And in his arms he is hugging a brand new pair of shoes so tightly to his chest. His eyes are closed and his upturned face is a picture of pure joy…and gratitude. As if all his wishes had come true.
I never look at that photo that I don’t start weeping.
Gratitude does as much for the giver as it does the receiver, and is a gift in itself.
Just a passing thought…
Thank you, sweetie!
💕
Maybe that is what this country needs: gratitude for the little things.
I think it does, Dantes. If only people would realize that many times it is even the smallest things which sustain us… any act of kindness, a word perhaps said to someone who is at his lowest, a passing “good morning. I hope your day is going well.” But you know, I am certain, what I mean… all blessings to you for a season of deep gratitude and peace.
Thank you, Betsy. You remind me that it’s time for another trip to drop off lightly used and useful items at the Goodwill truck.
You know they will be so much appreciated by someone, steph.
I’m not mature enough to see that, Twitter says.
😊
Got the same message. Curious now.
Click on the player in Sundance’s post, it works fine inline.
Yup , me too with the maturity level , Val1 .
No can see .
Happy that I am Not the Only Immature Person Here 😜😄😊
Went to Costco in Camas,WA at noon today (Saturday) to pick up a prescription.
The parking lot was about 2/3 full of an average weekday crowd. On the weekends it’s usually packed.
Not to worry.
Our rulers, in the District of Corruption, will take up the slack with all the money they spend on themselves, the Defense Contractors, the Pentagon and their dear dictator Mister Freeze Zelensky..
I went out yesterday in a suburb in a suburb of Cleveland and also arguable a suburb of Akron. Granted, it wasn’t until 11 and I missed whatever there was in the early Black Friday crowd, but it wasn’t too busy. I went to some big box craft stores and Wal-Mart. I didn’t have to wait in line but 15 minutes at the longest.
It had been a while since I was out on a Black Friday due to work schedule and not really having anything I wanted to venture out for, but I was off and had an elderly relative who wanted me to drive her.
I seem to recall, and she agree, that in years past it wasn’t unusual to see people with two carts at the craft stores. There were several people yesterday who still had room in their sole cart.
Friday the retail parking lots were full at my midwestern purple state mid-sized city. Off ramp to shopping mall was backed up. Can’t speak about elsewhere, but I do not think the “ghost town” scenario holds true in Wisconsin.
Here in our little bustling old town of Fredericksburg, shops and restaurants were jammed. Lots of people with bags of purchases from the small shops. Maybe people in this area are being more particular this year in purchases, shying away from a big brass Christmas with Chinese crap from malls and box stores and buying more local and unique gifts. That would be a nice change, especially for our small businesses but the economy churns with mass purchases of gobs of mass produced and promoted stuff. Intersting times, indeed.
I am being choosy as well. I made a couple of purchases online from small businesses this weekend.
Today was small business Saturday. Verrry slow. Several shoppers mentioned they prefer supporting the local economy and one of a kind purchases. Rain and a game probably didn’t help either. Very cold tonight for the game goers.
My husband’s truck engine blew back in August. 2004 Ford F-250. We’ve had it most of its life, and knew we could not afford a “new” second hand truck. We also knew pretty much everything about our truck, so instead of buying a new-to-us truck, we spent $8,000 having a new engine put in.
$8,000 is a lot of moola for two retired people to spend, that’s for sure.
As an old person I have a lot of old stuff sitting around or packed away in boxes in the basement. Why? Why do I/old people save stuff they will never use again? Pack Rat(ish) I guess.
So I started selling my old stuff, which turns out is mostly “vintage” and “mid-century modern” and all the other buzz words that come from being a baby boomer. Groovy. So I went into high gear to clean our basement, get more storage for the apocalypse, and make cash to pay off the truck engine.
I’m selling on ebay. Some people say it’s a dead fish, but so far God has blessed us with around $5,000, so my husband went and bought a nice, quality solar array with all the bells and whistles.
Practically starting over again at $8,000, but that’s OK, I’ve got a lot of stuff to purge.
Another nice thing is seeing what appears to me to be people shopping for Christmas gifts. Shop from your seat, get it at your front door, wrap it and take it to Grandma’s for Christmas.
