The Consumer Economy Has Completely Collapsed – “It’s a Ghost Town” for Holiday Shopping Everywhere

November 26, 2022 | Sundance |

“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.

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.

More here.
https://theconservativetreehouse.co...st-town-for-holiday-shopping-everywhere/

Everyone is doing it online, a record $9.12 billion was spent on BF online.

Or it’s a hard candy Christmas

It's a "got no money left to spend because of inflation" Christmas.

Black Friday sales traffic up 2.9% as shoppers return to stores and malls.

Forbes

Amazon got me for 147
Bucks but I targeted that i.. win ...

I heard the projected sales will match last year’s record sales.

It was during th civil war……how bout dem beavers?

Black Friday is now all week long.

The days of camping out all night at Bestbuy are gone.

I know my little town was hopping on Friday, in went to Dunham's, and bought some ammo.

Are you saying you'd rather compare prices from twelve different vendors, click your mouse twice, and have it delivered to your door for free?

No way.

That report is Bullshidt! It took us three HOURS to get out of a mall parking lot near Tampa. Police had a drone up to help figure out a way to unclog the traffic. It looked like Woodstock in a Parking Lot! Pot parties broke out, people left the cars to go back and pee or shop more. We just stopped to get some chicken and were stuck there.

What kinda chicken?

You miss out on the people watching though….

#soccermoms
#yogapants

Actually I should probably correct myself here,,schit costs so much more, less goods were bought with that $9.12 billion. So, probably not a record.

But people just don't go to stores much anymore.

I didn’t buy a damn thing

Just because it was like that in one place doesn’t mean it was like that everywhere.
I did most of my Christmas shopping with a few clicks and in a few days there should be a truck show up at the house and put a couple boxes on the front porch.

No, goddammit, the sky is falling.

Nailed it

The busiest shopping day of the year is not as busy as retailers hoped.

Across the U.S., shopping malls are seeing only thin crowds, according to reports in business media. Inflation and depressed consumer sentiment appear to have dampened the holiday shopping spirit.

Reuters reported:

At Times Square in New York City, which was cloudy with occasional light rain, employees were seen waiting inside stores for crowds that so far had not arrived.

Outside the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there were no lines outside stores. A ToysRUS employee was seen walking around the mall handing out flyers with a list of the Black Friday door busters.

Bloomberg reported:

Around 10:30am at Crossgates Mall in Albany, New York, the ultra low-cost brands and the higher-end buzzy retailers had the most foot traffic, while the middle-market stores were desolate.

Gap Inc.-owned Old Navy, which was offering 60% off most items, had a line so long that some shoppers turned around as soon as they entered the store. Athleisure favorite Lululemon Inc., which had only a few racks of discounted merchandise, and American Eagle Outfitters Inc.-owned Aerie, a popular intimates brand among Gen Z shoppers, also drew big crowds.

Meanwhile, stores like Banana Republic, Macy’s and Urban Outfitters had no lines at all, and only a handful of shoppers.

Overall, the National Retail Federation has forecast that retail sales will be up six to eight percent this year compared with last year. That is a big slowdown from last year’s 13.5 percent increase and the 9.3 percent rise in 2020. After adjusting for inflation, sales may actually be down. The Consumer Price Index is up 7.7 percent compared with a year ago.

November saw a significant decline in consumer sentiment, according to the University of Michigan’s survey. The index of consumer sentiment fell five percent below the October reading, reversing about one-third of the gain since the historic low in June. The gauge of current conditions dropped by 10.4 percent.

The consumer discretionary sector was flat for the day. It is down 33.53 percent from a year ago, making it the second worst-performing of the 11 sectors of the S&P 500. The worst is the tech and entertainment heavy sector called communication services.

Even in the U.K., Black Friday proved to be a disappointment. “Black Friday got off to a muted start in the UK, with the number of home deliveries booked down by about 5% and no surge on the high street,” the Guardian reported.

https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2...ppoints-thin-crowds-and-desolate-stores/

Biden got 80,000,000 votes.

Trust the news and believe what they say.

Who really cares what happened on Black Friday?

I am seeing shortages personally...

Exactly!

The prelude to the great paradigm shift only...

Laura and I went to a wedding yesterday... the Bride was 19 and the Groom was 20... devout Christians.

Watching the whole event was surreal... like a beautiful black hole of hopes and dreams.

