[quote=no_such_reality]How bad was it last year? I haven’t a challenge finding parking at any mall or store we’ve gone to yesterday or today.
The big ticket sale items are still in stock in many stores.
I have noticed the more upper middle income the store complex, the busier it is. The lower the income target, the lighter it is…[/quote]
I had to go after a small gift last night which was on special yesterday only and had no trouble finding a parking space close to the store’s side door. In past holiday seasons, this mall was so full on weekends that there is no parking avail anywhere.
Even though this store is a “mainstream” higher-end dept store and not a discount store, its patrons drive from a wide radius of adjacent lower-income areas which don’t have dept stores. I think the problem we are seeing of a little less people at the mall this season or less people at the mall actually buying something is due to less credit floating around the system. Lower-income households have been more prone to filing for BK protection in recent years … even over as little as $10K of debt that they would never be able to pay back. This has taken a good amount of credit out of the system.
A shopper who uses cash typically shops an entirely different way than a shopper who uses credit (the majority of dept store shoppers). The typical “cash-only shopper” buys in swap meets, flea markets, thrift stores, craigslist and uses paypal to order from e-bay (Mexican shoppers excepted).
