Christmas on the cliff?

[starlady]

I have been struck, in the five days since my emergence from my finals cave back into popular culture, at how much stuff is 50% off or heavily discounted in these days before Christmas. I've gotten some great deals. I have also been struck at how un-busy stores have seemed. It could be that I haven't been going out at peak demand hours, but I've been going out at really terrible times of day like 4 in the afternoon to major malls and popular stores. Is this the fiscal cliff effect that pundits keep talking about? Have other people noticed a similar atmosphere? Have you or people you know curtailed your holiday shopping budget because of the fiscal cliff? 

Regardless, I predict that the sales on December 26 are going to be killer. Which, given that I do a significant portion of my annual shopping in the three days after Christmas (on tap this year: Victoria's Secret, Bath & Body Works, Anthropologie, Express, Barnes & Noble for next year's Christmas cards, maybe J. Crew), is good news for me.

ETA: Holiday cards are still open! I am probably going to send them out on Boxing Day.

Comments

[sasha_feather]

Have you or people you know curtailed your holiday shopping budget because of the fiscal cliff?

I think I already fell off the fiscal cliff and have been living down in the canyon.

[snarp]

Anecdotal evidence for an alternate theory: Nearly everyone I know just did their shopping online this year. A co-worker who'd never ordered off Amazon before even recruited me to explain it to her. I personally bought one (1) thing at a physical store, back in November.

[lilacsigil]

Anecdotally, in a country not facing a fiscal cliff or a recession, Christmas shopping was very, very busy this year. Both online and in shops.

[littlebutfierce]

Yeah, the mall here yesterday seemed not as busy as it might've been -- my mom commented on that, though we both thought it was in part b/c of online shopping; my mom bought pretty much everything online this year.

[inkstone]

I was lazy this year and just bought gift cards for everyone I'm obligated to gift (my cousins' kids) so I haven't to any of the malls. I will say that traffic has not been horrible around the malls this month which is unusual because it normally is.

I did go watch The Hobbit on Saturday and the theater was deserted. It was a matinee but I was shocked. I watched the LotR films in the theater when they came out and the theater was packed every single time. You had to go in over an hour before showtime if you wanted to find a decent seat.

[laceblade]

Maybe it's weird timing - when I went last week and the week before, and the day after Thanksgiving/etc., the mall and stores were CRAZY, both in Madison & Green Bay.
I had to park on the other side of the parking lot two weeks ago and drop my mom off at the door because there were no spots.
Similar thing Saturday when we went to see The Hobbit (the theater is in the same lot as the mall here -_- ).

As inkstone said above, I was surprised by how empty the theater was for The Hobbit, although I guess we were at a matinee the Saturday before Christmas (everyone was shopping, from what I could tell!).

[raincitygirl]

I'm in Canada and shopping has been nuts this year (although I did a lot of shopping online, so I didn't have to go in the shops too often. But when I was there, they were nuts).

[holyschist]

I did pretty much all my shopping in November/early December. If anything I spent a bit more than usual this year, because I have a decent job for once. (The only online ordering I did was stuff I made with Snapfish, though, since I tried to buy from local small businesses and artisans as much as possible this year. This is another reason I spent more than usual, because handspun hand-dyed yarn and fancy tea are not the cheapest things I could have bought people.)

I think I still spend less than the average American, though.