Made me want to buy them a piece of land and build them a proper cottage.

Sundance seems to get a lot wrong.

Obviously the financial figures are important to the accountants.

But for me there is another marker of Black Friday retail success. Are there any videos of darkies attacking one another to save $25 on a big screen TV? I didn't see any but I also did not look.

Buy now, pay later was up fairly good. If sales were up, that just means that folks dug themselves even deeper in the hole. The statistics are crazy right now how many people are paycheck to paycheck.

Steve
4102, Kudos for using "Kafkaesque". I am just a grunt and a street cop but when I use a term like that around my supervisors or other "educated" people here I just get strange looks. Someone recently asked me what my first language was......

I had Friday off for the first time in my adult life.

Hit 2 malls.

They were very busy. Several stores with lines. I hated every second of it. Never again.

Deals to be had I guess but on nothing I was buying.

Did all my buying from my phone, on-line. I have 4lbs of locally roasted artisan coffee to buy yet and I'm done.

I did not participate, stayed home

Haven't left the house in 4 days. Plan to make it 5.

Off to the gunshop to see if i can score a deal on a 10mm for next years deer season. LOL

My xmas shopping for everybody else is done.

Never been, ain’t ever going. Closest I ever came is when I got off work one morning and decided to go into the Whatamart near my office. Pulled in the lot and suddenly realized what day it was.

Took me 20 minutes just to escape that lot.

No discount is worth that hassle.

Parrot, never an original thought.

Sure was busy at my shop. We were down a bit from last year but it was still brisk

LOL, where's Butch?

For years I have bought what I need when I need it. I have never been one for spending $$$ on things just because the media says I should buy at a certain time. To be completely honest 95% of the retail outlets can close and I wouldnt even know about it. I embraced minimalism a long time ago.

Ditto....

I have never been a Black Friday shopper too many people no sale is worth the hassle. I enjoy shopping from my recliner at home. I do buy things online and pickup at store sometimes.

“ Overall, the National Retail Federation has forecast that retail sales will be up six to eight percent this year compared with last year.”

Hey, wait, wasn’t inflation ALSO 8 percent?? That means even their prediction is essentially flat. No growth from last year.

Based on my personal experience on Friday/Saturday, I don’t see how sales could be up in any significant way. The Academy/Walmart/etc parking lots weren’t even as full as a busy weekend.

Frankly, I think starting “Black Friday” sales, the week after Halloween, is spreading things out a bit too much, and I also think many folks have blown their Xmas money on food/gas, this year. Guess we’ll see, but I don’t think the final tally is going to be enough to significantly outpace inflation (a more than 8% rise in Xmas spending)..

This.

You don't need money, just a plastic card.

Our local mall had traffic backed up on I15 for the mall exit in both directions. It made a mess of the freeway.

I did it once, like ten or twelve years ago (maybe longer ago than that). My folks, while I was visiting with them for Thanksgiving, asked me to get up early (well before dawn) on Black Friday to go to an electronics store nearby and take advantage of their huge sale on GPS navigators (Garmin, I believe, 40% off). They wanted me to pick up two of them.

I got there while it was still dark, got in line and waited for them to open. I went to the appropriate counter as soon as I got inside, showed the sales clerk the ad with the item circled, and asked for two. The man said they were out of them.

While wandering around the area a few minutes later, I noticed someone walk up to the same guy who immediately recognized him. They exchanged a friendly greeting, following which the sales clerk reached under the counter and pulled one out (the model I had asked for) and handed it to him. I told the manager what I had seen, and I walked out with two of them at the sale price. Never again.

Seems as if Black Friday started about two weeks ago. How long has Cameraland been saying to call for Black Friday pricing? I was downstate last weekend and every store we went in had “Black Friday” sales going on.

I’ve also seen prices go up last Tuesday only to be miraculously dropped back to the original price Friday.

This year was my very first black friday shopping adventure. I usually avoid it like the plague.

Got there at opening time and I was second in line.

Free coffee and donuts while I waited and an hour later Ali had 4 new tires on Mrs. Morewood's Subaru.

Saved 50 bucks! Woohoo!

Costco. Big bags of chicken thighs and whole chickens. I guess Costco is becoming known for really bad traffic. While waiting I googled it.