Congrats! I sold on eBay for 25 years, supplemented with my SS, made more on eBay! Unfortunately, now you will have to file income tax on all sales over $600 a year even for used personal items you have kept for years. Thanks to Biden so that he can continue to support Ukraine’s war!
And now all of my online purchases are adding in the state sales tax too
DeeH, i don’t think federal income tax applies to sale of your personal property. Assuming your sale is less than your cost, shd not bevtaxable, unless your greedy state has that in their income tax code.
The 1099 is for state and federal tax purposes. The government is viewing it as a business to get their cut, not a yard sale.
form 1099-K will be sent to anyone who received more than $600 in 2022, regardless of the number of transactions or what it is you sold. It goes to the IRS, too.
The gross income is reported and must be entered on Federal tax returns.
Record keeping is critical, for fees, postage, original cost (if you can prove it). You have to prove/list the deductible expenses.
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/understanding-your-form-1099-k
Yes. The CA intended destruction of the gig economy is now being nationalized by the Xiden Regime.
The eventual goal is to destroy all independent contractor business and make everyone a wage slave of a woke corporation.
Small-time musicians and artists tried to fight this in CA but there weren’t enough of them fighting it to matter.
I love Fredericksburg at Christmas 🎄 😍
We’ve cut way back on Christmas gifts this year. Bidenflation has eaten our cash flow to the bone. Can’t pay down credit cards when I need to use them for necessities. Dipping into savings near month end when the checking account nears bottom. I’m pretty sure this is what The Regime intends to happen. Insecure, fearful people are more easily herded.
The Regime can spin on a cactus!
Absolutely gorgeous weather in the upper Midwest.
No rain.
No clouds.
No storms.
No money.
No shopping.
Let’s go Brandon has depressed any enthusiasm to go out. Let alone to spend money when heating and lighting season approaches.
Let’s go Brandon, indeed.
Yeah, it was nice in Ohio too. I don’t recall hearing any talk from shoppers or workers about it having been crowded at the shops when they opened in the morning. Things didn’t look as chaotic as I remember from years past when stuff was strewn around and the staff just didn’t have a chance to straighten up.
I remember years ago seeing large groups of people lined up on very cold Black Fridays.
Had breakfast and lunch out yesterday. Did not have to wait at either place to be seated. Some larger parties had to wait at the local breakfast place, but it’s the kind of place I would expect to be crowded when a lot of people have the day off and family is in town. The national chain restaurant was not crowded at all and neither really were the other national chain restaurants on the same strip.
My son works in a restaurant next to the local mall. He said crowds are very light.
Increased taxation, increasing inflation…. tried and true Communist tactics to destroy a middle-class.
THERE MUST BE A HUGE INCREASE IN ONLINE SHOPPING??? IF NOT THIS WOULD NOT BE GOOD.
Why would anyone use time and gas to go to a store/mall when they can order online from the comfort of their home and have everything delivered to them?
Why indeed?
It’s like the convenience of the endless device use, the mail-in voting, the working@home (a huge siren call to me for years!), the Zoom fake interaction…
It’s a siren call with a dark underbelly, which is the intended destruction of human interaction in the long run.
I’m sure many have seen that iconic meme of the young woman cowering in the corner of a horrible little room wearing a headset for virtual reality.
It’s so much larger than convenience…
That’s why the buy small and local thing is so important.
I like to see and feel the stuff I am buying to determine the quality, the true color, how a dress or blouse hangs on my body, how thick are the towels, etc. I also abhor getting something online and then returning it before the deadline date runs out while it adds more clutter around the house. I often never get around to returning the small stuff.
I often wonder about the massive generation of waste from online buying – including cardboard boxes, MORE AND MORE plastic that can’t be recycled from envelopes,packing material, etc. And those costs are doubled when items have to be returned.
I do some online shopping and it is becoming more and more necessary as stores don’t carry all the many varieties of items.
Not to mention the sales started last week. It isn’t truly Black Friday anymore because the stores have had various sales for the last month. It seemed there weren’t major door busters this year. Sales were a dud when I looked around at places like slickdeals and hip2save.
I do 100% of my shopping online. I think a lot of other people do too.
Most all retailers had the black Friday sale items available to purchase online. Costco and Sam’s club in upstate SC were packed all week. Ì bought a couple items at each, but bought everything else on line. I buy most everything on line.
Yup. And Bezos gained more money and more influence.
Shop local.
Cut back on National.
Help your neighbor.
Pray.
I do too, but I’m in a rural area and have to drive an hour to DFW or Oklahoma City. It’s not worth the time, gas or aggravation.
I agree it’s not worth it when gas purchase is a factor. Where I live I can walk to some local stores, and I do. I count that as lucky. I understand that the distances are far vaster elsewhere.
When buying online the trick is, if at all possible, to avoid supporting the worst of the woke retailers. Not always easy or possible but worth a try…
i heard on the radio that online sales yesterday broke a record.i think the destruction of the brick and mortars is going according to the green new deal plan.
So many of the brick and mortar stores have the same imported from Asia crap. There is nothing to distinguish Macy’s from Walmart anymore. Online is the only place I can find the specific items I want, so I also made a couple online purchases this weekend.
I have been doing some honey-do list items. Needed to rebuild my garage door hardware and change out some light fixtures. Handy man items. I had bought most parts online because some stuff is just not available local, like the hinge kit for the door. Changed out a carburetor on my leaf vac, $18 online and $75 local. While buying garage door stuff, I found some garage lighting I needed and stocked up on light bulbs. I always check local, and sometimes I buy local.
Most of the best stuff is now just online. The stores don’t stock a whole lot of anything for black Friday anymore. And every year it’s the same stuff. Vacuums and a few toys.
When the mainstream media and the government ignore a recession, this is what happens. Should be interesting going forward. We are usually big Black Friday shoppers, I’ve been getting last year’s merchandise since August and finished very early. Thankful I could pull it off over a long period, even grabbed a prime rib in October. Glad I knew what was coming, and this year will be similar to others, next year a crap shoot.
Was by the Leesburg Outlet Mall in northern Virginia on Black Friday afternoon. The parking lot was packed with cars backed up at the entrance. The Home Depot (my destination) across the street was being used for overflow parking. Of course this is northern Virginia where the DC money flows while most of country is facing financial stress.
Off topic. And wrong thread…
Does my increased property tax, increased sales tax, increased home owner’s insurance, increased auto insurance offset the 599$ allowance the IRS forgives?
What amount can I pay my CPA to to keep me out of prison? My Mrs. says she needs me to keep our household operational.
“But with sporadic rain in some parts of the country, stores were less busy than usual on Black Friday.”
They really disgust me so much. Anything, anything at all is OK for context when it suits them. This respected news service just said, literally, that it rained a bit in some parts of America and so some people did not go shopping.
Well I guess that is likely an iincontrovertible fact. It is not fake news. The scale of course is an utter lie, but they ignored that, this “positive smear” of explaining why shopping did not occur seems to be a satisfactory explanation, to them.
How do they live with themselves?? It is really terrible for everyone for them to be that intellectually dishonest. Narcopaths all.
Yeah, that is a load of bull hockey from the media. For years, people would camp out days ahead of time to grab a Best Buy doorbuster regardless of weather. I do not know one person who got up early to shop on Black Friday this year. We used to be Black Friday shoppers when our kids were little, but that was also before online shopping too.
The media is fueled by lies. Everything is a lie. I trust absolutely nothing said by any of the media experts or data providers, including the government agencies..
There was a time in our nation when lying in the media was punished severely. Now lying is rewarded. You build street-cred by lying.
No doubt this Christmas will be the best ever, just ask Fox News.
I believe we should all flood the twitter accounts of almost every network news person and make their twitter lives miserable. They are stupid, useless, gutless Tools.
The lies re Black Friday will be minor compared to about the 2nd week of January when retailers will be giving junk away. Of course by then no one will have any money anyway after paying for food, gas and to heat their home. Large blocks of unemployed people won’t be buying anything they can do without.
Lying by Pravda media has exploded ever since the Obammunist got a bill passed to legalize government propaganda.
I still don’t know which treeper posted this a while back, but I copied and have kept it ever since:
2012 – Modernization of the Smith-Mundt Act (HR 5736). Obammunist ended ban on domestic propaganda.
congress.gov/bill/112thcongress/house-bill/5736
before and after:
scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1203&context=nulr
HR 5181 introduced by Lieu and Kinzinger in the 2017 NDAA provided cover and removed accountability under the guise of national defense. Forming a so called ministry of truth against foreign interference, it’s been leveraged for leftist propaganda. We’ve been under assault for quite some time.
