I think we will see many retailers go bankrupt in January & February.

[KillCapitalism]

Think about it, the retailers depend so much upon holiday sales. I have heard some retailers earn as much as 50% of their revenues from the holiday season.

Anyway, I have been talking to a lot of friends, family, and acquaintences about their holiday plans, and almost everyone I spoke with said that they didn't plan spending more than $100 total on holiday gifts. I know we're not spending much since we're just going to bake cookies and give them out as gifts. Pretty much everyone we know is cool with that b/c the wife and I can bake some awesome cookies. I can see many people in America doing the same & not spending over $100 during the holidays. If that happens, that will be the death knell for a good number of retailers. The only company that will post gains from holidays will be Wal-Mart b/c of the cheap shit from China they sell.

What do you all plan on spending for the holidays if I may ask?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

1. As little as possible.

No job, and unemployment is going towards keeping me afloat. I probably won't spend more than $75. I think this year most people will be getting some combination of poems, short stories and photographs this year.

[Winnipegosis]

2. I never spend very much anyway.

I don't think retailers will necessarily go out of business, but just cut back on some workers.

I'm lucky to work in a hospital; no going out of business there.

[silverojo]

18. Apparently you haven't heard of all the hospitals that HAVE gone under

Nobody is immune to this economy's woes.

Nobody.

[Joe the Liberal]

3. Its gonna be rough....

For some retailers this year with the economy the way it is. To answer your question though I will hardly be spending anything at all. My family doesn't care for Christmas as much as they used to with all of us all grown up now. It was just a thing to keep us happy when we were younger, same with Halloween, we just don't care for them anymore, we've outgrown them I guess. :shrug:

[peace13]

4. If we could keep the folks out of Wal-Mart that would help.

I don't plan to spend much, probably $250. Over the past several years we have cut way back. It is so much more enjoyable. I agree about the stores going out. The merchandise in the stores shows that, no selection and poor quality. My money will go to the food pantry this year. Peace, Kim

[Pithlet]

5. Sadly, I think Wal Mart will survive this just fine.

I think a lot of other retailers won't, however. And the loss of competition is bad for us.

[Joe the Liberal]

6. Wal-Mart would survive anything.....

Even if there a nuclear war Wal-Mart would still be there.......ok maybe not! but still, it will NEVER go away, its just too big.

[Pithlet]

7. Well, they're not invincible. But

I've noticed that they're really stepping up the advertising, and it seems to be really effective. They're kicking Target's behind, unfortunately.

[Trajan]

9. Not in Portland OR

There are few Walmarts here ..... Target, and two local stores BI Mart (employee owned) and Fred Meyer (Kroger) do very well here ....

I have not set foot in a Wal Mart in the last 3 years .... But I know many across the land have no other option ... and that sucks ....

[Pithlet]

12. Wal Mart does pretty well here in the Memphis area

Although we just defeated a proposal to build a new one in my community. Small victory, considering our market is already saturated with them. I think our Targets do pretty well. They always seem pretty busy. But, nationwide Target is struggling, and Wal Mart is outperforming them. It sucks, because I hate Wal Mart, too, and it's been many years since I've set foot in one as well.

[Trajan]

13. That is sad ....

Target pays better, and doesnt undercut small business ....

I found that the savings at WalMart were so pitifully small that the difference didnt warrant the negative effects they impose on communities.

It is unfortunate some communities are swayed by weak arguments in favor of Walmart ... So many small towns have a Walmart, and nothing else .....

[Pithlet]

15. I know. Back when I did shop at Wal Mart, before I knew better

I wasn't all that impressed. I didn't get what the big deal was. I always thought Target was superior in every way.

[silverojo]

19. Target kicks its own ass

I stopped shopping at Target years ago, when they enacted their draconian return policy. When you need a receipt to exchange a freakin' Christmas gift, that's when I go bye-bye.

[Pithlet]

27. Oh, yes, Target has much blame for their own problems.

Their return policy is ridiculous. They're shooting themselves in the foot in other ways, too. I've been noticing the quality of the clothes I buy going downhill for the past couple of years. The selection isn't nearly as good, either. They're dropping the ball on advertising, too. The other day, I got both their Christmas toy mailers. Targets was so thin and flimsy, while Wal Marts was huge. It's still a shame to see Wal Mart outperform them though. Even with all those problems, they're still better than Wal Mart.

[Missy Vixen]

8. We found out earlier this evening my husband's been laid off

Let's just say we won't be spending much for the holidays.

I'm thinking we're doing the cookies and banana bread thing, too.

Julie

[Trajan]

10. FUCK ... This is getting scary ....

Too many DUers have been telling this tale ...

I am so sorry for you and yours ....

[Missy Vixen]

11. Trajan, thank you

You can't imagine the stuff that's running through my head right now. I'm not sure what we're going to do, because my husband is in an industry that's formerly been bulletproof -- software.

You're right, this is getting goddamn scary. Anyone who's not scared is not paying attention.

Thanks for the good wishes. I hope everything's wonderful for you and your family.

