Economy must really be in the toilet ...

[JGalanos]

I did some shopping in Chicago today and noticed some unusual sales:

 

(1) Lord and Taylor was discounting cosmetic and fragrances 10%. Retailers rarely discount these high margin items.

 

(2) York Furrier had their entire inventory on sale at 50% off. York is one of Chicago's premiere furriers. I don't recall seeing them having a 50% off sale on everything pre-Christmas before.

 

(3) Neiman's had a 20% off deal on holiday and Epicure items. I've never seen them discount these items pre-Christmas before.

 

I also noticed as I was driving around town that there was a frightening amount of retail space available for lease -- I would guess hundreds of thousands of square feet -- Not including the many stores having going out of business sales pre-Christmas.

 

I'm guessing more than a few retailers are going to have a blue Christmas.

[White Fox]

I agree. And of course so many of those stores today are huge chains. One of those big chains goes out, and the whole array across the continent is gone. Every store in every mall.

 

Not good.

 

J

[Worker 11811]

For years, I have been saying that the economy can not continue growing at the rate it has been and that it is long overdue for a fall. Most people pooh-poo'd me.

 

When I worked in retail stores and other businesses, there would always be consternation over making X% gains over last year/quater/month's figures. When sales were not up to expectations, management would panic. When I pointed out that we were still ahead for the year, I was always told I was wrong. In one case, I was actually shouted down!

This is one of the reasons I got out of the business.

Most retailers wouldn't spit on your head if your hair was on fire unless you could make insane amounts of money!

 

It is my belief that insistence on making short-term profits to the exclusion of supporting long-term growth is the direct cause of this mess.

 

Much as I am sad to see a correction I am glad that the other shoe has finally dropped.

The higher we climbed with unrealistic expectations, the farther we had to fall.

 

As strange as it sounds, I wish it had been sooner...

[ReFur]

This hit Michigan several years ago. It is not pretty.