Shopping Obsservations

I was curious about how the current state of the economy was affecting shopping habits. Luckily there are several shopping centers catering to different people within a few minutes of where I live. So, with the price of gas down from $4.00 per gallon, I set out on a bit of a field trip to make first hand observations yesterday, on President's Weekend.

The first stop was an outdoor market place known for lower prices and a huge selection due to having 100's of vendors. My expectation was that they would be busy because of the lower prices. Nothing could have been farther from the truth! The place was a ghost town. Far fewer vendors were present and there were very few people buying items. At the time I was there, several thousand people should have been walking the aisles. Instead, walking up and down was very easy because very few people there.

The next stop was a World Class mall. This mall has high end and mid-range stores. Now, this place was busy, or so it seemed. Parking was a problem and once inside, there were groups of people I had to walk around. I started at the high-end locations and saw some of the stores were busy while others were nearly empty. After some observations and a few conversations with sales people, I saw that people were generally spending $100 to $200. Nobody was buying expensive jewelry, designer clothing, or artistic crystal. As I went through the mall, the mid-range stores had people in them, but not many were carrying bags indicating any kind of purchase.

From the mall I went to the IKEA store. As anyone knows an IKEA store on a Sunday afternoon is a busy, busy place. People were walking through the 'showroom' section looking at furniture, but very few were looking at kitchens. However, in the accessory section, folks were picking items up and putting them in their shopping carts. When I got to the check-out area, the lines to purchase items had to be 30 minutes long - the longest lines I have seen. Again, not a lot of big items, but smaller decorator items that can have an impact of how a room looks were being purchased. For $100 the look of a room can be altered if you shop at IKEA.

After IKEA, I went to another mall. Again, a lot of people were there and doing a lot of looking. But, when I looked at the folks walking around, I noticed very few were carrying purchases. A lot of lookers, but not many buyers.

Of course there were some exceptions to my observations. Some stores in both malls were very busy making sales, but they were in the minority.

What conclusions can I draw? I think people want to feel good about themselves during these economic times. They can't control what happens in banks and businesses, but they can control how they feel about themselves. They can control how their home or environment looks and 'feels.' They can control how they look and the level of confidence they project. And, they can do both for $100 to $200. Is it the smartest thing they could do with their money? Probably not. So, why would they spend the money when we have 600,000 newly unemployed in January and lay-offs are being announced daily? They want to feel good about themselves and their circumstances.

"Things can't be so bad if I can redecorate."

"Things can't really be as bad as President Obama says if I can buy a bit of jewelry."

Yes, they can be that bad. According to Senators and Congressmen on both sides of the aisle, billions of more dollars will be needed to set the economy on the right track. And, there will be more job losses during the next few months, perhaps lasting as long as a year. So, whether you have a job or are unemployed, get ready. I am not saying not to buy items that improve your environment, or make you feel a bit better about yourself, just show care and restraint.