Economy & Policy

Americans keep shopping, despite everything

By Justin Fox | November 30, 2008 | +
Midday on Black Friday outside the Pittsfield, Mass., Wal-Mart
Midday on Black Friday outside the Pittsfield, Mass., Wal-Mart

So after all the worrying, the first weekend of Christmas shopping turned out to be … okay. From CNNMoney:

The National Retail Federation (NRF), an industry trade group, said shoppers spent $41 billion in the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend. The average shopper spent $372.57, up 7.2% from the $347.55 spent last year.

What we’ve seen so far this fall is a big pull-back in spending on cars and on housing-related stuff (building materials and furniture). That, and spending on gasoline is way down because gas prices are way down. But spending on necessities other than gas isn’t down, and people are still headed to the Wal-Mart and buying stuff for Christmas (I bought three board games and a fishing rod, although they were meant for pre-Christmas use so maybe they shouldn’t count). I’m not sure, though, whether we should take this as a sign that things aren’t nearly as bad as many (myself included) thought, or that when everybody wakes up and it’s January, things will really go off a cliff.

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  • curmudgeon57

    We in New England appreciate you New Yorkers who come to shop. You could have driven another hour or so to New Hampshire and avoided sales tax altogether.

  • technobody

    Vacuous materialism saves the day!

  • Justin Fox

    Hey, there’s nothing vacuous about buying Trivial Pursuit.

  • plukasiak

    Hey, there’s nothing vacuous about buying Trivial Pursuit.

    there is if the version you buy is the new one with an “easy” questions option… ;)

    personally, I think that spending is up this year because retailers slashed their prices early in anticipation of a bad Xmas season — they figured they’re better off with cash flow than inventory at this point. I mean, I was actually tempted to do my shopping early.

    In other words, I don’t expect the season itself to be good for retailers — and that most retailers will be crying in the next couple of weeks.

  • bryanfromhouston

    Pluk,
    .
    I am a bit more morbid in my prognostication. I think that retailers slashed their prices to get people in the door before they run out of cash!!! :-)
    .
    Hate to bust the bubble, but somebody has got to say it. This is just pentup shopping fanatics who will soon (and I mean very soon) run out of cash.
    .
    Yeah, we are finally in recession, so we can finally start working on getting out of one.

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