That’s the first thing the new House should address. Get the dems and RINO’s on record of just fine with our government continuing to lie to us.
And the online sales broke records…smh
There were plenty of Black Friday sales that started earlier in November, instead of waiting until the day after Thanksgiving.
Well if you can take a month to vote, why not take a month to shop?
Every day under this regime already seems like a month anyway.
Of course, they did everything costs more! Really very simple, many more sales records will be broken too.
Yep, and record sales tax on those impressive numbers too. All part of the plan.
No report, didn’t spend a nickel, don’t have a nickel to spend. Thieves cleaned out my coin bag on Nov 8 in CA so literally don’t have a nickel. However, I am glad I moved to a state with no sales tax and away from that s-hole.
Merry Christmas and thanks for the cutting analysis; spot-on.
I think of you often Dunes and say a little prayer.
WTF?
Why would anyone expect crowds?
I quit buying when the stores stopped stocking anything except Chinese made crap. It’s a waste of time and money.
The only things that I buy anymore are absolute necessities.
What about Birthday and Xmas presents?
Easy. Silver Eagles, Maple leafs and Liberdads. (https://www.jmbullion.com). They won’t fall apart in a month, no sales tax, very well could increase in value and I don’t even have to leave the house.
If the stores don’t want to stock anything of quality anymore, then it’s fine with me if they go belly-up.
well….these are the same people who kill their own unborn children and think trump urinated on a bed in moscow so it’s not a stretch for me to see them hype a non-event for the purpose of making themselves look relevant in todays new world order.
but that’s just me.
Ah…almost makes you miss the days of masses of shoppers breaking doors down and stampeding in, trampling and killing slower beings as they enter, only to resort to combat kung fu fighting to get that last remaining cabbage patch doll,,,yes, those were the days!!
LOL….lived through the Cabbage doll wars!
That was a brutal time 😆
I Lived Through Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Spent A Freezing Morning Waiting For A Delivery Truck To Get “April” .
So did I, but fortunately didn’t participate.
“Sporadic rain?” Seriously? That’s the best the MSM can come up with? Cause it normally doesn’t rain in November? Wonder how Cramer and the rest of the zealots at MSNBC are gonna spin this disaster on Monday
Retired Magistrate here: Went to Michael’s Craft store today to purchase some paint; hardly anyone was in the store. I asked the sales clerk how yesterday was and she said it was very slow yesterday morning and picked up in the afternoon.
Michael’s sales continued today with 60% off many items. It looks like the “sale” will continue until all the Christmas items are gone.
Big Lots is in trouble around here. Usually they have 20% off coupons maybe once or twice a year. This Fall they have had 20% off coupons and more about 5-6 times already. Usually Christmas items don’t go on sale until close to Christmas or after Christmas. Not this year. Christmas items are already on sale. I went in to see what they had; not many shoppers.
Don’t know how the high end stores are doing because I don’t shop there. I buy most of our clothes at thrift shops along with other items. During the last recession, Delaware County, Ohio seemed to be fairly recession proof. Maybe not this time.
I can report that the center of the leftist 1% globalist universe in blueMA, the town of Concord, was thronged with shoppers when I drove through mid-day Friday en route to the hospital.
Very expensive little woke shops abound there. Also some hanging-on better local businesses. I patronize them when I can. It was easy to sort out which ones were good during COVID-1984 – they were the ones that didn’t require muzzles. I have not forgotten
Maybe they should try the grocery store for people Christmas shopping.
Someone buying a can of corn for Grandma. A can of peas for Grandpa.
A can of spam for Mom. A can of beans for Dad.
And a big package of bologna for the POTATUS.
This year instead of giving our adult children a nice golf shirt and a pretty sweater and gifts for their home we are giving them practical food gifts, such as maple syrup, coffee, cake and brownie mixes, ingredients for soup making, wine, chocolates, delicious hams, homemade granola and cookies, etc. The grands will get clothing and one special fun, practical gift.
It will be a joyful Christmas, put together with care and love.
Ain’t nothing wrong with consumables.