The malls in Nashville and Louisville were slammed, the report was: no parking
Wife and daughter worked two states on a mini North American shopping tour


Nashville had people at 9pm day before camped at Bass Pro

Maybe this is Gateway Pundit false hype like most other chit

It was pheasant hunting Friday for me.

Crappy Black Friday anyway, saw very few really good deals.

I do my shopping on-line and this was this afternoon's damage.

Ordered a bunch of dog food from Chewy.

Free shipping and got $50 off the total order through a couple different promo's.


Ordered a faux 2' bonsai tree from Nearly Naturals and saved $46 on a 30% off sale.


And I just ordered a spare mag for my CZ 452 and some Remington Premier 17 HMR and got free shipping from Midwayusa.




Our FedEx guy showed up this afternoon(on a Sunday!) and I know the guy. Used to work out on the grazing association. I happened to be home and we had a quick visit before he hit the trail.

Personally, I ordered a couple new mags for my Springfield Armory 911 and a couple other gun related items. But my son just bought a new P365 EDC, so he wanted to hit the Saturday morning black friday specials at Sportsmans Warehouse. It was reasonably crowded, but not exceptional and definitley not "Black Friday" crowded IMO. However, they did have some very good deals on ammo, AR mags, guns, scopes, and a bunch of other stuff. Other than a couple more PMags, I resisted the urge to get anything I wasn't really in need of at the moment.

Lots of people driving around looking for parking at several different stores and mall parking lots, but the stores didn't seem any more crowded than a normal sale day IMO.... time to get this totally inept administration out of office and kick them to the curb and put someone more capable in charge so we can get back to the awesome 2016-2020 economy...

I bought a $400 10mm 1911 from my chair and a mint 1985 vintage Remington Sportsman (870) 12 Magnum for $250 at a LSG. The latter for my middle son.

Ed, you thief!

I work pt at SW and got there at 5:30AM. It was pretty slow on sales except for guns so I left at 8:30AM and got some cheap bacon at FM when the manager came through. I noticed only two guys in line at Brown Jug which opened at 10AM on the way back so I pulled a u turn on Johanson and got in line at 9AM. I waited the hour in 14 F temps and scored a bottle of Blanton's and Eagle Rare 10 single barrel that is nice. I went back home and came back about 1PM and worked until 9PM. It was slow on most deals. SW must get a supply of Vortex Gen 1 10X42 Diamondbacks from Vortex factory producing them every year. We got 60 pairs of them and sold 15.
There were people driving like crazy but there were a lot of tire kickers and a lot of people buying cheap Chinese Old Timers. The hurt is on. Corporate is talking about cutting hours off of many PTers during Christmas Season. That tells you something.

Did my shopping for Christmas a month ago, and online.

1 ounce Silver Britannia for $26/ounce in my hand. Silver is all I am giving for Christmas this year.

I'm looking for a cyber deal on a nice hatchet.

You're a real Romantic.

Get it? Pun intended.

So is it a real tree, just not bonsai? Or is it a fake tree all the way around?

If you're giving to kids, better explain to them what it is or they may just spend it as a dollar.

Oh, so everything is good to go? Thanks for the update

Article doesnt make much sense. Its obvious Black Friday has changed. Everyone is trying to be first so Black Friday started a week early. It was no longer a one day event where you had to be there in person to get the deals. It takes place on line, over more than a week. No incentive to get up early and go out in person when it can all be done on line, and before the holiday.

100% fake tree.

I'm going to plant it under a wall mounted TV and use it to hide the cord.

#geniusfakebonsai

https://www.kabar.com/products/1333

Indeed. The slide rails showed little use. They had a handful of "870's" next to it for twice the price plus. The boy won't miss the walnut.

Black Friday lured shoppers back out in a test for higher holiday spending.

WSJ

Word

Was afraid next you’d have one of those little sandboxes with the little rakes

Where I was in East Tenn, main roads became parking lots.
I was out walking the Labs at 5:30AM, half of the neighborhood was heading out to the sales.
Screw that schidt, we out into the mountains.

Depends on where you live. I went BF shopping once in AR with my wife and in-laws, what a mess. Come to AK, and it’s nothing compared to other states. That being said, went out this last Friday with the wife and it was dead! The only line I saw was to eat at the restaurants.

I'm glad Black Friday was a bust, I didn't leave the house that day. I'll shop on the internet later today: