The malls and stores weren't very busy this morning.

[Roland99]

I took advantage of early hours this morning to do all of my shopping. There were very few at the opening this morning and even hitting places like Kohl's or Target later in the morning (just before lunch), the parking lots were quite empty compared to what I was expecting to see.

Not sure if that means more people got their shopping done early or if people are just taking it easy with the purse strings.

I know I spent quite a bit more than I planned on but a chunk of it went to seasonal clothes so it's not like it was all toys and such.

[LA lady]

1. Online shopping!

I did 90% of my shopping online. No crowds, no parking, no hiding things on the way home. I love it!

(I have MS so I try to avoid crowds anyway)

[Warpy]

6. Yeah, and by the time you get the stuff

you've nearly forgotten what you ordered, so it's like getting a birthday surprise all year.

Sales have been very slow here in NM. I don't think everybody is shopping online. I think everybody is just plain tapped out. They're buying stuff they need, not stuff they want.

[Skidmore]

2. My husband came back with the weekend paper, which

he buys only to look at the sales brochures. There were only three brochures in it this week. Last week's was a very fat edition. Bummed him out.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I don't celebrate Christmas, but I observe parking lots

Yesterday, we went to eat at a local restaurant by WalMart. For the first time this season, the lot was full, but not full to overflowing, which I've seen in the past. In fact, when we were done eating, we drove through their parking lot to get to a traffic light, and had no problem doing so. The flea markets and local stores are all having rather slow traffic for this time of year--in my job, I wind up talking to a number of local merchants.

[bumblebee1]

4. All three may be a factor

n/t

[countingbluecars]

5. I noticed the same thing

where I live. It was very quiet this morning-less traffic than a normal Saturday.

[SoCalDem]

7. I had an hour to kill before I ranted and raved at Time Warner cable

(I got there on "Eleanor's" lunch hour) so I went to Mervyns. I had not been inside that store in YEARS,.. What a horrendous MESS.. It looked like a church rummage sale, but i did find some terriffic bargains (for ME)..I bought a pair of pants from a sale rack that had no tags, so the clerk sold them to me for $1.78..(I have no idea how she arrived at that price)..

ALL the Xmas stuff was 60-75% off already, and if I had taken then time, I could have had even more bargains.

I was able to park right smack in front of the door too..

and then I got to go rip Elanor's lungs out for the shitty service with my internet thingie since Time Warner took over. The Adelphia guys may have been crooks, but at least my internet service always worked.

[treestar]

8. Yesterday, it was really crowded everywhere here

You'd think online shopping would have helped, but it doesn't seem to, around here, at least.

[Blue Belle]

9. I did a large portion of my shopping last night...

and the mall parking lot was somewhat full, but there were more spaces available than I anticipated. I was in and out of the mall in under an hour, and I didn't have to wait in any long lines. I'm hoping to have similar luck this morning - I have one more gift to get, and then I'm going to risk a trip to JoAnne's Fabric/Craft store to get some last minute candles (that's where I'll run into the lines I'm guessing).