29 November 2008

A bleak Black Friday


I'm not sure whether the one with the red face is supposed to be a shopper or a business owner.

According to the Financial Times, Black Friday sales do NOT appear to be going well:
Hassan, whose pretzel cart has sat outside the Disney store on New York’s Fifth Avenue for almost 10 years, had never seen a Black Friday like it.

“Last year, I sold almost 1,000 breads. This year it’s only 100 or 150,” he said.

Up the road by FAO Schwarz, the queue stretched half way along the toy store. “Usually it’s all the way around the block,” said Ariel, manning a stand selling fluorescent paintings of nearby landmarks, who estimated his own sales were down 70 per cent…

The thin crowds allowed tourists to take photographs of each other posing in front of Tiffany & Co’s fir-lined windows and Bergdorf Goodman’s display of boxing polar bears without the inconvenience of having to wait for other shoppers to pass. Tiffany’s main floor was unusually calm.

2 comments:

  1. we (the usa) find ourselves in quite a quandry this year, consumer spending has been down for some time now. Will we recover, or will be surpass to socialism, tune in next week when these and many more questions will find an answer.

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  2. You know, there is something to be said for moving away from materialism. Not capitalism mind you, but materialism. Americans have been flush with cash for so long that the market is glutted with all sorts of crap we really don't need, isn't made well in the first place, and usually finds its way to the garbage pile relatively quick. Maybe with the financial crunch, Americans will find more meaningful ways to spend their money.

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