Julie

[Mopar151]

14. Maybe a little less

But we really dig Christmas - amd my frugal Yankee family swaps gift requests at Thanksgiving. I think generally, that warm socks and new underwear will do very well, and the mall stores and fancy-schmancy retailers better plan on sucking it up.

[lligrd]

16. Much, Much Less Than Usual nt

[Nicole]

17. I'm spending about the same as last year

but it won't help the retail stores. My gifts were bought at craft shows, estate sales & the bank.

[depakid]

20. Had a curious conversation with a local business person

He runs a mail sort of service- Express Postal. He mostly stays within reasonable rates- especially where people send things overseas. He can't compete straight up with USPS, but he offers other services- and does them well. I've seen Pat take care of all sorts of people- he uses his expertise (and what seems to us to be his heart) to guide folks about how best to send them through customs.

Latin America, Eastern Europeon- Russia, some crazy looking man doing ebay who was sending tires and funky wheels to Missouri- he's pretty impressive. In my personal experience, sending wierd things like Graham Crackers, Peperidge Farm "fish" and apple butter to my friends in Britain and Australia- he's always been cool- (he mostly gets it right- the Saturday Market dog bicuits got seized -and letters were written but how were we to know?).

At any rate, the anchor tenant in the mini mall where he works- it was an Albertson's supermarket.

It closed in early 2007. It was a poorly managed store to be sure.

Many of us thought the other big tenant: Craft Warehouse, might pick up some slack- its a very cool place.

Pat talks to the people he works around, and if one wants to know about what's going on, he's the kind of guy to listen to.

His take (and the manager of Craft Warehouse's take) is that there's a drop off in people buying or sending extravent deals- yet it's being a bit offset by others, who are slowly coming in- because if unfortunately by force (or not), the tendency seems to be: we all realize that something made for us by hand is worth much more to our hearts.

Check your own closets and see.

[Double T]

21. Spending next to nothing.

I believe the USA is facing 20-30% unemployment with further massive defaults on mortgages, credit card debt and personal loans. The new 'stimulus package' economy is not sustainable and will only make the current crisis much worse. UNFUCKINGTIL criminal corporate america ends the outsourcing of jobs and the stagnation of wages; our country will continue its downward spiral. I won't buy a 'made in china' anything if at all possible; I would rather go without. Wal-Mart will only survive because of their cheap prices on food, although I have noticed Wal-Mart has had an across the board price increase on most of the products in their stores over the last few months. Not only retailing will die, many other small businesses and service oriented businesses will no longer exist. The bush/cheney/rethug economic and financial depression is here for many years and perhaps decades. I can't even imagine why anyone thought our phony economy would last; the glaring signs of economic and financial doom have been here for more than a decade. Have a Happy Holidays WITHOUT all the material SHT!!!

[KillCapitalism]

23. Wow, you're being optimistic about the unemployment numbers.

I'm thinking it could get to 40-50%. It's happened in other countries that have had severe economic collapse, so it CAN happen here.

[LatteLibertine]

22. I won't be supporting any big Corporation

more than I must. I do my best to buy from small businesses and mostly only purchase what I need.

The crooks want you to live above your means and to buy endless piles of shit you don't need so they can hopefully place you in perpetual debt and of course keep their money train going.

[IDemo]

24. I'll be working only two of the next seven weeks

The company I have worked for for eight years just took away our benefits co-payment, and just two days ago announced that we would be unemployed for two weeks over Thanksgiving and three weeks over Christmas. I'm expecting pay cuts and/or additional layoffs next year.

Not going to spend anything on gifts this year, but the rest of the family is in similar or worse straits now. They are all back in town for the first time in over a decade, so at least we will have the time to spend together.

[peacefreak]

25. My place of employment beat the holiday rush

and closed in September. The only Christmas present I plan on buying is for my grandson.

[shadowknows69]

26. I plan on raiding local Salvation Army buckets

I mean they call themselves an Army so I feel that is legitimate reason to attack them, and as they say, to the victor goeth the spoils. Sadly I doubt there will be much booty in the treasure chests this year aaarrrrggghhhhh! (Pirate sound)

[TheFarseer]

28. I never do much

If retailors are counting on me they are completely screwed in any year! I'll get a 10-30 dollar gift for about 5 people.

[SpiralHawk]

29. Absolutely. Republiconmics has a lot further to FAIL

I just spoke with the owners of a couple of shops in the local mall, and they are just going to HANG ON through the holidays, not expecting to make much if anything, and then nail the doors shut in January -- entering into bankruptcy.

[gollygee]

30. I'm worried about that too

I was just thinking that I got a couple of gift cards for my birthday I haven't used yet. Usually I hold onto them until I need something, but that might not be a good idea this time. Maybe I'll use them to get Christmas presents, actually.

We're not sure how much we'll spend but we are scaling back. We talked to our daughter about her getting one more expensive present or two or three less expensive ones, and that's it. My husband and I never exchange gifts (or seldom anyway - if one of us has a good idea that isn't just an excuse to spend money we might get something but otherwise neither of us is into gift getting particularly.) And my extended family is planning on doing a gift grab-bag kind of thing where we each get one gift and each take one rather than each getting everyone a gift. I'll still get gifts for my niece and nephew - their parents got divorced recently so it's been a hard year for them.