USA Today: Holiday sales fail to dazzle

[marmar]

Holiday retail sales appear on track to be somewhere between ho-ho-ho and ho-hum, raising the prospect that the economic expansion is still struggling to reach top form.

Some stores, including J. Crew and Bloomingdale's, were offering after-Christmas discounts of 75% or more, which were more reminiscent of the recession than a recovery.

Early and late in the season, shoppers seemed to ignore many of the lingering economic warning signs and spent like it was 2007 again. Yet, all that spending doesn't equal a blockbuster holiday season, some retail analysts say.

It's "a lot better than it was three or four years ago," says Chris Christopher, senior principal economist for IHS Global Insight. "It looks OK, but when you take price increases into account, it doesn't look too good." ..............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.usatoday.com/NEWS/usaedition/2011-12-27-afterxmas27_ST_U.htm

[onehandle]

1. Our families exchanged almost no presents this year.

We were most all in agreement that this was a bad year to spend.

[spanone]

2. i heard that it was up FOUR PERCENT....if that were bu$h* the recession would be over. media spin.

[GoCubsGo]

4. I heard the same thing.

But, it's USA Toady, so a negative spin is to be expected.

[spanone]

5. yep

Retailers are expected to ring up $469.1 billion in holiday season sales, or a rise of 3.8 percent from 2010, according to the National Retail Federation.
Meanwhile, U.S. consumer confidence rose to an eight-month high in December, the Conference Board said, suggesting that Americans have a brighter take on the economy heading into 2012.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45797241/ns/business-holiday_retail/#.Tvo9Wpjtjf8

[yella_dawg]

8. I recently heard a pundit claim...

I recently heard a pundit claim that if you subtract gun sales and correct for inflation, the sales are flat or slightly down this christmas season. The lady was more than a bit freaked at a massive spike in gun and ammo sales during the christmas shopping season.

[Enrique]

9. that statistic is in this USA Today article as well

The National Retail Federation on Dec. 15 raised its estimated holiday sales to a 3.8% rise from 2010 -- up from its previous 2.8% estimate -- buoyed by the strong sales in October and November, especially for the Thanksgiving weekend.

[donco]

3. Stores around here

seemed to do pretty good.Hard to find a parking spot that was not a half mile away from the mall entrance.

[gratuitous]

6. We have once again failed our corporate overlords

Beatings will continue, as morale has not improved. Say what you will about the North Koreans and their allegedly staged outpourings of grief at news of the death of Kim Jong Il (or, if you're Rick Perry, Kim Jong II), at least they know what's expected of them, and they deliver. Clearly the consumer public in the United States has not yet learned to go even further into debt to satisfy the demands of the supply side class, and re-education is badly needed.

[bluestateguy]

7. I found the stores to be very crowded last week

Therefore I've decided that this was a very robust holiday shopping season.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. "USA Today" would know, better than almost anybody.

[font size=1]dazzle depleted[/font]

[WCGreen]

11. How the fuck could they expect great news when over 8% of the population

is "formaly" unemployed...

I put the quotes in because this stat represents the government formal counting of the unemployed and not the real situtation.

In the governments stat, they do not count people who have given up on finding a job and or no longer recieving Unemployment benefits.