All good, to make thing festive we will be wrapping each item in brown bags adorned with ribbon. We are also going to plant an Amaryllis bulb in a pretty pot that will hopefully bloom at Christmastime for all 3 families. In spring they will be able to plant the bulb in their gardens, for a summertime bloom.
Oh that’s NICE! 🙂 My grandma had amaryllis plants. She gave one to my mom & one to my aunt. I remember it blooming every year. 🙂
A tip: Make sure to get them out of the cheap little plastic pots they often come with and put them in something much larger and sturdier.
I love them, but until I made sure to do that, they always fell over and crashed dirt all over the floor – seriously topheavy!
My kind of gift!
I love getting gifts like that. They are thoughtful gifts.
I even gave out baskets like that I made for everyone one year. And smiled afterwards each time I would go to their homes later and see the empty basket somewhere still being used. I even saw one in a bathroom used as toilet tissue container, makeup holder, utensil caddy.
Good planning on your part.
I like the delicate looking narcissus in their special
pots. That and the new hybrid Christmas cacti with their spectacular blooms.
My grandma was a hell of a baker, but had little money. My Pop her son n law would by a bunch of baking supplies for grandma. I miss her divinity and pecan pie.
Ah, divinity, I remember humidity was a factor. Heavenly stuff.
My great Aunt Arline found a cheesecake recipe back in the Depression while traveling to California. I make is special for our friends and family at Christmas. Have added my skill making apple french tarts to it too. Still a family secret recipe.
My grandma was an incredible cook; she grew up on a farm in Indiana. You could look in the pantry and see almost nothing, but Grandma would make a super YUMMY dinner! 🙂
Traffic was light on the GrandStrand at Myrtle Beach today. I’m not sure what can be determined about purchases from traffic or shoppers spending. What’s going to tell the real story is how much of that spending is transacted with plastic.
Best Buy was running pre-Black Friday specials the wk before this. I bought a new laptop. Didn’t have to wait for a salesperson. I left it there with the Geek Squad to set it up. As usual, I was told I would probably have to wait 2 days for them to do their thing. Nope, they called that evening and said it was ready for pick-up.
I went the next day to get it, and for the first time ever I was the ONLY one in line at the tech support/Geek Squad.
Sportsmens warehouse in Carson city, nv was busy Friday p.m. This is my choice for ammo and camping supplies.
Go to where you can get the good stuff.
Obama as “Bad Santa.” Classic.
All that’s lacking is his bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag…
An all-time record 9.12 Billion was spent online. I haven’t been in a store other than grocery and hardware all year. Why go to a store? Traffic, loonys, parking issues, who needs it?
The Consumer Economy Has Completely Collapsed
Not exactly.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/shoppers-spent-record-9-12-billion-online-black-friday-amid-growing-inflation/
Main St consumer spending you must mean?
How are these number adjusted for inflation? Did people really buy more products or were they just more expensive?
You avoid the point….
Empty street retail shops vs bumper / record online does not equal a “Consumer Economy that has Completely Collapsed”….. however you cut it.
You are claiming it didn’t happen because “inflation” despite the $ numbers?
🙂
Sundance posted without all the information and screwed up.
it’s not the end of the world…we all do it.
But when the credit card bill comes due in January, the headline will read record US consumer debt.
OTOH there’s this:
Shoppers spent a record-breaking $9.12 billion online on Black Friday amid rising inflation, according to Adobe Analytics data.
The massive spending marked a 2.3 percent rise — especially in electronics.
“Items such as audio equipment, toys and exercise equipment also sold well, with sales of each up more than 200 percent from an average day last month,” The Hill reports.
“Adobe additionally found that consumers turned to flexible ways to make payments amid high inflation and rising prices. The number of buy-now, pay-later orders increased by 78 percent this week compared to last week, and revenue from those orders rose 81 percent in the same period,” the report continued. “The percentage of sales being done on mobile phones also reached a record high, with 48 percent of online sales coming from smartphones, according to Adobe.”
A representative of Abobe told The Hill that there are a lot of signs that shoppers are being more budget-conscious than normal.
“As Black Friday hit record spending online, we’re also seeing more prominent signs of a budget-conscious consumer this year,” said Adobe digital insights lead analyst Vivek Pandya. “Shoppers are embracing the Buy Now Pay Later payment method more this year to be able to buy desired gifts for family and friends.”
