My wife has been getting the Xmas shopping done and has commented several times that the stores have been empty.

Yesterday I ran to Lowes for some salt and ice melt and the place was virtually empty.
Granted 2:00 PM on a Wednesday is not peak loading but there was no one at the registers. I stood and talked with the one cashier who was open for a good 5 minutes and no one came to her register.

This is in a store with 100,000 sq ft of retail space and 40 employees on payroll and there were maybe a dozen customers in the store on hte day before a predicted ice/snow storm.

 

I noticed that the other day at the Home Depot right by my office as well (Jonas and David probably know which one I'm talking about.... the one off 271/Wilson Mills)..
I couldn't believe it..... the sporting goods store was empty as well.





... but... Kohl's was packed!!! (sort of like a Target for those who don't have a Kohl's in their area).


Just seemed odd to me as well....

 

Marshall's and TJMax have been very busy here.

 

The only brick and mortar I've used this year was a day spa for a manicure gift certificate. The rest of the shoppng was done on-line.

 

I commented on this in another thread. We went early last Sat (like 8 am) to a popular shopping mall in our area, assuming big crowds and little parking. Lots of stores, anchored by Nordstrom, Macy's, etc. I was shocked at how few people were there. When we left a couple of hours later, it wasn't much better.

 

I hit Bed, Bath and Beyond last night, as well as Border's and Michael's. They weren't crowded but doing decent business. I was really glad it wasn't a zoo. That takes the fun out of shopping.

 

Mrs. GM3 wanted to go by the mall so we stopped by. The parking lot was packed and people were every where.

As for my shopping, I have bought everything on line or from the gym.

 

At local Walmart, checked account balances w/credit union, had quick haircut, bought dog food & last couple xmas cards.
Got home & told +1 how different it felt. It was...well, sort of calming & peaceful.
We all know that doesn't ring the cash registers!
All Xmas shopping was done online, probably past 3 years.
Rather nice to miss the hustle & bustle thought.

Holiday cheers to all,

 

I wish the stores near me were empty. Even shopping for groceries takes twice to three times as long.

Don't even consider Home Depot or Lowes!

 

On Thursday evening Adam and I wanted to look at the new Blackberry Storm. We went to Circuit City at about 8:00 pm. We were the only two customers in the entire store. We went to the Verizon counter and spent 15 minutes talking to the two Verizon salespeope. We had their undivided attention. In the course of the 15 minutes a few people meandered into the store, but in general, there were more salespeople in the store than customers. It felt more like a cold and snowy day in February than it did like two weeks before Christmas.

We received a $10 off your next $20 purchase card from Staples this week which was only good this morning in the Succasunna store from 8:00 am to 10:00 am. We decided that we needed some ink for our printer so we went. We got to Staples at 9:00 am. I expected to see a lot of people there. $10 off a $20 purchase is a pretty good deal. There were a few people there, but nowhere the number of people I expected to see. The store wasn't busy at all.

On the way home we stopped at Kohl's. Liz had asked for a few things for Channakuh. We had a 20% off coupon, but if we wanted to open a charge card we would get an additional 15% off. Not only that but on the small appliances that we bought we got an additional $10 appliance discount. There were customers in the store, but it wasn't crazy busy. It's hard to imagine how they're making any money at those prices. It wasn't a come on either. We priced the items in Macy's later in the day and found that we paid $78 dollars for what would have cost us $125 in Macys (on sale).

This has been a horrible holiday season at retail. Even the people in the store admit it. Whatever merchandise they manage to sell, they sell at a deep discount, and there just isn't that much traffic in the stores.