Feeling The Squeeze
Dec 27th, 2007 at 11:15 am by Susie
Yeah, it looked pretty bad out there. I couldn’t believe the before-Christmas prices, and the discounts are even deeper now:
As the nation’s merchants began poring — or weeping — over holiday sales receipts Wednesday, a surprising pattern emerged: even brands that for years have inspired the undying devotion of shoppers felt the pinch of tightening wallets.
Once seemingly invincible marquee chains like Coach, Target, Starbucks and Abercrombie & Fitch are settling for ho-hum growth this winter, after surpassing even the most rosy expectations season after season.
Though they sell very different products, at very different prices, these companies all shared the same bragging rights. Their customers considered them indispensable, even expressions of who they were.
But in this turbulent economy, the indispensable is becoming disposable.
There are an awful lot of things people thought were indispensable as long as they had cheap credit underpinning their purchases. Everyone’s looking at those “needs” in the cold light of day now.
This is going to be great.
I got paid yesterday, the housemate pays me her (late) rent tomorrow, and I am FINALLY doing my christmas shopping today after work. This is going to be the cheapest christmas ever. We’re getting a new dvd player, and if the price is right (I’m sure it will be) a 5-cd changer as well. Maybe even a fuckin’ i-pod.
And the best part? By waiting until after Xmas, I get to take advantage of even STEEPER discounts, so my purchase won’t even help their bottom line.
And it’s all thanks to Bush’s shitty economy and the corporate greedheads who finally came to the end of the line.
“They can’t keep away from each other. They think it’s twice as safe because there are two of them. But it’s not twice as safe. It’s ten times twice as dangerous. They’ve committed a murder and that’s not like taking a trolley ride together where each one can get off at a different stop. They’re stuck with each other. They’ve got to ride all the way to the end of the line. And it’s a one-way trip, and the last stop is the cemetery.” –Double Indemnity
I saw DVD players for $25 yesterday.
damn straight. and if I can find one in a scratch and dent box, it’ll be even cheaper.
dancing on the ruins of multinational corporations. HA HA HA HA HA!