PlayStation 5, drones, and Apple’s MacBooks were all popular purchases this year.
“Adobe expects e-commerce activity to remain strong throughout the weekend, with consumers set to spend about $4.5 billion on Saturday and $5 billion on Sunday. Cyber Monday is expected to be the season’s and year’s biggest online shopping day, producing more than $11 billion in sales,” the report said.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/11/shoppers-spent-record-9-12-billion-online-black-friday-amid-growing-inflation/
A 2.3% rise means spending was down from last year when you factor in 9% or more inflation.
A record 9 Billion spent shopping online for Black Friday. I remember years ago in one of these disasters the Black Friday spending was pretty much it for the holiday season. After that, retailers were doing ‘Super Sale Saturdays’ to get people back into the stores to spend some more. There was heaps of clearance everywhere. To think this was all done on purpose. Evil bastards.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/26/black-friday-online-sales-top-9-billion-in-new-record.html
CNBC is reporting that ONLINE sale were up 2.3% year over year; 9 billion in new record, which makes sense due to the increase in the cost of products.
However, we all know that Black Friday has always been a crazy shopping day for all localities; online shopping has not over taken the local malls in past years. We know how prices are escalating and jobs are being eliminated. Not to mention the lower quality of all products on the market today.
I expect it to get much worse and the pain will be undeniable.
Wow! Just saw this article. I was out and about today in southwest Allegheny County, PA, and I commented to my wife how little traffic there was, even lighter than a regular non-holiday season Saturday. And today’s weather was beautiful! The Christmas light display at Home Depot was fully stocked. Usually the Saturday after Thanksgiving it looks like locusts devoured all the stock!
Hunker down! Storm is here!
I went Lowe’s yesterday. The store was pretty full, like a spring weekend with pretty weather. There were people milling about among the Black Friday stuff. When I went to check out with my little bit of electrical supplies, there was no line at the registers. There are always lines at my Lowe’s because they don’t have enough of them and the clerks are slow. Not yesterday. We headed over to the deep discount place to get some “Good Stuff, Cheap!” same thing. Lots of people milling about but not many in the checkout line. Did not check Walmart as I value my sanity.
Part of “Ollie’s Army”, are ya? 🙂
This is the first “Black Friday” since it became a thing that I didn’t even look to see what was offered. I refuse to contribute to big box stores beyond what I cannot avoid. Paid more for shingles for my roofing materials at a local hardware store and did a little “shop small” stuff today. Screw the woke big box corporations, and their share holders.
The lines and fights for stuff will eventually be at gas stations and heating oil dealers……..and grocery stores.
Was raised where Christmas meant one thing, with a garnish of decorations and gifts. The Reason for the celebration revolved around God and a goodwill among men. The songs, the hymns, were the engine of delight. They spoke to the glory and infused a meaning to life that was…spiritual. That others felt the same way was energizing and exhilarating, for one felt part of a close community even when traveling.
Good, decent people are everywhere, but being civil, they often choose polite quiet and are scarcely observed in the open. The woodwork, however, is–still–filled with them. The stock of this nation is still in good hands, but slipping. The management, well, that’s a different story.
If a somber but hopeful “Merry Christmas” spoken one to another, eye to eye, becomes the custom of the season, it may well presage change.
The skinny Santa Claus at the bar smoking a cigarette is looking somewhat perplexed. I am fed up with all of these pretentious politicians and Wall Street Investors.. They can’t think people are stupid. But, they do have the Big Tech Companies shivering in fear. Those Corporations have something to lose. Most of the rest of the world does not. It is past time to remove this plague and solve the ‘climate change’ problem at once, starting with George Soros and Barack Obama.
Black Friday online sales top $9 billion in new record
-CNBC
It’s that buy now-pay later percentage that catches my eye.
People buying stuff they can’t afford.
It’s sad.
This does not bode well for the economy! How much of that 78% will never be paid back? This is just kicking the can down the road a little bit further!
I’m personally not buying anything I can not pay cash for today! Credit card companies are not getting one red cent from me! May be a lean Christmas, but at least I won’t be paying for it a year from now!
we give checks and christmas stockings filled from dollar tree/thrift stores and they buy when all is on sale baked goods go to friends and neighbors